Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 Eyeing Engagements in U.S., London, Korea, and More

A Tokyo run is scheduled to begin in January 2019.

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, which ended its Broadway run at the Imperial Theatre in September 2017, will find a new life in cities around the world.

The Japanese entertainment company Toho, as previously reported, will produce the acclaimed musical at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre beginning in January 2019. Plans are also in the works, according to Variety, for a sit-down run in a U.S. city to be announced, as well as an engagement in London, with Korea a possibility. There is also interest from the Philippines and China. No official dates have been announced.

The London staging may play the West End or a non-traditional venue and will reportedly reunite the Broadway designers. Producer Howard Kagan, however, told Variety, “ [No production will ever] really be an exact replica [of the Broadway staging] because it changes every time it moves to a new piece of real estate.”

The musically eclectic take on a snippet of War and Peace opened in November 2016. Upon closing, the production played 32 previews and 336 regular performances.

The unconventional production completely transformed the Imperial into an opulent Russian salon that engulfed the audience. It earned 12 Tony nominations—the most of any production of its season. The musical ended up winning Outstanding Scenic Design (Mimi Lien) and Outstanding Lighting Design (Bradley King).

Read: How The Great Comet Transformed the Imperial Theatre Into an Immersive Russian Supper Club

Written by Dave Malloy (Ghost Quartet, Preludes) and directed by Rachel Chavkin, the production marked the Broadway debut for internationally acclaimed vocalist Josh Groban, who received a Tony nomination for his work in the role of Pierre.

The Great Comet was commissioned and developed at Ars Nova in NYC, where it had its world premiere in fall 2012 and was soon after transferred to a custom-built venue in the Meatpacking District for the summer of 2013. The show became a hit, and the entire venue was transferred to the theatre district, where it continued its run into the spring of 2014. The musical subsequently played a limited engagement at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, where its innovative design was expanded to bring the show’s signature staging to a traditional proscenium-style theatre.

