The Great Comet Marathon Reading of War and Peace

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is an immersive musical based on a scandalous sliver of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. As a stunt, we thought it would be fun to stage a filibuster reading of War and Peace, all 560,000 words of it, aloud in Times Square.

We asked people to sign up for 30-minute blocks, and within the first hour, all of the slots were full! In total we had 117 readers.

The marathon read-through took place at Duffy Square through sunshine and snow, all day and night for over 53 consecutive hours. The cast and fans showed up to support the readers, and the event was covered in Broadway press.