This Musical Deserved The Tony For Set Design SO BAD - Tumblr Posts

One thing I find fascinating about Great Comet is the way characters talk about the war. Their tone tends to be light when mentioning it, but there's a repressed gravity behind their words. They don't want the war to come to them, so they hide behind jewels and fashion and operas. But it impacts every path that every character takes. The very first lyrics in Prologue are "there's a war going on out there somewhere". The war is happening, that's not debatable, but it's "out there, somewhere".

Natasha lets her anxiety show, but it's centered around Andre. She would have near the same worries if he were away on anything else. She misses him and loves him (which is a topic for a whole other post) fiercely. Additionally, when she brings these fears up to Marya in Moscow, Marya quickly changes the topic to dresses and games.

The only real time the war is brought up with real severity and anxiety is when Andre finally comes home. In Pierre & Andre, Andre repeats the line "there's a war going on". This time, he drops the "out there, somewhere". He knows exactly where the war is and knows that it's not something to speak lightly of. This line gives me chills, both for it's delivery and the way it wraps up the opening motif.

I never had the chance to see the show in person, but from what I've heard, this effect is magnified by the decoration of the hallway leading to the theater. The hallway is desolate and cold, with recruitment posters and propaganda on the walls. But then you enter the theater and it is lush and luxurious. The war is happening out there. Not here. We can't let it happen here, and we will prevent it through head-on denial.