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The Stars of NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 Shine Bright on Opening Night!
May 17, 2024
THE GREAT COMET is a theatrical experience like no other. Malloy's inspired adaptation of a 70-page slice of War and Peace puts audiences just inches away from Tolstoy's brash young lovers, as they light up Moscow in an epic tale of romance and passion. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the big night, and you can check out interviews with the cast below!
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Josh Groban and Denae Benton are
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making their Broadway debuts in the spectacular musical NATASHA PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET of 1812, and we are here on opening night at the Plaza to
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celebrate with the company. First of all, welcome to Broadway, my friend. I've been
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waiting to say this. How do you feel? Oh, man, I honestly, I feel, I feel, it feels, I feel all the
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cliche wonderful things, like it's, it's been a lifelong dream, but not only that
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to fulfill that dream with a cast and group, to be a cog in this beautiful
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wheel of this show, is the most gratifying, rewarding, artistic experience I've ever had, and I've made some amazing friends, so we're all just
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so, so thrilled. 28 Broadway debuts, so we're, we're celebrating together. Isn't that great? And your director, there's so many people just besides the
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cast making their Broadway debuts. The creator, Dave Malloy, there, our director, Rachel
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Chavkin, I mean, it's, it's, it is, it is a team like no other I've ever worked
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with, and it is a brave team. They've dared to do something different out
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there, and to, and to, you know, inspire in new ways, and I, every day I walk
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through the stage door, whatever is going on outside, I feel newly inspired every
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night, and that's what I was hoping, and that's why I waited so long, to find the
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right piece, and this was the right piece. First of all, welcome to Broadway. How does it feel
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It feels like home. I love it. I've been dreaming about this for so long, and it's
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such a special group to get to do it with. What was today like for you? I mean, Broadway debuts are really special. The
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whole day is, so I mean, what was your day like? It was hilarious. So, I got to the theater, like, four hours early, thinking that I
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was slick to drop off my opening night presents, and everyone, like, 15 people
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were there, like, writing cards furiously, and like, dropping things off. Not
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glamorous at all, like, sweatpants, just like, I was up at three making these
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necklaces, so that's what it was like. Yeah, but it was special. I have so much
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family here this weekend, and the support has been amazing. Opening on Broadway in this show, what's it been like living in the world of The
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Great Comet? Honestly, right now, with the state of the world and our nation, it is so special to
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get to walk into a show that understands the essence of humanity in a beautiful
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way, and the cast is so diverse, and Dave and Rachel are geniuses, and so it's
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special. It was, like, good for my soul. Here we are, Broadway debut, it's opening night. How do you feel
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I feel all the feelings I keep equating it to a wedding day. Although I'm not
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married, I feel very excited, anxious, I can't tell the difference. I feel like I'm gonna puke. It's great
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It's all good stuff. It's all good stuff. It's all good stuff, yeah
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You are so wonderful in this show. What's it like playing her? Talk about the woman
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you play. I mean, I love her very much. I've been playing her on and off for four years
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and, you know, a lot of elements came together to help me play this role
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Rachel Chavkin, who I've worked with a number of times, has really helped me figure her out. Paloma Young, all I gotta do is put that costume on and look in
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the mirror, like, back at Ars Nova, when I suddenly put that costume on, I understood what she was, seeing that dress, and it informed my movement and
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all of that, so it's been a real treat to have people help me figure out who she
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is, and now I just love her, and I get to do it with this one here with Lucas, and it's just, like, it's so much fun
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It's opening night. How do you feel? I feel, you know, a little overwhelmed, for sure. Thrilled, honoured. If I could
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ever choose, in my heart of hearts, a way to kind of return to Broadway, this
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unknowingly was it, and who would have known, doing this show for a room of 85
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people at Ars Nova four years ago, that this would sort of be the culmination of
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events, but it's everything that I sort of believe in and that I hope commercial
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theatre can be. It's accessible, but it's still artistic, and I'm honoured
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What an incredible role. What's it like playing him? Yeah, I have to say it's pretty awesome to play him. I can do all of this almost
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foul stuff that I could never get away with in my real life. He has the
