When I saw the title, “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” I didn’t know what to expect except that I knew the musical in its Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance Lehigh Valley debut was a must-see.

Having seen the Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance production of “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” by playwright Dave Malloy, I still don’t know what to expect, or what I saw exactly or how to explain it.

However, I do know great theater when I see it and the Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance production of “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” directed by Dr. James Peck, Muhlenberg College professor, is great theater. It’s one of the best theater productions of 2024 in the Lehigh Valley.

From the moment you take your seat in the Paul C. Empie Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, where the musical continues through Nov. 3, you are enthralled by the stage design, which appears to be space suspended in time. The opening night Oct. 31 performance was seen for this review.

Scenic Designer You-Shin Chen creates an ivory-colored circular platform with several steps and a conversation pit with orange sofa and orange shag carpet. Above is a curved chandelier of lights. The backdrop curtain functions as translucent device for chorus and dancers in the marvelous lighting design by Haley Brown.

As if the set that fills the huge stage in Empie Theatre isn’t startling enough, the explosive choreography by Samuel Antonio Reyes immediately brings out a cast of 27, beautifully outfitted by costume designer Rebecca Lustig, backed by a 10-piece ensemble wonderfully conducted by music director Vincent Trovato, working with sound designer Angela Baughman, and a delightful accordion solo by Beverly Curnow, for “Prologue,” which puts forth setting, characters and plot in a recitative style reminiscent of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

According to background material, playwright, lyricist and composer Malloy adapted a portion of Leo Tolstoy’s novel, “War and Peace” (1869) pertaining to Natasha’s romance with Anatole and Pierre’s mental state. “The Great Comet” premiered on Broadway in 2016 with Josh Groban in the role of Pierre. The show received 12 Tony Award nominations.

Malloy’s musical is sung-through, with only a bit of dialogue by Pierre at the play’s conclusion. It’s really an opera. The Muhlenberg student cast is more than up to the incredible challenge of the ambitious material, which includes, by my count, 26 songs-production numbers.

“The Great Comet” is one-part “Les Misérables” musical (1980), for its epic scope; one-part singer-songwriter Billy Joel (“We Didn’t Start the Fire,” 1989; “She’s Always A Woman,” 1977), for its melodic power and lyrical intimacy, and one-part Philip Glass (“Einstein on the Beach,” 1975) for its minimalist and synthesizer motifs. The musical incorporates Russian folk tunes, klezmer music and hip-hop. It’s rollicking and raucous.

Director Peck maintains a superb balance between the serious and the mirthful in the musical that presents a universe of big ideas and petty jealousies. Peck guides the students successfully in roles that demand sophistication and understanding.

Maddie Ciliento (Natasha) is a fine singer in her solo, “No One Else,” and in duet with Luke McIntyre (excellent as Anatole) for “Natasha & Anatole” and in harmony with Anne Marie Alsobrook (a powerful Marya) and Josephine Glass (a steadfast Sonya) in “Moscow,” “Sunday Morning” and “In My House.” Glass is particularly memorable in the mournful “Sonya Alone.”

Samuel Roter (Pierre) evokes an appropriate woebegone fellow in “Pierre” and much vexation with Luke McIntyre (Anatole) in “Pierre & Anatole” and with Tyler Motlasz (a sympathetic Andrey) in “Pierre & Andrey.”

Elizabeth Vichness (Hélène) is dazzling with Maddie Ciliento (Natasha) in “Charming.”

Ella Miller (Mary) is nicely diminutive with Bolkonsky (Tyler Motlasz in dual role) in “The Private and Intimate Life of the House.”

Dami Shote (Dolokhov) is impressive with Luke McIntyre (Anatole) and Samuel Roter (Pierre) in the hip-hop-like “Preparations.”

Caden Dowgin (Balaga) is a standout in the comic-relief number “Balaga.”

“Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” appeared in the firmament of the west end Allentown campus of Muhlenberg College. It appeared ever-so brilliantly. It will be long remembered by all who made it happen and those who saw it.

“Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” 8 p.m. Oct. 31, Nov. 1; 2, 8 p.m. Nov. 2; 2 p.m. Nov. 3, Empie Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown. 484-664-3333; https://muhlenberg.edu