It’s fair to say that Dave Malloy’s dazzlingly eclectic musical-cum-opera on a chunk of Tolstoy’s War and Peace divides critics way beyond its losing out at the Tony Awards to the way more mainstream Dear Evan Hansen. The tendency for Malloy’s characters to comment on the action even while taking part in it seems to alienate some, while its resolute refusal to avoid repetition (more on that later) and hit the sweet spot of the big ballad means that listeners are unlikely to come across it on an album of show tunes. A pity, because by essentially setting prose – and most of it Tolstoy’s – Malloy is doing something rather unusual and clever. But don’t despair, this addictive cast album gives listeners the chance to sit back and enjoy a rare and imaginative piece of musical storytelling without the challenge of what is going on in front of their eyes.

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 starts at the point in War and Peace where the beautiful young Countess Natasha Rostova has fallen in love with, and gotten engaged to, the formal and somewhat starchy Prince Andrey Bolkonsky. While Andrey has departed for the war with...