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luxury of... he's a bit of an underdog. You don't expect him to sort of come in and
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do this, and I have the best entrance I will ever have. I'm in theatre. I'm
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certainly confident of that. It's your Broadway debut. It's opening night. How do you feel
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I feel a little crazy. I'm very overwhelmed. Is it all surreal, like, just living in this world of the Great Comet and now to
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make your debut with the Imperial? It is. It's very surreal. It's very crazy. I never really thought I would be an
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actor, so this is very surreal. It's not just like, oh, I worked on this show for
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five years, but Dave had to twist my arm to do the show in the first place, so here
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I am. What did you want to do before being an actress? I write music. I had a band
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And now you're starring on Broadway. Yeah, and that's crazy. That's weird, right
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No, it's great. I love it. What a way to make your debut. What have you enjoyed
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the most? What did I enjoy the most? What have you enjoyed the most about this whole process
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You know, this sounds cheesy, but I love the people. I love that everyone comes
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from their, like, own background of art and theater and music, and I really
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appreciate that, and everyone is, like, a genuinely good person, and I don't know a
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lot about showbiz or showbiz people, but it doesn't have the best reputation, so
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it's been... But this group does, right? Yeah, it's been so refreshing. Like, everyone is so down-to-earth and has
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their own life, and I love that. Welcome to Broadway. It is opening night. How do you feel
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Insane. Just totally insane. It's so funny. We've been doing this show for a
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while now, and it still just feels like our show, but there's a lot more people
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there. It's crazy. There's this moment in the book where Pierre is at the Battle of
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Bordino, and he's like, this can't be a place where something big and important
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happens because I'm here, you know? And I think we all kind of feel that way. Like
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this can't really be Broadway, because we're still just doing our show that we
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love, but it's pretty cool. How much fun is it living in the world of The Great Common
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It's so fun. It's so fun to do, and it's also so fun to get to share this story
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that we really care about so much, and so many people are eager to listen, which is
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amazing. And man, running around and dancing and playing guitar and singing
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and all that stuff, I highly recommend it. It's a great time. It's so fun
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Broadway, how does it feel tonight? It's unbelievable. I can't describe it. It's like some of my best friends and
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people I've known in the business forever, and I've been a part of this show for
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about four years, and just to see this is, like, it's unbelievable
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I fell in love with it at Ars Nova, then the tent downtown, the tent right next
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door to the Imperial, and now here. Did you ever think you'd be standing here at
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the Plaza? No, and I just keep picturing Home Alone and Kevin, you know
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That's, like, my favorite scene. So, no, but it's a really special feeling
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and I love it, yeah. What's it been like working on this show for you? What's been the best part of it
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It's been like therapy, and it's like the director gives you complete trust, and
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Rachel, and then Dave, and there's a lot of, like, changing of the script, and
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everything that happens is...it's like a big family, and we just keep growing, and
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you can tell people things without hurting feelings, and it's very special, yeah
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Another Broadway debut. How do you feel? I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed. I can't believe that I'm sitting here talking to
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you in the Plaza Hotel after telling this story that's centuries old, and yet
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still so relevant today. It's beautiful. What a way to make your debut, these rich roles, and the way you get to perform in
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these clothes, and wigs, and tell this incredible story. Absolutely, absolutely. This show literally changed my life. I saw...I wasn't
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in it at Ars Nova, but I saw it four years ago. I saw it on their closing night, and it shook me. I was laughing, and crying, and drinking, and just having
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this communal experience with people, and to be immersed in it, to have been
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working on it for the past three years, to really get to know what this story is
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about for other people, for myself. It's a really special, singular show, and I'm
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just...I'm so lucky to be a part of it, and thank you for showing up and for digging it
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It is opening night, Broadway. How does it feel? It feels incredible, yeah. It's very surreal and amazing, and like all my closest
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friends are here, and yeah, it's an ecstatic night. What a journey you've been on with this. I was telling you, I've seen every
