by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Attaching prophetic significance to a comet in a musical that retells history with a techno-funk flare sounds enchanting, but perhaps impossible. Nevertheless, Dave Malloy expertly pulls it off in “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.” And rising to the challenge, the University Theater Department’s production of Malloy’s musical promises to delight and intrigue with the same enchanting debonair. “This is the most musically complex show we’ve ever attempted,” confessed Theater Department chair Jim Crawford. Featuring 22 student performers and eight student musicians, the sung-through narrative with only one line of dialogue captures a 70-page slice of “War and Peace” Tolstoy called “the crux” of his 1,200-page novel. Malloy admitted he often experienced classical literature with a mixed reaction — “man, people were ridiculous back then’ is closely followed by a moment of ‘oh my God, I said that yesterday.’” The electro-pop opera “The Great Comet” is Malloy’s response to his double-sided experience, what he describes as “communing with another time and place … ironically and sincerely at the same time.”

Crawford compared “Comet” to “Hamilton,” “taking something from 200 years ago and telling it through a very contemporary lens.” Likewise, the music goes back and forth from opera to pop to techno. “There’s a recorded track that includes techo-funk sound cues that have to be incorporated with the live musicians,” Crawford said. “It has pushed us to the limit of embracing new technology and a really demanding score. A big part of the job has been assembling a group of people that could meet all the different demands of the show.”

“When we chose this show, we didn’t know how we were going to make it work,” Crawford acknowledged. “I put forth into the universe a combination of optimism and relentlessness.”

Foremost among Comet’s challenges was the highly complex music with its diverse array of styles. Crawford reached out to his theater connections to find a musical supervisor. A friend from the Nashville theater group pointed him to Stan Tucker, the famous Broadway conductor and director whose credits included “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats,” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Tucker recently retired and moved back to Nashville. “When we talked over the phone, we hit it off immediately,” Crawford said. Tucker agreed to teach the orchestra and cast the music but wouldn’t be available to carry the show through to production. The stars aligned for Crawford a second time. Tucker passed the baton to career opera singer and director Steven Carpenter who recently moved to Sewanee with his wife, Chaplain Amanda Gott.

“It takes a village to produce a show this big,” Crawford insisted. Russian professor Mark Preslar gave the cast a primer session on Tolstoy. Voice teacher Kerry Ginger worked individually with some of the soloists. The orchestra borrowed two gifted student musicians from St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School. The program lists over 100 credits.

The tale follows two charming, flawed young people whose plot lines intersect: Natasha, a selfish, philosophical 13-year-old who is ruthlessly seduced and the awkward mystic, Pierre, disillusioned with people being after his money.

For Sewanee senior Harrison Best, playing Pierre marks a first. Best is in the choir and frequently performed in plays before college, but the poli-sci major never auditioned for a play at Sewanee before. Best said of the role, “It’s really complex rhythm wise, as well as range and pitch. I had to hit some rockin’ high notes. I had to work up to. It showed me I’m more capable of some things than I thought I was.” Best’s career plans are uncertain, but the future has a new glow.

Playing the piano for “The Great Comet” had a similar revelatory effect on Carl Erickson. Crawford met Erickson when Erickson participated in a summer abroad program in England led by Crawford. For Crawford, who needed a skilled pianist for the show, meeting Erickson was another stars-aligning gift. For Erickson, the stars realigned. Erickson never played for a theater performance before. “It was a lot of work,” Erickson said. “But I liked doing it. It was really fun.” Erickson is rethinking his goal of being a studio musician when he graduates in May

The musical closes with long-disillusioned Pierre experiencing an epiphany and seeing the great comet. Commenting on the significance, Rachel Chavkin who served as the first director of the musical said, “Almost immediately after the events depicted in this section [of the novel], Napoleon invades, and Moscow will be burned to the ground. Like the novel, ‘Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet’ is about the small humans at sea in the vast confusion of history.”

Crawford expands on this idea. “Pierre begins to feel hope again,” Crawford observed. “He sees the comet, and it becomes a symbol for him of a way to move forward and of goodness in the universe.”

Timely for sure, in a world fraught with international warfare and contentious politics, “The Great Comet” will be performed Oct. 25–27 and Oct. 31–Nov. 3, 2024, at the Tennessee Williams Center. Admission is free. Reserve tickets from Eventbrite.

The Department of Theatre and Dance presents distinguished alumni answering the question “What can you do with a degree in theatre?” The event will be from 3–4:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1, at the Proctor Hill Theater at the Tennessee Williams Center. The public is invited to attend.