GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — From the Great White Way to Green Bay, Wisconsin; an eccentric musical based on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace brings a stunning spectacle of a performance to The Fine Arts Institute at Green Bay East High School.
It’s called Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.
“We’re very lucky to get the chance to introduce this show to everyone, because it’s a little more niche,” said Senior Astrou Gartzke, who plays Pierre. No other high school in Wisconsin has ever performed this show.
“When I told my family I explained the entire title; that took a little bit,” said senior stage manager Claire Petersen with a laugh. “They were like, ‘War and Peace? You’re doing that? You’re 17.’”
The story centers on just a 70 page sliver of the almost 1400 page epic novel from the 1860s, though told through a very unconventional lens.
“It’s this crazy, wild, techno-opera, sung through with chandeliers and frames all over the auditorium!” explained junior Lorelei Mariucci.
The plot follows 19 year old Natasha, played by Mariucci, as she falls in love with a man despite her engagement to another man. Pierre intervenes to save Natasha and her family from further scandal in the wake of his own redemption.
Described as the biggest show they’ve ever done, Director Lindsay Tippins says this show allows students to expand their emotional depth in a different way than their previous shows like The Lightning Thief, The Little Mermaid, and Matilda.
“It has a lot of darker themes in it about, like, a woman’s reputation in the 1800s. It was such a cool challenge for the kids,” said Tippins. “And they were so invested not only in the musical, but they all got into War and Peace and what’s the resolution of their characters at the end of the novel.”
Mariucci says immersing yourself in the world beyond the script creates a more 3-dimensional character.
“On paper, a character like mine, might look very shallow. I left my [fiancé] and I’m having an affair,” she said. “But there’s so much more to that that you can discover through acting and through singing and through the research.”
The cast of 50+ students did research in other ways, too. Gartzke went through every lyric with a fine tooth comb to analyze it’s meaning and in turn shape his portrayal of Pierre.
“In the duel after Dolokov says ‘my turn’, as in its his turn to shoot me, I repeat ‘my turn’ and it’s like, it’s my time, I’ve accepted my fate, I’m ready to go,” said Gartzke. “It’s one of those deeper moments.”
Now that they’ve put in the hard work, Tippins says the students and the community get to enjoy the payoff of a great performance.
“Doing a show that’s so dramatic; I knew that this is the group of kids that could handle it,” she said.
After opening last weekend, there are two more chances to see the performance from the first group of Wisconsin high schoolers put on Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.
You can get tickets online for $10, or $7 if you’re a student for Friday night’s performance at 7 p.m. or Saturday afternoon’s performance at 1 p.m.
