STAGE WEST: "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" at Cygnet Theatre

Kurt Norby in "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812."                                  Karli Cadel Photography

            Coinciding with the melodramatic love triangle that’s at the heart of “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” is the profound and personal search for one’s place in a turbulent world and for meaning in an unfathomable universe. That is the overarching inquiry of the great Russian writers, Tolstoy among them. His prodigious “War and Peace,” published in 1869, is the foundation of Dave Malloy’s operatic musical “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.”
            Drawing from only a 70-page sequence deep inside “War and Peace,” Malloy, who once entertained on cruise ships yet, created this stunning and immersive show. It spent only a year on Broadway between 2016 and 2017 but rode the star power of co-stars Josh Groban and Denee Benton to 12 Tony Award nominations. (It only won two, of the minor variety, but that is what it is.)
            Cygnet Theatre’s West Coast premiere of “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” is a triumph of magical theater-making. Directed by Sean Murray with musical direction by Patrick Marion and choreography by Katie Banville, this is the sort of uncanny production that you can’t help but become part of, on many levels.
            There’s the spectacle of period costumes (designed by Shirley Pierson) that transport you to the turn of the 19th century in Moscow. There’s a breathless second-act display of Russian folk dance that cascades over you like a big wave and demands giddy and irresistible participation. There are yearning, questioning numbers sung by the brilliant but morose Pierre (Kurt Norby, in a tour de force) that will swell inside you.
            The show can also be funny as hell, played as some of it is with tongue planted in cheek. This is best personified by the false suitor Anatole (Michael Louis Cusimano) and the sultry and scheming Helene (Jasmine January). Even protagonist Countess Natasha (Selena Ceja) spoofs her own sweet earnestness in much of the first act.
            I may be wrong, but I’m imagining that a sizable majority of theatergoers who see this show have not read “War and Peace” or if they have, it was eons ago. In a clever and convenient way, Cygnet has provided for patrons a program that essentially sums up the premise of “Natasha, Pierre …” in six bullet points. More whimsically, that’s followed by a two-page “Family Tree” illustration with caricatures of the story’s principals accompanied by the one-word character descriptions that are heard in the show’s rousing opening “Prologue” which in its countdown is reminiscent of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”: “Natasha is young”; “Andrey (the soldier at war to whom she’s betrothed) isn’t here”; “Helene is a slut”; “Anatole is hot.” And inscrutably “And what about Pierre?”
            That’s the question that lingers throughout the sung-through show. Pierre is always on stage, though often seated in the background in a chair with one of the books to which he escapes, devotedly). When he does step into the fray, “Pierre, Natasha & the Great Comet of 1812” rises far above its garden-variety, chest-heaving love story.
            It’s one where Natasha, who has mourned the absence of her fiancée (in the swooning “No One Else”) is inexplicably, at least to me, motivated to forget all about him because of the foppish attentions of dashing though shallow Anatole. Attempting in vain to discourage her transposition of affections is her heady cousin and confidant Sonya (Megan Carmitchel) and her domineering godmother Marya (Linda Libby).
            How this familiar narrative becomes something far more meaningful speaks to the genius of Tolstoy and the ingenuity and imagination of Malloy, whom we have to thank for “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” and the Cygnet team, whom we must praise. This is among the most ambitious and rewarding productions I’ve seen at the Old Town theater since I began reviewing shows 15 years ago.
            Once in a blue moon there’s a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation, a vibe, inside a theater in the minutes before a production begins. This was the case at Cygnet on opening night. It’s the kind of energy theater-makers would love to bottle and store in reserve for recurring use.
            Adding to the interactive nature of the production, a few short rows of seats have been placed on the stage, offering I presume a distinctive viewing experience. You’re much closer to the band, but I wouldn’t think that a bad thing – the skilled seven-piece orchestra conducted by Marion features PJ Bovee on bass, Amy Kalal on oboe and English horn, Dave Rumley on percussion, Erika Boras Tesi on cello, Ariana Warren on clarinet and bass clarinet, and Sean La Perruque on violin and viola.
            “Natasha, Pierre” enjoys many dazzling moments, including an at-the-opera scene where costuming, masks, lighting (by Amanda Zieve) and music come together in a transformative and even haunting way.
            I don’t want to give away the ending of the show, but it’s guaranteed to stir you.
            Norby is the essential presence in this production, though Ceja as Natasha gets far more of the stage time. Recently seen as Wednesday in San Diego Musical Theatre’s “The Addams Family,” she has graduated to a far meatier role at Cygnet, and she does not disappoint.
            Carmitchel, one of the brightest stars in local theater, has a less prominent role, but she is so reliably gifted that it doesn’t matter. She gets a couple of solos here (on “Sonya Alone” and “Natasha Very Ill”) and makes the most of them.
            Luke H. Jacobs, Brian Mackey and Tanner Vydos contribute in vivid supporting roles – Mackey’s reward for playing the sober and humorless Andrey is that he gets the broadest comedic turn, too: portraying the crippled and cranky father of Natasha’s intended.
            On the way out of the theater in misty rain I thought about how many moving parts there are in “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” and what an achievement this truly is for Sean Murray and Cygnet.
            Don’t miss this extraordinary show before it closes on May 19.