"Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812" at Shotgun Players

Shotgun Players production ensemble photo by Ben Krantz

I always find it a little difficult to write about shows at Shotgun, because they really are my favorite local theater. And I try to be at least reasonably objective, even though I'm a supporter/donor and board member. That's going to be tough here, because I really like this show.

I saw Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway some years back. I have to admit that I wasn't really prepared, and I didn't think the venue was all that conducive to really appreciating the show. It was a big open floor with cabaret tables where folks could drink, and lots of different entrances, so the show itself was a bit difficult to follow. So I've been looking forward to this production in the more intimate setting of the Ashby Stage, though I couldn't really imagine a cabaret setting in there.

The Play

The play itself is a most unlikely thing. Playwright Dave Malloy just doesn't do "normal" musical theater. This blog was still on hiatus last spring, or you would have seen a glowing review of Berkeley Rep's production of Malloy's Octet. And there is a long, meandering story about how Comet came about because of Malloy's production with Shotgun over a decade ago of Beowulf--a Thousand Years of Baggage. But let's just say the script is derived from a small slice in the middle of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace. And as the first song, "Prologue", makes clear, it's a complicated Russian novel, and everyone's got nine different names, etc. But it also gives you some mnemonic devices for remembering who is who and how they relate, which is helpful (and Shotgun's program helpfully reproduces much of that).

As the title of the show suggests, Natasha and Pierre are the central characters: she young and naïve, loving her betrothed Andrey, who is off in the war, and he older, awkward, and disenchanted with life (and particularly his life, notably his loveless marriage to Helene. So we follow as Natasha careens through Russian society, wishing for Andrey to return and marry her, distracted by the appearance of the seductive Anatole. While Pierre sits, reads, studies, and drinks, all the time thinking he used to be better, and that he wants to wake up into his life.

The music is catchy, the story is actually remarkably easy to follow, and Malloy does a great job of simplifying things without losing the essence of Tolstoy's characters.

The Production

This is the west-coast premiere of the show, which has run in New York (both off and on Broadway) and a few other places in the east. But as far as I know, it's the first time it's been staged in such a small venue. And scenic designer Nina Ball outdoes herself (which is a very high bar) in reimagining the Ashby Stage as a cross between a cabaret nightclub and an opera house. The audience surrounds the stage, but with room for the actors to move around and interact with the house, and the band is spread around so it feels integral to the room. I love the way the cast sneaks into the room to do choral backup behind one or two singers on stage, adding musical depth without distracting visually. The co-directors, Patrick Dooley (Shotgun's artistic director) and Erin Mei-Ling Stuart (who also choreographed), have done a remarkable job of taking the transformed stage and making it both large enough for the whole ensemble and small enough for intimate solo and duet numbers. The lighting design by Weili Shi contributes a lot to the illusions.

Somehow this space also accommodates a remarkably big band: musical director Daniel Alley and his upright piano is in a pit in the center of the stage, along with drummer Brietta Greger and her whole kit. On one side of the house there are strings (both a cello and double bass), while on the other are woodwinds (clarinet and oboe) and a very versatile accordion/keyboard/glockenspiel player. So it's a very rich musical ensemble, but it suits the space.

The cast is very strong, starting from the title characters. Jacqueline Dennis brings both a powerful voice and a very believable sense of youth and innocence to Natasha, which Albert Hodge brings a brooding, yet explosive, mood to Pierre. There are several other particularly strong singers in the cast, most especially Danielle Cheiken (Mary and others) and Veronica Renner (Sonya). Several others bring both vocal prowess and some serious acting chops to their supporting roles, notably Angel Adedokun (Helene) and Michelle Ianiro (Marya). But even the "minor" characters have their moments in the sun, with James Mayagoitia (Old Prince Bolkonsky) doddering humorously, Roeen Nooran filling numerous servant and ensemble roles, and Weston Scott taking advantage of every second as Balaga, just for fun.

Bottom Line

For some crazy reason, I decided to read War and Peace this summer as sort of self-assigned homework leading into this play. As a result, I appreciate both how difficult it had to be for Malloy to carve a meaningful little slice out of the middle of a ponderous tome, and also how interesting it is to contemplate the characters within this slice, knowing that there is so much more to their stories, both before and after. It really is remarkable that Malloy created such a compelling, moving, and fun piece out of that source material.

And as you have already gleaned from my words above, I believe this is one of the finest pieces of theater to hit the local stages in some time. It's not the same kind of intellectual work that wowed me in This Much I Know this summer at Aurora. But to take this remarkable piece of both literature and music and create an intimate, immersive, interactive stage experience unlike anything I've encountered anywhere recently--that's an achievement. Producing a show of this scope with the quality of this production is pretty expensive, which generally means you have to stage it in a larger house. But Shotgun has managed to fit the show into its friendly confines, and the intimacy of the show really adds to the experience.

Really--go see it. It's not just me--the "little man" in the SF Chronicle's review is leaping out of his chair. You will be, too.

Comet has already been extended through January 15th at the Ashby Stage in Berkeley.