Josh Groban-Led Great Comet Announces Full Broadway Cast

Full casting has been announced for the upcoming Broadway production of Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, the acclaimed musical inspired by a small section of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. The Great Comet, starring Josh Groban and Denée Benton, will play the Imperial Theatre beginning the first week of October, with opening night set for November 14.

Benton and Groban will lead the company in the title roles, alongside Brittain Ashford as Sonya, Gelsey Bell as Princess Mary, Nicholas Belton as Bolonsky/Andrey, Nick Choksi as Dolokhov, Amber Gray as Helene, Grace McLean as Marya D, Paul Pinto as Balaga, Lucas Steele as Anatole, and Scott Stangland as the standby for Pierre. The ensemble includes Sumayya Ali, Courtney Bassett, Josh Canfield, Ken Clark, Erica Dorfler, Lulu Fall, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Nick Gaswirth, Azudi Onyejekwe, Pearl Rhein, Heath Saunders, Katrina Yaukey, and Lauren Zakrin. Ashford, Bell, Choksi, Clark, Gray, McLean, Onyejekwe, Pinto, Steele, and Zakrin all appeared in the show's off-Broadway mountings.

Rachel Chavkin will direct the production, which features choreography by Sam Pinkleton, set design by Mimi Lien, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Bradley King, sound design by Nicholas Pope, music supervision by Sonny Paladino, and musical direction by Or Matias.

The Great Comet was originally commissioned and developed at Ars Nova in NYC where it had its world premiere in the fall of 2012, and was transferred to a custom-built venue in the Meatpacking District for the summer of 2013. The show and the entire venue was transferred to the Theater District where it continued its run into the spring of 2014. It played a pre-Broadway engagement in 2015 at American Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts.