So this is kind of an interesting one... I haven't seen this play... but on Apple Music I found that they have the soundtrack to the original cast recording of The Great Comet of 1812- before it was on Broadway... So in 2013 it was off broadway and then now there is a Broadway musical currently starring Josh Groban as Pierre... I'm not sure who plays Natasha... but I'm mostly going to talk about the female characters in this and mainly Natasha played by the amazing Phillipa Soo, who has played many strong female roles since then including Eliza Hamilton in Hamilton and currently Amelie in the musical adaptation of Amelie! I haven't seen that movie yet... but it is on Netflix so I think that review will be coming soon!
Anyway... this is going to be a little bit spoilery... I don't really see how I can go through this without spoiling it all. I haven't seen the broadway play... so this might be totally different when you see it on stage and they might have changed it a little from the off broadway production... I know Hamilton cut and changed a lot of songs from when they were in The Public to when they were on Broadway... I like musicals but I don't see a ton of musicals... so I'm not that sure about the differences or anything along those lines!
So the story takes place in Russia in 1812. There's a war, Natasha is engaged to Andrey- one of the finest matches in all of Russia... but Andrey isn't there and Natasha kind of ruins their engagement basically... but I think throughout the play you can see her as a sympathetic character also and there is some forgiveness for her at the end of the play... which I thought was pretty cool!
It didn't really strike me as a feminist play while I was listening to it... but the characters are all female pretty much... and the women characters are mostly protagonists and the male characters are kind of antagonists... which doesn't make anything any more feminist or misogynistic... but it does sort of show that there are so many different kinds of women and they all do something different for the play.
One good example is Natasha's cousin and best friend Sonya... she isn't one of the main characters, but she has a brilliant solo about how she'll stay loyal to Natasha and she won't let Natasha ruin herself. The song is called Sonya Alone and it is really quite powerful and this is what we should think of female friendships. I mentioned in my blog about the song hey girl by Lady Gaga that there is a lot of competition in female friendships... this shows "no, I'm not competing with her... I don't have an agenda... I just want to support my friend and I want her to have the best life that she can... even if she isn't really being nice to me." I thought that was powerful.
That song is basically a foil to Helene's almost-solo Charmante... where she plays to Natasha's vanity and she's saying how pretty she is and that she should have fun because she is so pretty and even though she's engaged she shouldn't hide herself. Helene is only focusing on Natasha's looks... which Natasha seems to take great pride in. And most of the character's don't care about Natasha as a person aside from her beauty and her youth. Sonya, Marya and Pierre all think of her as more of that... but even Natasha doesn't really see anything besides her beauty and her youth.
In the song Pierre and Natasha, Pierre comes to visit Natasha and he kind of understands what she is going through. His brother in law is the one that wronged Natasha and it's easy to kind of get brainwashed by him and Helene. He says that he forgives her and that in another life he would wish to be with her... even though she has ruined her reputation... and by *spoilers* poisoning herself- she doesn't look as beautiful as she did before... but Pierre can still relate to her and he still loves her.
Ohhh one last character I almost forgot... she's not in the play all that long... but there is some sort of competitive element here is Princess Mary... Mary is Andrey's sister who still lives with their father who is aging and forgetting things... and he is abusive to Mary... but Mary still loves him and takes care of him. She is frustrated because she can't get married because this is what she is doing with her life...and she is a little resentful of Natasha because Natasha is so young, beautiful and fashionable... and Natasha doesn't like Princess Mary because Mary is so plain and Natasha is very vain and concerned about beauty. It was just a good scene. I thought the Princess Mary character was relatable if you've been in this situation or not... they really paint the picture well and Mary is a strong character that doesn't really have a strong voice. She's a heartbreaking character along the lines of Anjelica Schuyler from Hamilton... I wish she was in the soundtrack a little bit more... and I kind of wonder if she's in the play any longer... because it just seemed like she was noticeably missing from a lot of the play.
