Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812

Tolstoy's War & Peace is an obvious subject for a musical, right? This may be a loose adaptation, but Tolstoy's seminal work was the inspiration, nonetheless. I chose not to read much about the show before seeing it because I wanted to be surprised. I was expecting a classical, traditional piece of theatre. Consequently, I was shocked to hear a rock/folk opera. Dave Malloy's score is cerebral, evocative, and quite quirky. His lyrics mirror the Russian writing style in the sense that they take paragraphs to convey what other others could say in a sentence. The prologue is a highlight in the way it quickly introduces each primary character and their relationships to one another, repeatedly adding one new character for each round of the song. By the time the prologue finishes, we've heard about Andrey and Natasha on a loop, though the brooding Pierre remains a mystery until the final seconds.

Josh Groban as Pierre is clearly selling the tickets. Though I would have loved to hear his stellar voice more often, it's refreshing to see a major celebrity perform in a show without being the singular star. There was something very folksy about seeing him sit onstage playing the accordion while lesser-known performers stole the spotlight. His "Dust and Ashes," building from delicately pensive to raw and powerful is somewhat of an 11 o'clock number for act I. The majority of his work in act II  is upstage by the erratic Natasha and Anatole, though his duet with Natasha provides an emotional climax in the penultimate song. "The Great Comet of 1812" is another vehicle for Groban's pristine vocals, highlighted by the backing of sweeping choral arrangements.

Denee Benton's Natasha has a strong presence and she's downright effervescent with youthful hope and joy in act I. But when she falls for Anatole, you stop rooting for her. You see that she's shooting herself in the foot and as an observer, feel helpless to stop it. I shifted my allegiances to Sonya (Brittain Ashford) as she tries desperately to stop her friend Natasha from ruining her life in her Lilith Fair-esque solo "Sonya Alone". I felt about Benton's Natasha like I've felt about every Cosette I've ever seen in Les Miz. She has a beautiful voice, but she's not a fully developed character. She allows her entire future to be undone when Anatole (Lucas Steele) bats his eyelashes. Speaking of Steele, this is what it means to be a scene stealer. He verges on pushing his flamboyant Anatole over the top, but he never quite crosses the line. His portrayal stays grounded in the sense that all Anatole is really after is love, but he doesn't yet understand what that means and how his pursuits affect those around him.

Rachel Chavkin's direction is the true star of the show. I am a big fan of scrapping the traditional proscenium staging and Mimi Lien's scenic design completely reimagines the Imperial. With onstage banquets and tables, each seat in the house provides a completely different perspective on the action. If you are unnerved by being approached closely by actors, even in the mezzanine, steer clear of this show. The close proximity of the performers and the club-style design puts the audience in the middle of the party in 19th century Russia. This piece is provocative, so if you don't like your Russian theatre edgy, you should probably walk a block south and see Anastasia.

2012 Grand Prix Final Schedule EST

Thursday December 6th:
8:45-9:35am Junior Mens Short Program
9:55-10:50am Junior Short Dance
11:10am-12pm Junior Ladies Short Program
12:20-1:15pm Junior Pairs Short Program

Friday December 7th:
4:45-5:50am Junior Mens Free Skate
6:00-6:50 Senior Ladies Short Program
7:15-8:15am Junior Free Dance
9:15-10:10am Senior Short Dance
10:35-11:25am Senior Mens Short Program
11:50am-12:45pm Senior Pairs Short Program

Saturday December 8th:
3:30-4:20am Junior Ladies Free Skate
4:45-5:50am Junior Pairs Free Skate
6:15-7:10am Senior Ladies Free Skate
8:15-9:15am Senior Free Skate
9:40-10:40am Senior Mens Free Skate
11:05am-12:10pm Senior Pairs Free Skate

ISU Grand Prix: Rostelecom Cup Preview

Next weekend, November 19-20 to be exact, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating makes its 5th of 6 stops in Moscow for what was formerly known as the Cup of Russia. Many skaters have already completed their two assigned Grand Prix events and are anxiously awaiting the results of the last events to see who will qualify for the Grand Prix Final in December.

Patrick Chan, who won Skate Canada despite 4 total falls, is arguably the favorite here. His Phantasia program is wonderful and he usually racks up very high components scores. Jeremy Abbott is also a forced to be reckoned with if he can overcome some of his inconsistencies with the mental side of the sport. I really enjoyed Javier Fernandez' free skate at Skate Canada so I will be looking forward to another solid performance from him again. Tomas Verner and Samuel Contesti also have the potential to make the podium if they can skate clean.

