Theatre 2025: Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (redux) @ Royal Alex

We watched Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 in January 2024 when it was first mounted at Crow’s Guloein Theatre.  That show was breathtaking with some of the best staging and use of intimate space that we had ever encountered. Configured as a thrust stage with the audience on 3 sides sitting in about 8 rows of stadium seating, as well as a few cabaret-style floor seats with tables on the sides, everyone was relatively close to the action.  Actors weaved across the floor and up and down the aisles, occasionally interacting with audience members.   I wrote extensively about this musical the first time that I saw it.  You can read about that here: https://torontohappenings.blogspot.com/2024/01/theatre-2024-natasha-pierre-and-great.html  

I will not describe it in depth again but will merely point out the differences in experience for the remounting of the show by Mirvish Productions as part of their 2024/25 Subscription Series.  Since just about the entire cast from the Crow's production has returned to reprise their roles, the difference will mainly be staging and choreography in the new space. 

When it was announced that the show would play at the much larger and less configurable Royal Alexandra Theatre, I felt some skepticism that we would have the same immersive and exciting experience.  The original show was just about perfect, with the one exception of the appearance of the “great” comet which came across as a bit of a dud. I was interested to see how the set design for this new space would compare to the magic achieved from the staging of the first production and whether we would get a more impressive comet, closer to the experience on Broadway.

Two rows consisting of around 15 seats were placed on either side of the Royal Alex stage to simulate the immersive staging from the Crow’s production and to give the actors access to audience members for the “audience participation” moments built into the show.  These seats must have been popular since they were all snapped up very quickly after being put on sale.  While this might give the seat-holders a unique, up-close experience, these are not the best seats for viewing and appreciating the show since you mostly get to see the sides and backs of the actors.  Meanwhile most of the over 1200 stadium seats that face the stage (including two levels of balcony) are too far away to feel part of the action like we did at Crow’s Theatre.  Even though our seats at the front of the Dress Circle offered us a great view, we were not close enough replicate the immersive environment from our first viewing of the show. 

Yet, the 1907 Royal Alexandra Theatre, designed in Beaux-Arts architecture, provides a fitting backdrop for this show in terms of elegance and lavish décor.  Its crystal chandeliers, elaborately carved railings, gilded plasterwork, ruby red chairs and red velour wallpaper perfectly complement the set design for Natasha, which features red velvet draped walls and cantilevered balconies and boxes leading to steep staircases on either side of the stage.  From that perspective, it felt like the staging was an extension of the theatre.

Whether it was the larger space and being farther away, or the loss of the anticipation and suspense that was present when I watched the musical for the first time, this new staging did not have the same wow factor for me.  The larger stage changed the choreography and movement of the actors and in my opinion, not for the better.  At Crow’s Theatre, during a big party scene, all the actors crowded together onto a tiny platform and then several men proceeded to do a version of the Russian squat dance while lined up in a row.  I remember being amazed that they did not fall off or kick one another.  This was missing in the same scene at the Royal Alex and the actors were much more spread out.  Another highlight for me in the original production was the advance of Balaga the Trokia Driver as he and Anatole approached on his sleigh to carry Natasha away.  The choreography in the Royal Alex production seemed less exciting and felt a bit flat in comparison.

Finally, we come to the Great Comet, which was the only part of the staging at Crow’s Theatre that I was disappointed in.  I found that comet to be more “Underwhelming” than “Great”.  At Royal Alex, the staging was better.  The round mirror at the back of the stage was transformed into the comet which glowed a bit as stage lights aimed at it to produce streaks.  Beneath this, a row of lights shone, perhaps to represent the path of the comet.  This would have been more effective had this row of lights not shone in other scenes and if a brighter light could have emanated from the orb.  But at least we now had a “Good” comet.  We had a direct view of this stagecraft since our dress circle seats put us at eye level with the mirror.  In retrospect, perhaps that mirror shone a little bit at Crow’s as well but since we were sitting closer to ground level, we did not notice so it couldn’t have been that bright.

Although I could not recapture the same magic that I felt the first time that I watched it, this is still a wonderful original musical with luscious sets, great singing and dancing and interesting staging.  I’m sure those who watch this version for the first time would love it as much as I did on my first viewing.

