Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.“It’s a complicated Russian novel,” sing the cast jauntily in the sizzling opening number of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. “Everyone’s got nine different names.”The novel in question is War and Peace, the Tolstoy masterpiece that fuels this brilliant, luminous show — and yes, probably the last candidate for musical treatment given the fact that it is a) very long and b) a complicated Russian novel. But Dave Malloy (music, lyrics, book and orchestrations) plunges in regardless, cheerfully embracing the fact that translating it to the stage is a rash move. “Gonna have to study up a little bit if you wanna keep with the plot,” chant the cast, winking at the audience as they identify, pithily, the key players — Natasha (young), Sonya (good), Anatole (hot) — and whisk us into the juicy segment of the story that Malloy has chosen to dramatise. Of the thousand-plus pages that make up War and Peace, he keeps just 70: a key passage tracing momentous experiences for Natasha and Pierre. Natasha, young, naive and in love with falling in love, is betrothed to Andrey, who is away fighting at the front. So when wily womaniser Anatole makes a play for her, she is easy prey. Pierre, a sad, bespectacled fish out of water, is unhappily married to Anatole’s sister Hélène and drinks too much, but has a life-restoring epiphany when he sees the great comet of 1812. Their stories of loss, despair, rebirth and redemption twine around each other, bringing stillness, depth and meaning to a show that elsewhere fizzes like a firecracker.Tim Sheader’s terrific UK premiere (the show was first staged in New York in 2012) uses the intimate confines of the Donmar to create a sung-through chamber piece infused with a dark streak of recklessness. He meets Malloy’s eclectic mix of musical styles — Russian folk music, klezmer, EDM, indie pop, soulful ballads — with anachronistic twists of his own. The cast here wear contemporary costumes with a nod to 1812 — Jamie Muscato’s excellent, charismatic, devilish Anatole seems to channel new romantic crossed with Regency cad. The production splices then with now, unfurling in what feels like an underground Moscow nightclub, where the atmosphere is feverish, driven by Ellen Kane’s witty, zippy choreography. There’s a keen sense of partying on the edge. “There’s a war going on out there somewhere,” sing the cast, and the balancing act between life and death is expressed vividly in the duel, conducted swinging precariously on a balcony. What makes this show, however, is the emotional intelligence of the cast. Chumisa Dornford-May’s superb Natasha deftly traces her character’s journey and she’s matched by Maimuna Memon as Sonya, who brings gorgeous intensity to her defiant solo about rescuing her friend from disaster. Cat Simmons’ slinky, sensuous Hélène rivals her brother for devilment and Declan Bennett’s rich-voiced Pierre, though we’d wish to spend more time with him, has a bruised honesty and confusion that is very attractive. The show ends with a beautiful, moving moment of transcendence as the whole auditorium, together with Pierre, is bathed in the ethereal glow of the comet. And perhaps the greatest compliment is that it sends you looking for the book.★★★★☆To February 8, donmarwarehouse.com
