Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

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Martin Jenich Photography

"Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812," produced by Capital City Theatre.

media release: Capital City Theatre, Madison’s professional regional Equity musical theater company, is pleased to present the regional premiere of the Tony award-winning musical, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 at the pastoral Four Winds Farm in Fitchburg June 3-12, 2022. The originally scheduled run has sold out! However, a 2 pm matinee on June 11 was just added; tickets are on sale at CapitalCityTheatre.org for $59 each.

Created by three-time Tony Award® nominee Dave Malloy, The Great Comet was the most Tony Award-nominated show of the 2016-17 Broadway season. In 2020, the show’s license agreement extended to professional theatre organizations, allowing theater enthusiasts to enjoy an acclaimed Broadway production in their own community. This is the first time The Great Comet has come to Wisconsin.

In this fully immersive experience, the audience will find themselves transported to a Russian tavern in the early 19^th century. With music and performances unfolding before, behind, above and around, theatre guests will further enjoy tasty delicacies, with beer and wine available for purchase along with a specialty cocktail. To purchase tickets, go to capitalcitytheatre.org

Inspired by a 70-page slice of War and Peace, The Great Comet features a thrilling mix of rock, pop, soul, electronic dance music and classic Broadway. Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation.

Following a critically exalted premiere at Ars Nova in New York City, a subsequent Off-Broadway transfer, and an acclaimed run on Broadway, this award-winning musical expands the possibilities for the genre with is daring score and bold storytelling.

This “vibrant, thrillingly imagined new musical” (NY Times) is “stunning and blazingly original” (Entertainment Weekly) and brings us inches from Tolstoy’s brash young lovers as they light up Moscow in a “heaven-sent fireball” (NY Times) of romance and passion. “One of the decade’s best musicals” (Time Out NY), The Great Comet has rousing music and ravishing performances.

“I saw the Off-Broadway production of this in 2013 and was transformed by it! It is truly stunning,” said Andrew Abrams, Performance director and artistic director. “I felt like I was part of the story and vowed to someday bring this show to Capital City Theatre as soon as the rights were available.”

The Venue

The newly restored historic barn at Four Winds Farm in Fitchburg delivers big on character and charm. The cavernous loft, 30-feet high rustic beams and cathedral-style windows are the perfect backdrop, placing The Great Comet audience in the center of an early 19^th century Russian tavern.

The Production

Founded in 2014, Capital City Theatre, an Equity LORT D/SPT company brings professional Broadway and community performers together and offers musical theatre education through Conservatory training. Capital City Theatre’s production of …Great Comet assembles a seasoned, local production team and a company of 25 professional actors and musicians from Madison and around the country.

Andrew Abrams, director, has worked Off-Broadway, regionally, and on tour as a professional director, musical director, conductor, composer and Equity actor. Off-Broadway: Between the Lines (York Theater), Pirates of Penzance (New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players). Tours: Cinderella (with Eartha Kitt), State Fair (with John Davidson), Cabaret (with Andrew McCardle), Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fiddler on the Roof (with Theodore Bikel). Regionally: Masterclass (with Rosemary Prinz), Mikado (Theatre Virginia) and numerous others.

Abrams holds a bachelor of music degree from UW-Madison and a master of arts in musical theater from University of London-Goldsmiths. He is a graduate of the advanced year of the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop in New York City, where he wrote But I’m a Cheerleader, the Musical, which showcased in Trafalgar Square at West End Live in June, 2021, and had its first commercial production at the Turbine Theatre in London in February, 2022.

Even Lange, musical director, is a composer and pianist in the Madison area. Recent Capital City Theatre credits include The World Goes ‘Round, Edges, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill…, Carrie, and On the Town. Lange’s work as a musical director throughout the Madison theatre community includes The Last Five Years (SPTG), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (MPC), All Shook Up (MPT), Legally Blond (MPT), Urinetown (SPHS), Mamma Mia! (SPHS), and Cabaret, (Out!Cast/StageQ). Lange is regularly involved with Capital City Theatre Conservatory’s educational programs and classes, as well as collaborating with the choral music programs at Sauk Prairie and Monona Grove high schools.

Sabra Michelle, choreographer, has several choreography credits for Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions but is best known for playing leading ladies in musicals including Lola (Damn Yankees), Cassie (A Chorus Line), Roxie (Chicago), and many others. Sabra was a featured dancer on Norwegian Cruise Line’s “Pride of America”; performed “Steam Heat” on the National tour of The Pajama Game; danced at President Clinton’s Inauguration in George Faison’s “KING! A Musical Testimony” with Maya Angelou; and plays herself on Disney’s “Bear in the Big Blue House Live!” video (released by Jim Henson/Columbia Tristar), with whom she toured the world for three seasons. In New York City, Sabra also did philanthropic work for Broadway Cares, performed in Jerry Mitchell’s “Broadway Bares” and founded “The Cougar Ball”, a gala fundraiser for The Actors Fund’s Women's Health Initiative. In Madison, Sabra is known for her choreography and teaching with CTM, Monona Academy of Dance, Disney Musicals in Schools, and Capital City Theatre, with whom she played Tessie Tura in Gypsy and Flossie/Lucy Schmeeler in On the Town. She is a proud union member of IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) local 251, and a licensed realtor.

Important to Note…

All venue staff, company members and production staff are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Capital City Theatre productions are compliant with all public health order requirements from Public Health Madison & Dane County, Wisconsin. Proof of vaccination or negative PCR COVID-19 test within 72 hours of performance are required for all audience members.