Theatre 2025: Back to the Future Musical @ Ed Mirvish Theatre

Back to the Future the Musical is based on the iconic 1985 hit movie starring Michael J. Fox as Marty Mcfly, Christopher Lloyd as the mad professor/inventor Dr. Emmett Brown, Lea Thompson as Marty’s mother Lorraine, Crispin Glover as his father George and Tom Wilson as the town bully Biff. Most of the plot is the same in the musical adaptation compared to the movie.  Marty is a cool, skateboarding, guitar-playing 17-year-old living in Hill Valley, California.  He has a girlfriend Jennifer and the dreams of being a professional musician.  He is dragged down by the reputation of his sad-sack family including a meek, spineless push-over for a father, an alcoholic mother, a loser brother who works at McDonalds and a wallflower sister. While visiting his friend Doc Brown, Marty is accidentally transported to 1955 in Brown’s Delorean time machine.  Marty inadvertently interferes with the historical timeline so that his father and mother may no longer fall in love, marry and have children.  Marty needs to rectify the situation before he and his siblings cease to exist.  Doc figures out how to transport Marty back to the future using a lightning strike to generate power in the time machine’s “flux capacitor”.  But first Marty needs to instill enough courage and confidence in a young George to woo Lorraine so that they fall in love.

Some changes from the movie were made when adapting the musical in order to better suit a live stage production and to reflect shifts in social norms. In the movie, Doc is killed by Libyan terrorists from whom he stole the plutonium needed to power the time machine. These days it is less politically correct to randomly portray foreign countries in a villainous manner and the car chase depicted in the movie would have been difficult to recreate.  In the musical, Doc is killed by plutonium poisoning caused by a tear in his protective suit.  Similarly, the movie scene where Biff and his goons careen through town in his car while chasing Marty on his skateboard has been changed to a foot chase through the school and on top of lockers.  Marty’s use of his skateboard in this show is cut down to a minimum.

Other plot changes highlight advancement in technology in the 40 years since Back to the Future first came out in 1985 or add more depth to the story.  The DeLorean is now voice activated and programmed to only respond to Doc’s voice.  This makes it impossible for Marty control the time machine to get help for a dying Doc or to return to the future once he is transported to 1955.  The role of Goldie Wilson who rises from bus boy in a diner in 1955 to mayor of the town in 1985, is greatly expanded in the musical.  Goldie is given the song “Gotta Start Somewhere” which describes his ambitions and drive while trying to help George increase his self-esteem and stand up for himself.

While the musical retains the iconic songs from the movie including Dream Angel, Johnny B. Goode and Power of Love, it obviously adds new songs, many written in 50s and 60s doowop style.  The song “Cake” sung by the 1955 townspeople of Hill Valley is especially ironic as they cluelessly laud the uses of super-leaded gas and fossil fuels, DDT insecticides, filtered cigarettes, and asbestos for housing insulation.  The song’s title refers to the adage “Have your cake and eat it too” while enthusing that it is the woman’s role to bake that cake.  Some of the memorable lines from the movie have been turned into songs including Doc celebrating the success of his time machine by proclaiming “It Works” and Marty worrying that he is “Future Boy” while stuck in the past.  While the Calvin Klein underwear joke from the movie did not become a song, it is reprised in a dialogue scene in the musical.

Some of my favourite songs from the musical explore the inner thoughts, fears and dreams of the characters.  Marty sings “Hello, Is Anyone Home” as he laments about his pathetic family who join in the song.  His father advises that if you don’t try, you can’t fail, his brother brags that his job allows him to say the important line “You want fries with that”, his sister just wants to date and his mother to drink.  My other favourite song “Something About That Boy” is first sung by Lorraine as she gushes about her crush on Marty (not realizing this is her future son) and later by Biff as he seeks revenge for Marty punching him.

The music is fun and the songs do a good job of advancing the plot while the dialogue (and subsequent delivery) come across as a bit corny and over the top.  But the real star of this show is the almost life-sized Delorean time machine and the video special effects used to make it appear to race through time and space.  The car “speeds forward”, spins and even “flies” in the final scene, as shown the movie.  The only flaw in the effects came in the big finale when Marty “drives 88”, connects with the lightning bolt and hurtles back to the future.  Instead of reappearing in the set representing 1985, the car sat in the dark in silence for over a minute.  To kill time while technicians tried to fix whatever was wrong, Doc Brown came running out on stage shouting “It Works” while winking ironically to the audience since obviously something did not work.  Soon after that, the scene was reset and this time it did work.

I enjoyed this musical and thought that for a road show cast, the performers did very well in both singing and acting.  But the actor playing Marty McFly was never going to live up to my memories of the charismatic young Michael J Fox who originated the role and for me, the actor who played Doc Brown was also totally wrong.  I did think that the actors playing George, Lorraine and Biff lived up to my recollections of what these characters should look and sound like.  The actor playing George channeled Jim Carrey in terms of comedic timing, limberness and flexibility and in the final scene, you could have sworn that he had just left the set of “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective”.