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"He is better than any of you I say, he is better than any of you I say! Why did you interfere, oh god, what is it all? What is it? Who are you to tell me anything? Sonya, why? Go away! Everyone, go away! Marya Dmitryevna tried to speak again but Natasha cried out, go away! Go away! You all hate an despise me, and she threw herself down on the sofa."
"Natasha!" Grace shouted as Katarina threw her arms around herself tightly, listening to Grace finish the song. "Natalya," She could hear Grace coming up the steps. "I put a pillow under her head, covered her with two quilts. Brought her a glass of lime flower water. But Natasha did not respond."
Coming up on the other side of the stairs was Brittain, and Grace said, "Well. Let her sleep." She pointed at Brittain sternly, who froze on the other side of the stage. Sonya had been caught trying to talk to Natasha. "Let. Her. Sleep."
They walked down the stairs, and Katarina pulled her arms away from her face, and people who were close to her could see the tears on her face.
"But Natasha was not asleep, her face was pale, her eyes wide open. All that night, she did not sleep or weep, she sat at the window, waiting for him . . . "
The lights faded on her, and she took a seat on the floor, waiting for her cue to come in Find Anatole. Lucas was struggling not to cry tonight, and it upset Katarina so much. She couldn't imagine what the 'last days' were like in the previous productions, when they were unsure whether or not they'd be back to perform.
A.R.T. had been great—they were going through changes, but they also were prepping for Broadway. So when they gave their last performance, it wasn't as emotionally charged, because most of them knew they were coming back in just a few months.
But right now, no one knew if it was coming back, and if so, when it was coming back.
That made things hard for everyone.
"You must go see your brother in law," Grace sang. "And tell him that he must leave Moscow. And not dare to let me set my eyes on him AGAIN."
"At once," Dave sang, and the melody for Find Anatole started playing.
Katarina stood up, knowing that her cue was coming soon. She paced the part of the stage she was on, and listened as they sang. Brittain and Grace came up the stairs, standing near her as they waited.
"Have I heard of Kuragin's abduction? Is it true Natasha is ruined?" Everyone around them sang, and Dave extended his hands, as if to reassure them, and sang, "Nonsense! Nonsense! Everything is fine."
"Natasha, Natasha! It is essential that I see Natasha, how can I see her?" Lucas cried. Amber stood at the top, and sang, "Anatole, come Anatole, Anatole, hush! Anatole."
Lucas ran up the staircase as Katarina sang, "What? What? I don't believe that he is married, I don't believe you! And I stare like a hunted, wounded animal, he can't be married!"
For a moment she leaned down on the railing, and feeling Grace's hand on her back, she waved it off, and ran down the staircase, sitting on a step.
The show went on, and Katarina officially started sobbing when Lucas struggled to reach the Petersburg note. It truly hit her. This was their last show.
She changed from one nightgown to another, for her second-to-final costume, and sat down on the highest step on stage. Two more songs, and then it was officially over. She didn't want it to be over.
After Nicholas walked over and sat down on the chair that was Old Prince Bolkonsky's, Dave turned to face Katarina, who was starting to make her way down the staircase.
"Natasha was standing in the middle of the drawing room, with a pale yet steady face," He sang, "when I appeared in the doorway, she grew flustered and I hurried to her. I thought that she would give me her hand." He extended his hand towards her, and she ignored it, playing the part of Natasha as best as she could without breaking.
The song went on, and Katarina and Dave made their way around the stage, singing. This would be the last time they would stand on this stage, and Katarina hated the thought of that.
"If I were not myself, but . . . The brightest, handsomest, best man on earth, and if I were free, I would . . . Get down on my knees this minute and ask you for your hand. And . . . For your love." She turned to face Dave, a smile on her face.
"And for the first time in many days, I weeped tears of gratitude, tears of tenderness, tears of . . . Thanks. And glancing at Pierre . . . " Katarina now stood in front of him, and she extended her hand. "Oh, oh Pierre."
The two of them smiled tenderly at each other before she took her hand away, turning and singing, "I leave the room smiling."
She got changed again, but instead of hiding behind the doors, she opened one and stood in front of it, joining everyone else in the song.
"Shines the great the Great Comet, of 1812. The brilliant Comet, of 1812."
"The Comet—said to portend untold horrors, and the end of the world. But for me, the Comet brings no fear, no, I gaze joyfully." Dave sang and he looked around him on the stage.
Everyone watched as he sang the finishing line.
"It seems to me, that his Comet feels me. Feels me, feels my softened and uplifted soul. And my newly melted heart, now blossoming . . . Into a new . . . Life."
The Comet then lit up the theater, everyone watching. It was so beautiful, and this was the last time it'd shine for who knows how long.
The applause in the theater was not only deafening, but roaring with love for the cast.
