Making a musical out of war and Peace might seem like a fool's errand. All those pages. All those subplots. All those Russian names. Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, Dave Malloy's cheeky pop-rock version of (at least a portion of) Tolstoy's novel, helps out on the name front with a cute opening number that introduces the characters with primer-like directness ("Helene's a slut, Anatole's hot, Sonya's good..."). The show gets playgoers into the mood by seating them at tables in a faux Russian supper club and feeding them borscht and blini. And it scatters the action everywhere: on ribbonlike stages that snake through the club, in the aisles, even right at your table.
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