Sparkling and strange, Dave Malloy’s EDM-fuelled rock opera is a thing to marvel at – and keen observers have been waiting for it to blaze across London’s dark skies for quite some time. Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 began life in a small New York non-profit theatre a decade ago, staged as a wild immersive party by Rachel Chavkin. Then it soared to Broadway, winning a fan base that was devastated by its premature closure. Now, it’s lighting up Donmar Warehouse, in an intimate reimagining that lays bare its heart – but also its flaws.
Lightbulbs flicker in front of each seat in the audience, as the cast open with a prologue that’s a musical word-of-warning: “Read the programme”, they chant while introducing characters from part eight of Tolstoy’s famously mammoth novel War and Peace with the simplicity of kids singing round a campfire. Such a warning isn’t necessary. It’s marvellously clear in the hands of new Donmar artistic director Timothy Sheader, who previously spent 17 years turning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre into a musical theatre powerhouse.
