Why Natasha Can't Sing: Rethinking Cross-Genre Adaptation with Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.

This article examines the dynamics of adapting Leo Tolstoy's novel *War and Peace* into the 2016 musical *Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812* by Dave Malloy, focusing on the concept of "adaptational interference," where adaptations suppress source text features that overlap too closely with the adaptation’s genre. Specifically, it highlights how Natasha Rostova’s notable singing talent in the novel is downplayed in the musical due to the ubiquity of singing in musical theatre, especially in the sung-through format of *Natasha, Pierre*. The article also explores how the musical induces "knowingness" in audiences—awareness of its relationship to the novel—through the use of novelistic language and meta-theatrical elements that evoke the source text’s genre, thereby compensating for features lost to adaptational interference. This case study illustrates how cross-genre adaptations can creatively engage with their sources by leveraging genre distinctions to reveal their artistry and facilitate audience understanding, even when the original work is not widely familiar.