Aotearoa debut for The Great Comet

Praised by the New York Times as “Broadway's most innovative, and best new musical since Hamilton”, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (The Great Comet) will have its Aotearoa debut at the Hannah Playhouse next month.

Staged by WITCH Music Theatre, the musical is based on a scandalous 70-page slice of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace and features a score inspired by the sounds of folk, indie-rock, classical and electro-pop music.

The Great Comet follows the whirlwind journey of Natasha Rostova, awaiting the return of her fiancé from the front lines of war. When she succumbs to the intoxicating spell of the roguish playboy Anatole, it falls to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the fragments of her shattered fate.

The Great Comet debuted in 2012 at the off-Broadway theatre Ars Nova, moving to Broadway in 2016, when Josh Groban made his Broadway debut in the role of Pierre. The musical received 12 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

For the Wellington season, directors Maya Handa Naff and Nick Lerew, alongside creative producer duo Ben and Josh Tucker-Emerson, will welcome audiences into a transformed Hannah Playhouse.

The 17-strong cast is helmed by Pōneke actors Lane Corby and William Duignan as Natasha and Pierre. Corby recently performed in Wicked (G&T productions), in the role of Elphaba, and Duignan has recent credits in musicals such as Once (Court Theatre), Into the Woods (WITCH Music Theatre) and Too Much Hair (Edinburgh Fringe).

– Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Hannah Playhouse, April 20-May 4. Tickets: iticket