Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 gets the party started on opening night in London

The long-awaited UK premiere of Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 is finally here.

The sung-through musical, based on a 70-page segment of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, began its life in New York in 2012, snowballing its way to a 2016 Broadway bow, 12 Tony Award nominations and two wins.

Now, in director Tim Sheader’s five-star production, hailed by WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton as “hugely entertaining and deeply intelligent“, a stellar London cast has been assembled in a radical new take on the show.

Following last night’s curtain call, we caught up with Malloy and Sheader, alongside Declan Bennett (who plays Pierre), Chumisa Dornford-May (Natasha), Jamie Muscato (Anatole), Maimuna Memon (Sonya), Cat Simmons (Hélène) and Cedric Neal (Balaga), to get their thoughts on the much-anticipated production.

Watch our opening night video below:

The company also includes Daniel Krikler (as Fedya Dolokhov), Eugene McCoy (as Prince Bolkonsky/Andrey), Annette McLaughlin (as Marya Dimitriyevna), and Chloe Saracco (as Mary), with Andrew Berlin, Kimberly Blake, Ali Goldsmith, Chihiro Kawasaki, Nitai Levi and Annie Majin.

The UK premiere production features choreography by Ellen Kane, musical supervision by Nicholas Skilbeck, set design by Leslie Travers, costume design by Evie Gurney, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Nick Lidster and Gareth Tucker for Autograph, and musical direction by Sam Young. Casting is by Pippa Ailion for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting, with Fiona Dunn as associate director, Nuno Silva as associate choreographer, Richard Johnston as associate casting director and Grace Duggan as resident assistant director.

Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 runs at the Donmar Warehouse until 8 February 2025.

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