Donmar Warehouse – until 8 February 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
5*****
Dave Malloy’s spectacular musical has finally come to London, and in director Tim Sheader’s hands, this is a truly stellar production.
Malloy’s bold choice to write a sung-through musical based on a 70-page section of War and Peace could have ended disastrously, but the show is full of emotion, humour and a gorgeously evocative score. Like all Malloy’s musicals, the interplay between voices and instruments is stunning in the more emotional moments, while when the characters are having a good time – it is WILD.
The witty prologue introduces the characters with pithy explanations that become a repeated refrain, and Andrey isn’t here. Andrey is off fighting in the Napoleonic wars, but his betrothed, Natasha has come to Moscow with her cousin Sonya to stay with her godmother. While Natasha waits and meets Andrey’s disapproving family, his old friend Pierre has promised to keep a watchful eye on Natasha in the unfamiliar Moscow society. But it is Piere’s family that brings Natasha’s downfall as she is seduced by the charms of his brother-in-law, Anatole.
The plot follows the contrasting emotional arcs of the title characters, Natasha’s fall from optimistic innocence to despair as a “fallen woman” in the eyes of the hypocritical aristocrats, and Pierre’s unhappy and unfulfilled life blossoming into an outlook of hope and purpose.
The action takes place in a grittily debauched version of Moscow, with Leslie Travers’ set, lit brilliantly by Howard Hudson, switching from a decadently warm opera house to a sleazy hedonistic club with superb impact and energy. Musical director Sam Young and the musicians are on both sides of the stage, often interacting with the cast with Ellen Kane’s fantastic choreography. Evie Gurney’s costumes are a glorious mix of modern, traditional, burlesque – they are more Jilly Cooper than Tolstoy, but it’s magnificent.
The cast are simply sublime. Declan Bennett is stunning as Pierre, effortlessly portraying his despair and distaste for what he sees around him. Chumisa Dornford-May is wonderfully sweet as Natasha, adding more and more edge as she discovers herself and her desires, while Maimuna Memon shines as the wide eyed “good” Sonya, her gorgeously rich voice soaring with emotion. Cedric Neal is a hoot as Balaga and Annette McLaughlin, resembling a pre-coronation Camilla, is wonderfully stern as the old-school godmother. Cat Simmons prowls around the stage and is brilliantly debauched as Pierre’s wife – almost stealing the show with her performance of Charming – while Jamie Muscato is absolutely brilliant as the cocky hedonistic Anatole, strutting and preening with a devilish charm.
Visually and musically stunning, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 is unmissable.