The highly creative Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 is well done at the Donmar Warehouse
“Gonna have to study up a little bit
If you wanna keep with the plot”
To know that Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 is a Dave Malloy creation is know that it ain’t your everyday piece of musical theatre. It’s also a bold choice for Timothy Sheader to programme in his opening season at the Donmar Warehouse but as the show brings with it quite the reputation from its off- and on-Broadway productions, it was never likely not to sell, just to be a shock to the system for your average Donmar patron.
It’s an adaptation of a segment of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (some 70 pages out of its 1440 total) and sungthrough in Malloy’s eclectic style, its contemporary – or even postmodern – approach releases the characters from any dusty notions that might accompany your idea of classic Russian literature. Akin to Hamilton or Hadestown, all their love, life and troubles are brought smartly up to date as they shop, shag and sing their hearts out.
Natasha is engaged to Andrey but he’s away at war and her head is turned by handsome womaniser Anatole at the opera. Pierre is unhappily married to Hélène, who is Anatole’s sister. The great comet is officially known as C/1811 F1 and was one of the most visible of all time. As romantic dalliances turn serious, illicit secrets threaten to emerge and even duels get proposed, the entanglement of everyone’s emotional lives is laid bare.
With a wide-ranging cast of characters, Malloy takes advantage of what feels like all the musical styles in the world. Russian folk, EDM, indie-pop, classical, jazz, straight-up musical theatre balladry, all this and more are pumped out by a crack onstage band and Leslie Travers’ set does wonders with the Donmar’s intimate stage to give us a unique take on Moscow, seedy like Soho in Evie Gurney’s costumery, dancing like disco in Howard Hudson’s vivid lighting.
As a non-traditional musical, some might find it challenging but there’s an argument for just letting the flow of the show take you along, taking heed of a wry prologue that acknowledges the difficulty in keeping track of the characters. Altogether, the show is very much aware of its cleverness and occasionally more self-satisfied than profound, an archness that only converts into true feeling late on in the day.
A superb cast makes most everything watchable and listenable though – Chumisa Dornford-May’s Natasha is excellent as she fucks up her life, Declan Bennett is emotive as the rather hapless Pierre, Cat Simmons, Maimuna Memon and Daniel Krikler all register strongly, and Jamie Muscato is charismatic beyond belief as the seductive Anatole. Good fun, if not quite the second coming that some would have you believe.
