Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

By Alpha Abulikemu '29

As spring family weekend commenced last month, the spring musical, the culmination of two trimesters' work, was performed for the Cate student body and visiting families. This year’s musical, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, was based on parts of the famous Russian epic War and Peace. The musical received great praise from members of the audience, with Eian Hernandez ‘29 and Barry Han ‘29 calling it “a marvelous work of art” and “living up to expectations”.  A parent even remarked that “it is unbelievable that this is the work of actors still in high school.”

The process of turning a script into a musical ready for performance in front of hundreds of people is long and complicated. Mo Kanda-Gleeson ‘26, who played Pierre (the main character), explained that the process began with an initial round of auditions, and actors interested in a lead role are called back. Following auditions, Mo continued that “there are two to three nights of [rehearsals] per week, with three nights for the main leads”, and that, especially in the weeks leading up to the performances, “sometimes we spend whole days of our weekends in the theater”. 

The large time commitment is spent on a variety of activities to build the musical and prepare for the performance. This begins with one of the musical's most important aspects: the music. Claire Ziebart ‘26, who played Natasha (the protagonist), said that the process began with “learning music… we would gather and [Mr. Di Gennaro] would just teach us all the songs, because when we got on stage, we had to be singing.” Learning the music wasn’t just an individual exercise but one that involved the entire crew, as Jackson Kerr ‘28, who played Dolokhov, elaborated, “We were also [practicing] the overall harmonies for the bigger numbers… with the whole ensemble. [In the harmonies], each character would have a certain voice part, and we would sing the same parts at certain points.”

Acting is another key element of the musical. Actors have to not just memorize lines but also fully “become” a new character on stage, and, and sometimes just looking at the script is not enough to understand a character completely, as Jackson noted, “The first thing Mr. Harvey did with each of us was talking with us about developing our characters, figuring out our interpretation of their motivations, their backstories, and incorporating all the details that would be portrayed in the actor’s demeanor throughout the performance, but not explicitly explained.” Using his own role, the master duelist Dolokhov, as an example, Jackson explained that “after Pierre defeats Dolokhov, he talks about his mother, and I found out that his deepest relationships are with his mother and his sister, so that plays into the overall performance of the character.” 

Acting isn’t just a facade to immerse the audience, but also something that brings the actors themselves together, as Claire described, “The process is like you start as ‘strangers’, obviously we knew each other, but it’s a little weird because you’re being this character and you might have to be enemies with someone you didn’t really talk to before, or you have to be romantic with your friend… and you start changing your relationships with people as you go through the process, and at the end I felt really close with everyone, whereas in the beginning I still felt a little uncomfortable.”

The rehearsals eventually build up, with Jackson describing the introduction of props and costumes, and finally tech week, which is essentially “all dress rehearsals.” Mo elaborates on this, saying that “it is more than 4 hours a day of rehearsing” to “weed out all the tech issues before the actual performance, which usually makes the performance go smoothly.” Tech week often conflicts with sports and schoolwork, making time management a vital skill for actors.

Finally, the performance took place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during spring family weekend. Jackson explains that the “interactions with the audience cannot be rehearsed,” so even with two trimesters worth of rehearsals, “there is something… special about the actual performance, [where] we form that emotional connection [with the audience], we interact with them, and we perform the entire story to them.” 

The creation and performance of the musical are not entirely smooth processes. As Mo notes, there were tech issues during the first performance, where Mr. Di Gennaro had to stop the musical during the abduction scene. “I really admire how Flora, Phillip, and Jackson dealt with it,” Mo said, “where they stayed in character and continued with no issues after the tech trouble was fixed.” This was essentially where the rehearsal pays off, as all actors on stage at that time managed to stay calm, and the show had to go on.

Each actor also faced their own personal challenges. Claire talked about how she had to deal with “her insecurities about what others think of me,” and her solution was to ignore the voices in her head that created those insecurities. Mo, on the other hand, explained that the huge time commitment of tech week requires serious time management and the sacrifice of other activities during that time.

However, the fun and benefits of theater are clearly worth facing the challenges for the actors. Claire and Jackson both discussed the “rewarding” feelings of interacting with the audience as one of their favorite parts of performing, while Mo spoke of the process of bringing a show alive as inherently interesting. Claire further spoke about how the musical and its deeper meanings taught her to “lean deeper into everything in life”, as “I really thought about the content of the musical… and I really leaned into it. It made me feel something, and that was more powerful than just doing it for the performance, so I want to apply that to everything.”

The people working behind the scenes are also vital to the musical’s success. One such group is the tech crew, which manages the theater's technology, including spotlights, curtains, and other equipment. Julian Gellert ‘29, who is part of the tech crew, said it's also a major time commitment, sometimes requiring “[working at] 6-9 PM every day for a week straight before the show.” Mr. Grant Emerson Harvey, the theater instructor, and Mr. Gabe Di Gennaro, the director of music, are also crucial to the musical's success, as they were responsible for both teaching and organizing the musical. Mo specifically mentioned that Mr. Harvey’s organizational skills made the musical especially well-run.

Dozens of Cate students worked for multiple months to bring the musical, described by Mr. Harvey as “one of the hardest musicals to pull off”, to life in front of the entire Cate community, exemplifying the servons spirit of working hard to serve the community that we as a school strive for.