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incarnation in New York you have done with this. I mean, did you ever think you'd
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be standing here tonight at the Plaza? Not really. I mean, definitely when I was writing the show, I was like, I'm gonna
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write like a proper Broadway musical, but like to think that in your mind, and
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then to have it actually happen is such a divide between that, so I just feel so
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blessed by like our director, and our designers, and our producers who like believe in the show, and yeah, I took the show from, you know, 80 seats to 200 seats
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to 500 seats, and now we're at 1,200 seats, and yeah, it's been a crazy ride
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Just take me back to the beginning. How did you come about to write it? You know, it's just when I read the novel for the first time, when I read
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War and Peace for the first time, this section immediately sang out to me, and I was like, oh my god, like this is a perfect musical. I can't believe no one's
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written this musical yet. Yeah, and I kind of like filed that idea back, you know
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in the back of my head, and then a few years later, Ars Nova was like, we want to commission you to write a piece. Do you have any ideas? And I said, well, here's
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this one idea. It is your Broadway debut. I am so happy to say that to you. How do
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you feel tonight? I feel glowing and full of feelings from the past week for our
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country, and so moved by what my actors did on stage tonight, and the crew who
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made all of it possible off stage. What an incredible journey you have taken
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with this show. I know. I mean, from 87 seats to 199 seats, I think just over
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500 to just nearly 1,200 is remarkable. What's been the best part of it for you as a
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director, watching it change and grow? I think the best part for me as a director
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has been because at 87 seats, you had all the intimacy, but not necessarily much of
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the clarity of storytelling, and what moving bigger and bigger has meant is
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that I get to make pictures for the first time, like pictures in a real way, and so
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feeling like, oh, there's a story here, and it is a shattering story that shattered
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me tonight is quite wonderful. The attention to detail that Rachel challenged
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all of us as actors to dive into and to dare to take it to a deeper place when we
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went out there, and not just to sing and perform and be dramatic, but to really
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understand the deep levels of these characters. It was a master class for me
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coming from the music world and to be surrounded by such extraordinary actors was very humbling, and I learned a lot. Yeah. I just love the world that's created
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The Imperial's been turned upside down. It takes us back to 1812. I mean, there's
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people all around you. And boy, oh, boy, do we need escapism more than ever right
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now. And I kind of liken it to how I feel when I see a baseball stadium, and when I
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walk in and I see that field, I'm such a baseball fan, and as soon as I see the field, I'm in baseball land. And I think that great theater can do that. The
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moment you walk in, it sets the tone for what we're all about to do, and what
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Mimi Land has done with this set and with this theater, there is no set, basically
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You're sitting down, and you're going to be in the show, is transformative
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You know, there are many people seeing their first Broadway show because you're
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in it, and it's going to change their life, because you always remember that first time you saw that first Broadway show that changed it. What was it for you
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What was that first show? Oh, man. It was the 1980s production of Cats that toured to Los Angeles, and I was
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nine years old. And they're going through the tunnels, and you know, for a kid to
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hear that music, and for me, I had an ear already, and that's one of Weber's really
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kind of strange and cool scores. You know, it just blew my mind. And then the one
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after that was Sunday in the Park with George with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, and I just...and that's when I became a Sondheim nut, and that's when I
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really realized the depths with which storytelling could reach musical theater. So finally, when you took your bow tonight on Broadway, do you remember what you were thinking
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I was just thinking, first of all, so many penguin suits. I just like...I'm thinking
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man, because that was the first time we could really like see everybody was in that
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moment, and I'm thinking, man, everybody really dressed up tonight. And so, no, just...it's honestly, it's like your whole life flashes before your eyes, and you
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think back to that nine-year-old self, saying to yourself, I want to be up there
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making people feel the way I feel right now one day. And I'm so grateful to this
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wonderful team for giving me that chance to do that
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