Josh Groban to make Broadway debut next year in a musical

NEW YORK -- Pop star Josh Groban will be making his Broadway debut next year in a musical inspired by an unlikely writer -- novelist Leo Tolstoy.

Groban will play Pierre in "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812," a musical by Dave Malloy that dramatizes a 70-page melodrama at the center of "War and Peace."

The sung-through musical premiered at New York City's Ars Nova in 2012 and is playing at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University.

Since he made his recording debut in 2001, Groban's soaring anthems and stirring ballads have sold millions of albums.

Rachel Chavkin will direct. Additional casting, design team and theater will be announced later.