Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

When it comes to theater, is bigger necessarily better? One need only to look to last season's brilliant downsized revival of the previously bloated musical "The Color Purple" as the latest example of a trend of smaller productions that have delighted both audiences and producers on The Great White Way for over a decade.

So when the announcement was made last season that the intimate very Off-Broadway musical "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" was slated for a commercial run in one of Broadway's larger theaters with pop crooner Josh Groban as its star, I immediately cried "fiasco." The entire idea seemed to make about as much artistic sense as booking cellist Yo-Yo Ma to play an Aerosmith medley for the halftime show at the Super Bowl -- right material, wrong venue, wrong star.

Was I ever wrong.

I am thrilled to report that the Broadway incarnation of "...the Comet of 1812" with its larger ensemble, bigger set, more complex effects and star, has not only arrived intact, it's actually been improved upon. In expanding the physical production to fit the larger space, director Rachel Chavkin and her design team (many whom are holdovers from the much smaller Off-Broadway productions) have paradoxically created greater intimacy through the augmentation.

Based upon a 70-page section of "War and Peace," the story line for "...the Comet of 1812" focuses on Natasha (the sublime Denee Benton), a young girl from the country engaged to Andrey, a soldier fighting in the war against France. She comes to Moscow with her cousin Sonya (Brittain Ashford) to meet her betrothed's family but ends up becoming seduced, not only by the excitement of the city, but also by a handsome and morally bereft rogue named Anatole (Lucas Steele).

Fate intervenes and Natasha is spared Anatole's plans, but not at the cost of her engagement to Andrey and reputation. Emotionally desolate, she is rescued by the kindness of Pierre (Groban). Both characters are redeemed from their self-loathing in the only scene in the play where they meet.

All of this is told in composer/lyricist David Malloy's electro pop-infused through-composed score that plays on a variety of styles ranging from pop, Broadway, dance rave, folk, slavic folk music, cossack drinking songs and more.

As with previous "Comet" productions, director Chavkin has blurred the boundaries of the stage and audience space to a point where one doesn't exist without the other. Banquettes and cabaret tables take up most of the traditional playing space, which pushes the performers into the aisles, runways, boxes and sometimes the audience members' laps.

All of this is physically realized by scenic Designer Mimi Lien's environmental "Russian salon on steroids" design with plush red velvet walls, hundreds of paintings and Russian Orthodox religious icons accentuated by scores of sputnik chandeliers hanging from the theater's ceiling.

Equally bold is Paloma Young's costume design that mixes silk empire-style gowns and czarist military uniforms with steampunk-modeled Russian bear masks and post-Soviet era club kid wear.

Most of the original cast from the 2012 world premiere at Ars Nova have remained with the show -- notably the smokey-voiced Brittain Ashford and sultry Amber Gray. Lucas Steele, who won a Lucille Lortel Award for his portrayal of the self-absorbed Anatole, also arrives on Broadway in top form.

New to the production are the show's title characters.

Denee Benton brings seemingly boundless youthful energy to the naive and immature Natasha. Armed with the voice of a seraphim, her Natasha bursts on stage with the confidence that only a young girl who's pretty and knows it can muster. Her fall from grace into obsession and later despair is compelling and heartbreaking.

And while he was far from the most logical choice to play the brooding Pierre, adult contemporary pop star Josh Groban makes a splendid Broadway debut in this production.

Masked in a fat suit, beard and matted hair, Groban almost literally disappears into the character. And while composer Malloy wrote the epically gorgeous six-minute soliloquy "Dust and Ashes" to show off the show's leading man's glorious pipes, for the most part, Groban acts his way through the score, eschewing his signature vibrato for a more suitable grittier tone. His Pierre's journey from cynic to savior skillfully and subtly carries the heartbeat of this extraordinary production.

Size queens, rejoice! In the case of "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812," bigger is indeed better. The most exciting and innovative musical of the 2013 season has arrived as the most exciting and innovative musical of the 2016 season, and perhaps the decade.

This story is part of our special report: "Tony-Nominated Shows". Want to read more? Here's the full list.