Performance Overview

If the thought of reading the 1,400 pages of Tolstoy’s 1869 “War and Peace” makes your eyes glaze over, we present a musical that will give you hope. It’s a sung-through pop operatic adaptation by Dave Malloy (book and score) of a mere-70-page sliver of the massive novel that focuses on, as the title promises, “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.”

An amalgam of classical music, Russian folk music, and indie rock tells the story of the naive young Natasha, who, though engaged, falls scandalously under the spell of the beguiling Anatole, but ultimately has her reputation saved by Pierre. And the comet? Having confessed his love for Natasha, Pierre sees the blossoming of a new life in the bright beauty of the starry messenger. Drama faculty member Quin Gordon directs the opera (recipient of 12 Tony Award nominations) that The New York Times calls “the best new musical to open on Broadway since “Hamilton.”