Miki Ando is definitely the most consistent of the ladies field here, and based on the past grand prix events, the lady who can stay on her feet wins the gold. There are a lot of women in this field who, in my opinion, are more talented and much more artistic than Miki, particularly Akiko Suzuki and Ashley Wagner, but they are hit or miss in terms of landing jumps and skating clean. I have never been a fan of Ksenia Makarova but she made a splash with silver at Skate Canada and will have the home crowd behind her here, though that may help her or hurt her. I am a big fan of young American Agnes Zawadzki and while she had a disappointing free skate at Skate Canada, I think she is really going to make a big jump here and reach the Podium.

Pairs is pretty wide open here with only one team considered to be among the world's best, Kavaguti & Smirnov, though they are coming off of a disappointing 2010 Olympic season and this is their only Grand Prix event. I really have no clue what is going to happen here in pairs so my fantasy picks are going to be pretty blind. I do, however, look for Takahashi & Tran to make a fairly strong showing. The American team of Evora & Ladwig has some of the best elements in the world and if they can put together two clean programs, they have a good shot at the podium. Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers were also pretty solid at Skate Canada so let's see if they can repeat that here.

After disappointing falls in both of their programs at Cup of China and a 20 point loss to Pechalat & Bourzat, I expect Faiella & Scali to come back with a vengeance and win the ice dance competition here. One of their falls was due to a costume malfunction that they have hopefully corrected and with more practice time under their belt, I expect their free skate to be electrifying. Bobrova & Soliev of Russia also put up two strong programs to win silver at Cup of China so they'll look to make the podium again on their home turf. The young Canadians Paul & Islam blew me away at Skate Canada and people are already calling them the younger versions of Virtue & Moir. Madison and Keiffer Hubbell of the USA also have the potential to make the podium if they can avoid some of the mistakes they made at Cup of China. I really enjoy their free skate this season and hope to see them skate it clean.

Here is the icenetwork.com live streaming schedule; the events I plan to live-blog are highlighted below:

Friday, Nov. 19
7:00 a.m.: Men's short program
8:50 a.m.: Pairs short program
11:00 a.m.: Ladies short program
12:50 p.m.: Short dance
Saturday, Nov. 20
6:45 a.m.: Men's free skate
9:00 a.m.: Pairs free skate
10:40 a.m.: Ladies free skate
12:40 p.m.: Free dance

Fantasy Update:
Overall Ranking     58          65
Overall Points       7756     7744

As soon as usfsa.org opens up the week 5 fantasy competition, I will post my picks as well as Skategate's

**BackStage Barbie  **Skategate  **Shared Picks

Men:

1) Patrick Chan (Canada)

2) Tomas Verner (Czech Republic)

3) Alban Preaubert (France)

4) Samuel Contesti (Italy)
5) Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan)
6) Tatsuki Machida (Japan)
7) Artem Borodulin (Russia)
8) Artur Gachinski (Russia)
9) Konstanti Menshov (Russia)
10) Javier Fernandez (Spain)
11) Anton Kovalevski (Ukraine)
12) Jeremy Abbott (USA)

Ladies:

1) Myriane Samson (Canada)

2) Elena Glebova (Estonia)
3) Valentina Marchei (Italy)

4) Miki Ando (Japan)

5) Akiko Suzuki (Japan)
6) Sofia Biryukova (Russia)
7) Alena Leonova (Russia)

8) Ksenia Makarova (Russia)

9) Ashley Wagner (USA)
10) Agnes Zawadzki (USA)
Pairs:

1) Lawrence/Swiegers (Canada)

2) Berton/Hotarek (Italy)
3) Takahshi/Tran (Japan)

4) Gerboldt/Enbert (Russia)

5) Kavaguti/Smirnov (Russia)
6) Novik/Kuznetsov (Russia)

7) Evora/Ladwig (USA)
8) Simpson/Miller (USA)

Ice Dance:

1) Paul/Islam (Canada)

2) Mysliveckova/Novak (Czech Repulic)
3) Hoffman/Zavozin (Hungary)

4) Faiella/Scali (Italy)

5) Bobrova/Soloviev (Russia)
6) Gorshkova/Butikov (Russia)
7) Ilinykh/Satsalapov (Russia)

8) Hubbell/Hubbell (USA)

Favorite Figure Skating Memories #3: Sale and Pelletier's 2002 Olympic Free Skate

Unless you were living under a rock during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, you should remember the pairs free skate. Sale and Pelletier of Canada were a close 2nd after the short program to Russian rivals Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. When the Russian's bobbled in the free skate, the Canadians needed a clean program to secure the gold medal. They did exactly that, but they did not win gold, much to the surprise of the commentators and viewers worldwide. The Russians stood atop the podium, but as we later found out, the French judge had been bribed by her federation to give the nod to the Russians and when her vote was discounted, the Canadians and Russians were tied. A few days later, they were awarded co-gold medals. Here is Sale and Pelletier's free skate to "Love Story," a program that is as close to perfect as I have ever seen and one of my favorite figure skating memories.