When the new musical Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, a modern telling of a slice of Tolstoy’s War Peace, opened in New York recently, it took Broadway by storm and garnered no less than 12 Tony nominations. But because of the pandemic, not many people outside of New York have seen the musical, which mashes-up Russian folk music, indie rock, electro-pop and EDM.
Victoria Bussert, who has directed scores of musicals forIdaho Shakespeare Festival,is particularly excited to stage what many consider to be a modern classic.
“It is a musical unlike any you may have seen here or anywhere. It was groundbreaking, really, in terms of opening new doors to what this art form could be. And it's an incredibly exciting piece to not only direct, but to be a part of because the audience literally is part of it.”
Bussert joined Jessi Kirtley, who plays Natasha, and Alex Syiek, who plays Pierre, to visit with Morning Edition host George Prentice to preview the show which will fill the amphitheater this summer.
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. Good morning. I'm George Prentice. To be sure, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival lights up the night each summer. But hold the phone. Here comes Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812…the new musical, which took Broadway by storm a few seasons back. I can attest to that. I was lucky enough to see the Great Comet in New York. It got plenty of rave reviews, no less than 12 Tony nominations. Putting stars in our eyes at the amphitheater this summer are Alex Syiek; he plays Pierre. Jessi Kirtley is Natasha, and Victoria Bussert is director of this much anticipated production. Good morning to you all.
VICTORIA BUSSERT: Good morning.
PRENTICE: Vicki. For our audience, first of all, this is…I think it's fair to say that this is a new classic.
BUSSERT: 100% and it is a musical unlike any you may have seen here or anywhere. It is…it was groundbreaking, really, in terms of opening new doors to what this art form could be. And it's an incredibly exciting piece to not only direct, but to be a part of because the audience literally is part of it.
PRENTICE: For our audience, can you bring them up to speed? Just tease them a little bit. This is an adaptation of a slice of Tolstoy's War and Peace.
BUSSERT: Yes. And I think it's important to say it's just a slice. It's a 70-page slice of War and Peace. But it is really a classic story about a young woman finding herself and, you know, and not really older. And Pierre…we think of him as middle aged. But actually, if we look at Tolstoy's Pierre… at this point in the novel, he's only 27, but it's a middle-aged man looking for his journey in life as well and how they ultimately intersect.
PRENTICE: Jessi Kirtley, this is your debut with Idaho Shakespeare.
JESSI KIRTLEY: Yes, Yes, it is pretty exciting.
PRENTICE: You are. Natasha. If we dust off our Tolstoy, we'll remember that she's…. I think it's fair to say she's a bit innocent. Betrothed to Pierre's best friend, she quickly falls in love with, or so she thinks, with another man. But whether it is 1812 or 2023, stuff happens, right? Sparks fly. There are conflicted feelings and the evolution of a young woman.
KIRTLEY: So true. It's I mean, I think Natasha is so important for young women or young men to see and watch, to see that, you know, not everybody has the best intentions and you need to protect yourself and your peace and that even if things do go wrong, life goes on and we can start over and find new love and that the world just has so much for us to explore.
PRENTICE: Alex, so good to have you back on the program. Pierre…is well, he's a bit lost when we when we meet him. I, I think of one of the lyrics… I jotted some notes down just a couple of minutes ago. See if I get this right. “If I die here tonight, I die in my sleep. And I'm so ready to wake up now.”
ALEX SYIEK: Yeah, We just worked on staging that number yesterday and I was telling some people who were asking about the show just yesterday how rewarding this process has been so far. And just digging in deep to that kind of poetry, you know, and the full context of that line is essentially… this quote that is in an earlier part of War and Peace, spoken by an entirely different character who says, basically, “Until we fall in love, we are asleep. So I realize in this moment that if I were to die here, I'm still sleeping. I haven't found love. I haven't found my purpose.” It's tragic, but it's beautiful, as is most of Tolstoy and Russian literature.
PRENTICE: And Alex, your character, is a bit of a vessel for us, right? As far as discovery and …I think that's the contemporary connection.
SYIEK: Just from the staging and composition of the piece… to have Pierre open up the show by introducing the audience to the setting. There's the opening line of the show. “There's a war going on somewhere out there and Andre isn't here.” The two most important things you need to know for the rest of the evening.
PRENTICE: Victoria, talk to me about this wonderfully crazy music. Russian folk, classical, indie rock, electropop, EDM. How are you going to do this?
BUSSERT: Well, I'm blessed with an extraordinary cast who can handle all these styles. And my partner in crime music director Matt Webb. So, it is so much fun exploring all these different styles because all of these different styles speak to our emotions differently. It's fascinating to me that Dave Malloy, who wrote the entire piece, you know, was working as a music director on a cruise ship and decided to crack open war and peace because he thought it would be a great way for him to stay in contact with his girlfriend. So, she was on land reading War and Peace, and he was on the ship reading War and Peace and suddenly had this idea that this section would make for a really extraordinary musical. And because of his background in so many different musical styles, he pulled from all of them. And I think what that does is it energizes this piece in a way that is so unusual. It you know, oftentimes with musicals, I'm thinking of Sondheim, who is somebody else who, you know, I treasure. But, you know, Sondheim will write in a certain musical form for an entire musical. Well, Dave Malloy threw it all at this piece. And we are transported everywhere, literally, you know, into grand Russian opera and then into electric pop. It's crazy,the range that he has incorporated into this piece.
PRENTICE: Jessi Kirtley, this is a workout. How are you with heat?
KIRTLEY: You know, I grew up in Atlanta, so I'm not too scared of it.
PRENTICE: And Alex, what can you tell Jessi about Idaho audiences?
SYIEK: Oh, they're my favorite. You know, they come to have a good time like they come as families, as friends, as big groups. They come with their picnic baskets, their alcohol, you know, like they're here to have a good time. And so, I think this show in particular is really going to feed into that because what Vicki. Vicki said about the audience really being a part of the piece. We're you know, for those of the audience that might be a little scared of audience participation, just come prepared.
PRENTICE: Vicki, the penultimate moment, of course, is this comet. Some saw the comet as fear or dread. But the takeaway from this show is that it's also the possibility of enlightenment.
BUSSERT: Exactly. And we are building our own comet from scratch. I saw it yesterday in the shop, and it is the most remarkable. I don't even know how to describe it. It's huge. It's 12ft across. And both the lighting designer and the scenic designer worked on this together to create to design literally our own comet for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival stage. It is stunning.
PRENTICE: Jess, most college students, between their junior and senior year, take a breather. You're still in college. You're about to enter your senior year in the fall. While doing this production here and again in Cleveland.
KIRTLEY: Yeah, I mean, the school has been so amazingly supportive. They know what a great opportunity this is for students to learn on a real professional stage and really get creative with people that have been doing this longer than I have. So, I'm blessed that everyone seems to be on our side and ready to create some awesome art at the same time that we're learning.
PRENTICE: Jess Kirtley is Natasha and Alex Syiek is Pierre and Victoria Bussert is bringing us this amazing production. Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. The sun goes down, and the lights come up on the Great Comet. A preview is on Thursday, August 4th. Opening night is August 5th. Performances run through Saturday, August 26th. Great good luck with this. Talk about hot. This will be the hottest ticket in town. Early congrats to all of you. And thanks for giving me some time this morning.
BUSSERT: Take care.
KIRTLEY: Bye bye.
SYIEK: Bye bye.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
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