A mighty little musical

donmar warehouse

Dave Malloy’s award-winning sung-through musical version of a short but eventful section of Tolstoy’s War and Peace has taken ten years to travel from Broadway, but the critics thought it was worth the wait. With some exceptions, they loved the music, the production (directed by Tim Sheader) and the performances. So, another hit for Mr Sheader in his first season as Artistic Director of The Donmar.

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Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (5★) was captivated: ‘both epic and intimate, vast and tiny. It is magnificent, infinite riches in a little room.’ She concluded, ‘It’s a riveting journey, true to Tolstoy’s themes yet compressing his mighty thoughts into one of the best new musicals for years, both hugely entertaining and deeply intelligent.’

Marianka Swain at LondonTheatre (5★) described it thus: ‘Dave Malloy’s gonzo, knowing, blisteringly funny and wildly creative chamber opera only takes one small section of the novel, and although it is undoubtedly, excitingly ambitious, this big-hearted show invites the audience into his dazzling world.’ She continued: ‘the most luminous element by far is the fantastic cast and onstage band laying into Malloy’s magpie score, which brilliantly fuses Slavic folk with EDM, rock-pop, jazz, and yearning ballads.’

Claire Allfree for the Telegraph (5★) said, ‘Malloy’s score is a gypsy carnival of sound…The singing throughout is outstanding and allows for expressive individual moments’.

Debbie Gilpin at BroadwayWorld (5★) found ‘The heady mix of ballads and uptempo numbers, not to mention drama and comedy, in the relatively intimate environment of the Donmar makes for a unique musical theatre experience.’

Arifa Akbar in The Guardian (4★) called it a ‘dynamic new production, which has stratospheric levels of energy’ but tempered her praise by saying, ‘the show is held back by its own polished larkiness though it is hugely and amusingly original all the same.’ She concluded, ‘this is a terrific creation and at its best it soars.’

‘Sparkling and strange, Dave Malloy’s EDM-fuelled rock opera is a thing to marvel at’ declared The Independent’s Alice Saville (4★). She went on, ‘Malloy’s … musical is a masterclass in prosody, with its often-thin lyrics given emotional heft and depth by orchestration choices, which elicit their meaning.’

Laurie Yule writing for The Stage (4★) picked out ‘Most notable, though, are the jaw-dropping performances from an energetic and passionate ensemble.’ Andrzej Lukowski of Time Out (4★) called it ‘one of the great musicals of our day’.

There were dissenters. The Standard’s Nick Curtis (3★) described it as a ‘massively audacious, massively pretentious musical’. Clive Davis of The Times (3) was unmoved: ‘if its sheer theatricality is never less than dazzling, the relentlessly quirky tone…kept me at a distance from the characters. I laughed, I grinned, but I never really felt inclined to shed a tear.’

Critics’ average rating 4.7★

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 can be seen at The Donmar Warehouse until 8 February 2025.  Buy tickets direct from The Donmar Warehouse

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