**** Try to imagine “War and Peace” made into a musical. Or at least, a portion of the Tolstoy 1869 novel. It turns out that Dave Malloy was able to take a portion, part 8, of the novel, the portion that focuses on Natasha’s romance with Anatole and Pierre’s search for the meaning of life, creating “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. The play worked its way through the “off-Broadway” sections of New York and landed on Broadway in 2016, running for a year. note: This was the covid period, so that may have been the reason for closing.Writers Theatre in Glencoe, under the direction of Katie Spellman, who also handled the choreography is now presenting this 12 time Tony nominated musical on their Nichols stage ( this is the larger theater). While most people might think this to be a musical, I truly feel it is more of a “chamber musical” or even a “chamber opera” as there are very few spoken words. One can expect to hear song after song, like an opera , but in English ( not Russian). Spelman has put together a fine cast of performers to take on these roles, Anatole is played by Joseph Anthony Byrd, who truly shows off his vocal range and dexterity in this role. Pierre is played to perfection by Evan Tyrone Martin, and Natasha is deftly handled by Aurora Penepacker.
The show begins with a “prologue” where we first meet the characters. It is Moscow circa 1812. We, the audience, learn that Pierre (Martin) is an unhappy man, He feels that he has wasted his life and needs a change. His good friend, off in war, has a fiancée, Natash, who is coming to Moscow with her cousin Sonya ( Maya Rowe) where she will meet her future family. They attend an opera where Natasha sees Anatole and finds herself attracted to him. As it turns out, although he is married, he finds Natasha entrancing as well. This is indeed a story of unrequited love, betrayal, self awareness and the vibrancy of finding one’s true self.
The music is conducted by Charlotte Rivard-Hoster, up on a balcony and the set is a cascading stairway leading to another balcony where the other instruments are, as well as a section that is part of the set ( Courtney O’Neill uses the stage area well allowing great sight lines from all sections). Raquel Adorno’s costumes are powerful and the sound (Eric Backus) and lighting (Yael Lubetzky) are sheer perfection.
The ensemble appears to be as if hand- picked to fit each of the roles. Sophie Grimm, Julia Wheeler Lennon, Will Lidke, Rob Lindley ( quite the Bolkonsky), Andrew Mueller, Bri Sudia, Matthew C. Yee, Jona D. Winston ( quite a funny bit when they do the song “Balaga” in Act Two ), and last but never least, the amazing Bethany Thomas as Maya D. A fine ensemble that truly makes this work a work of art. The music helps move the audience into the time and place as it is a merger of Russian folk and classical with some indie rock and EDM influences. Mallow called it “Electropop opera”, which may be better than “chamber opera”.
I am not sure you will run home to find your copy of “War and Peace”, but you might find yourself a little more curious about that period in literature.
“Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 will continue thru October 27th with performances as follows:
Wednesdays 3:00pm* & 7:30pm (* check with box office on Wednesday matinees)
Thursdays 7:30pm
Fridays 7:30pm
Saturdays 3:00pm & 7:30pm
Sundays 2:00pm
Show Type: Musical
Box Office: 847-242-6000
Writers Theatre is located at 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe with lots of street parking and then the train station lot at Green Bay Road.
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” photos :Liz Lauren
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