Carbon Costume

Natasha Rostova is one of the protagonists in the electropop opera Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Based on a part of Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace, the musical revolves around the affair between Natasha Rostova and Anatole Kuragin. Described as “young” in the “Prologue,” Natasha starts as a naive and optimistic girl. Her fiancee, Andrei, is away fighting in the war, and Natasha misses him dearly. Upon attending the opera, she becomes charmed by the dashing Anatole. The two begin an affair and plan to elope, leading to her fall from grace. Natasha becomes an outcast, like Pierre Bezukhov, who she then turns to for comfort. While not in the musical, the novel ends with their marriage. Denee Benton played this role on Broadway. Her understudy, Shoba Narayan, made history as the first South Asian woman in a leading role on Broadway. Phillipa Soo, who went on to play Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton, originated the role off-Broadway.