THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Music, lyrics, book, orchestrations by Dave Malloy; based on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Donmar Warehouse, Earlham St, Covent Garden, London until February 8, 2025
So, a musical based on War and Peace, I hear you say, as you quickly say you're busy, but don't panic! It only covers a 70 page slice of its 1440 pages (from book 2 vol 5 to be precise).
The best adapters know it's about what you leave out, and here Dave Malloy has done an exceptional job in making that doorstop into a brisk electropop chamber opera which has a hip youthful vibe.
Following two development runs in 2012 and 2015 it had a respectable and acclaimed run on Broadway in 2016 with Josh Groban in the lead. Here, it marks the first directorial outing of the Donmar's new Artistic Director, Timothy Sheader, who did wonders at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, among other things.
From the wonderfully sardonic Prologue where the whole cast sing It's a complicated Russian novel where everyone has nine different names, so look it up in your programme
it has the urbane wit of Sondheim at his best but it also sets the tone of the piece – ironic and detached but not smartass. We are, after all, in the territory here of the Great Romance.
There are two plot strands in this section, one revolving around young Countess Natasha (an utterly sparkling Chumisa Dornford-May) who arrives in Moscow and is seduced away from her absent soldier fiancé by the roguish Anatole (Jamie Muscato). The latter with his eyeliner and '80s New Romantic garb could have stepped out of Duran Duran and he combines this with the Lothario charm of a Hugh Grant.
The other strand concerns Pierre (Declan Bennett), unhappily married to Andrey's sister, who languishes in the company of dissolute friends while longing for true love and a purpose in life. By befriending Natasha, he arrests his own spiral into alcoholic depression. These wealthy kids could be trust fund slackers with the added poignancy that within a year Moscow and their world would be burned down by Napoleon.
This youthful search for love and purpose is wonderfully fertile ground for a musical. While the story is set in the vast confusion of the Napoleonic War it rightly focuses on small human stories about people somewhat at sea, and we see their pettiness, their mistakes and, for some, their redemption.
Two decisions are crucial to its success: Malloy's decision to make it sung through gives it dynamism. We're not impeded with clunky establishing dialogue and instead get straight to the nub of every emotional moment. Then there's Sheader's decision to eschew a period setting (although there are ghosts) which makes it more alive today. Evie Gurney's costumes are eternally chic and perfectly chosen for these amoral brats. Designers Leslie Travers and Howard Hudson's lightbulb motif will be the take away from this show. There's a giant illuminated 'Moscow' sign where the 'O' in the form of a crown of light descends around the ensemble like that scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The auditorium is flooded too with light bulbs, attached to each seat, all marking this out to be a 'happening' or perhaps an installation in a gallery or a trendy nightclub where this band of party goers would hang out.
Stylistically Malloy's songs are wonderfully diverse ranging from pop ballads to klezmer to raucous Cossack style dance numbers. Nicholas Skilbeck's supervision of the music is superb, and this is one of the best voiced ensembles in the West End, producing a glorious wall of sound. Bennett as Pierre is, as expected, a vocal standout, as are Cat Simmons as a soul infused Helene and the great Maimuna Memon (from Standing at Sky's Edge) who is granted a big solo, 'Sonya Alone'.
Memon's song neatly illustrates where the show falls short on occasion. Here the lyrics just don't meet the level of poetry required to enable a great vocalist like her to give it flight. Perhaps a co-lyricist would have helped. Malloy does however avoid the clunkiness inherent in the recitative of sung-through musicals, although, again, there are patches which don't really scan. But these are quibbles though in what is an enchanting, invigorating piece.
Sheader's direction, aided by choreographer Ellen Kane, is nimble and full of surprises and you can't take your eyes and ears off this ensemble. It's a breath of fresh air in terms of musicals and a triumph of great staging.
