Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Darlinghurst Theatre Co.) ★★★★★

Music & lyrics by Dave Malloy. Australian Premiere. Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Jul 7 – Aug 20, 2023.

Dave Malloy’s cult Broadway hit, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 has landed in Sydney with a queer touch and a bold vision – this is the kind of show Sydney needs more of! Adapted from a 70 page segment of Tolstoy’s War & Peace (Natasha and Anatole’s affair), The Great Comet weaves its way through the politics of Russian nobility, from the balls, the scandals, the gossip and the drinking. 

Young Natasha’s lover, Andrey has gone off to war, leaving her with her friend Sonya. When she catches the eye of the A-grade fuck boy Anatole, she is seduced and vows to runaway with him. Observing it all is Anatole’s brother-in-law, the drunken, dishevelled Pierre who is struggling to find a purpose to his own life.

This is a strange fruit of a musical, made even stranger in this iteration. As the opening number explains, this is a Russian novel so everyone has nine different names and you’re going to have to keep up – thankfully, the cast are brilliant at differentiating characters and the roles tend to hold to broad stereotypes so it’s actually pretty easy to follow. The multi-instrumentalist cast play the majority of music on stage (only breaking for moments of electro-pop fury) and director Dean Drieberg has cast genderqueer performer Jules Pendrith in the role of the male cad Anatole, giving it Bowie-esque rock-god vibes.

And what an ensemble of performers this is, mostly new to me. Zoy Frangos who plays Pierre has a rich, crisp voice that radiates pain and depth. Grace Driscoll’s Natasha is innocence lost. But it is the cast in smaller roles that really grabbed me. Kala Gare’s Sonya, Natasha’s best friend and the conduit for much of the show’s emotions, sparkles for her excellent acting and vocals. P. Tucker Worley and Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward bring a variety of roles to life and bring bursts of fresh energy (through movement and vocals and comedy). In a show that is completely sung-through, in which the cast rarely leave the stage, they are all superb.

To my mind, Dave Malloy is a genius. His musicals are dense and unpredictable, but filled with deep emotions and soaring melodies. It’s no wonder Tolstoy appealed to him. Years ago I saw his earlier work, Ghost Quartet, and walked out bewildered but elated. The Great Comet is much more linear and easier to digest. What I wasn’t expecting was the liberal lashings of comedy through-out The Great Comet. Some of it comes from our contemporary view of the times, and others from the characters themselves. Dean Drieberg has milked this text for all the humour and emotional clarity he can – you won’t be bored, or confused for a second. There are moments of pure beauty and bliss here not to be missed.

Tyler Hawkins’ set has transformed the Eternity Playhouse. The main stage is a blend of cabaret catwalk and giant eye (in Russian high society everyone is watching everyone). An enormous mirror ball hangs over the audience – like a looming cosmic figure. I really wanted it to go crashing towards the stage ala The Phantom of the Opera, but no luck there. My only critique would be the limited lighting which often saw performers singing in darkness or shadow, making for a sometimes muddy viewing experience and the music sometimes overwhelmed the complicated vocals.

Following on from their success with musicals like A Chorus Line and Once; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is a major step up in ambition. Those earlier shows were easy, crowd-pleasing fare while this is a bolder choice that shows real artistic flare and vision. This is not the work of a company playing it safe. Darlinghurst Theatre Company are reaching for the stars here and they are taking us along for the ride.