Again... I don't want to spoil this too much and hopefully I didn't really... but it is definitely worth listening to if you can't see the play for yourself... and it's something I'm interested in seeing sometime because it was really entertaining and even though the story takes place in the 19th century... there are a lot of feminist ideas that are relevant today.
Byeee!
-Shannon
Anyway... this is going to be a little bit spoilery... I don't really see how I can go through this without spoiling it all. I haven't seen the broadway play... so this might be totally different when you see it on stage and they might have changed it a little from the off broadway production... I know Hamilton cut and changed a lot of songs from when they were in The Public to when they were on Broadway... I like musicals but I don't see a ton of musicals... so I'm not that sure about the differences or anything along those lines!
So the story takes place in Russia in 1812. There's a war, Natasha is engaged to Andrey- one of the finest matches in all of Russia... but Andrey isn't there and Natasha kind of ruins their engagement basically... but I think throughout the play you can see her as a sympathetic character also and there is some forgiveness for her at the end of the play... which I thought was pretty cool!
It didn't really strike me as a feminist play while I was listening to it... but the characters are all female pretty much... and the women characters are mostly protagonists and the male characters are kind of antagonists... which doesn't make anything any more feminist or misogynistic... but it does sort of show that there are so many different kinds of women and they all do something different for the play.
One good example is Natasha's cousin and best friend Sonya... she isn't one of the main characters, but she has a brilliant solo about how she'll stay loyal to Natasha and she won't let Natasha ruin herself. The song is called Sonya Alone and it is really quite powerful and this is what we should think of female friendships. I mentioned in my blog about the song hey girl by Lady Gaga that there is a lot of competition in female friendships... this shows "no, I'm not competing with her... I don't have an agenda... I just want to support my friend and I want her to have the best life that she can... even if she isn't really being nice to me." I thought that was powerful.
That song is basically a foil to Helene's almost-solo Charmante... where she plays to Natasha's vanity and she's saying how pretty she is and that she should have fun because she is so pretty and even though she's engaged she shouldn't hide herself. Helene is only focusing on Natasha's looks... which Natasha seems to take great pride in. And most of the character's don't care about Natasha as a person aside from her beauty and her youth. Sonya, Marya and Pierre all think of her as more of that... but even Natasha doesn't really see anything besides her beauty and her youth.
In the song Pierre and Natasha, Pierre comes to visit Natasha and he kind of understands what she is going through. His brother in law is the one that wronged Natasha and it's easy to kind of get brainwashed by him and Helene. He says that he forgives her and that in another life he would wish to be with her... even though she has ruined her reputation... and by *spoilers* poisoning herself- she doesn't look as beautiful as she did before... but Pierre can still relate to her and he still loves her.
Ohhh one last character I almost forgot... she's not in the play all that long... but there is some sort of competitive element here is Princess Mary... Mary is Andrey's sister who still lives with their father who is aging and forgetting things... and he is abusive to Mary... but Mary still loves him and takes care of him. She is frustrated because she can't get married because this is what she is doing with her life...and she is a little resentful of Natasha because Natasha is so young, beautiful and fashionable... and Natasha doesn't like Princess Mary because Mary is so plain and Natasha is very vain and concerned about beauty. It was just a good scene. I thought the Princess Mary character was relatable if you've been in this situation or not... they really paint the picture well and Mary is a strong character that doesn't really have a strong voice. She's a heartbreaking character along the lines of Anjelica Schuyler from Hamilton... I wish she was in the soundtrack a little bit more... and I kind of wonder if she's in the play any longer... because it just seemed like she was noticeably missing from a lot of the play.
Again... I don't want to spoil this too much and hopefully I didn't really... but it is definitely worth listening to if you can't see the play for yourself... and it's something I'm interested in seeing sometime because it was really entertaining and even though the story takes place in the 19th century... there are a lot of feminist ideas that are relevant today.
Byeee!
-Shannon
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