Titanic the musical

[Merboy]

I've only heard the original cast recording from 1997, which I really like. I feel for a musical that won Best Musical this has been so forgotten. It's hardly ever brought up at all... why? The music is great.

[+ WilliamM]

I've only heard the original cast recording from 1997, which I really like. I feel for a musical that won Best Musical this has been so forgotten. It's hardly ever brought up at all... why? The music is great.

 

I saw it, very good. Perhaps it was overshadowed by the film. Thanks for mentioning it.

[+ Cash4Trash]

There's been talk about a revival. Others, as well, think it didn't get the appreciation it deserved. No idea if or when. Believe it has been done with some success in productions around the country.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Cash4Trash

[Merboy]

I've heard of some terrific local productions out there!

[dcguy20]

I love the score to this show. I saw the Broadway production several times. Signature Theater in Shirlington did an amazing production 4 years ago. I also have the Dutch cast recording which is wonderful.

[bostonman]

I've done the show (as music director/conductor). It was an amazing experience, and I really really want to do it again!! It was a college production, but with a solid cast of musical theatre students that I'd really consider to be young professionals, and who really came up to the challenges of the material, and then some. I had the luxury of an almost complete orchestra (everything present, but with a smaller string section than the show should really have), and they were all first-rate Boston union musicians. (Oh, and the composer, Maury Yeston, came to see the production and did a masterclass with us as well. He seemed genuinely impressed with the production, and what a great guy, btw.) One of those experiences that makes me so fucking proud to do what I do.

 

I saw the original Broadway production during its closing weekend. Loved it. The original set design was, well, titanic, especially with 4 levels onstage as decks of the ship (one below the stage floor that could rise up to become the "smoke room") and hydraulics that tilted the entire stage as part of the sinking effect. The technical elements of "Mr. Andrews' Vision" (the number where the ship actually sinks, with designer Thomas Andrews down in the smoke room in a sort of "mad scene" epiphany, with furniture falling on top of him as the set began to lurch, and a group of passengers on the deck above him, holding onto a rail for dear life and screaming with each of those upward lurches as the set tilted further and further) was a true coup de theatre.

 

Seeing the tour in Boston some time later was a slightly less thrilling experience - the singing and acting were first-rate, but they didn't have the multi-tiered set, and the staging that tried to compensate for that didn't work at all. (I tend to think they should have just tried to re-concept the staging completely instead of just trying to compensate for a less involved set.) They did still have the tilting floor, though, and ironically, one of the few numbers that had the same visual impact as on Broadway was that same "Mr. Andrews' Vision," this time with Andrews among the crowd of passengers, instead of being on the deck below them. Still, one missed the moment on Broadway where the set took its final tilt and there was a blackout as we saw a grand piano coming straight at Andrews down in the smokeroom...

 

I could go on and on about the show, especially the magnificent score, but for now, that's probably enough lol. But yeah, I'm a huge fan...

Edited January 18, 2021 by bostonman

[Merboy]

I've done the show (as music director/conductor). It was an amazing experience, and I really really want to do it again!! It was a college production, but with a solid cast of musical theatre students that I'd really consider to be young professionals, and who really came up to the challenges of the material, and then some. I had the luxury of an almost complete orchestra (everything present, but with a smaller string section than the show should really have), and they were all first-rate Boston union musicians. (Oh, and the composer, Maury Yeston, came to see the production and did a masterclass with us as well. He seemed genuinely impressed with the production, and what a great guy, btw.) One of those experiences that makes me so fucking proud to do what I do.

 

I saw the original Broadway production during its closing weekend. Loved it. The original set design was, well, titanic, especially with 4 levels onstage as decks of the ship (one below the stage floor that could rise up to become the "smoke room") and hydraulics that tilted the entire stage as part of the sinking effect. The technical elements of "Mr. Andrews' Vision" (the number where the ship actually sinks, with designer Thomas Andrews down in the smoke room in a sort of "mad scene" epiphany, with furniture falling on top of him as the set began to lurch, and a group of passengers on the deck above him, holding onto a rail for dear life and screaming with each of those upward lurches as the set tilted further and further) was a true coup de theatre.

 

Seeing the tour in Boston some time later was a slightly less thrilling experience - the singing and acting were first-rate, but they didn't have the multi-tiered set, and the staging that tried to compensate for that didn't work at all. (I tend to think they should have just tried to re-concept the staging completely instead of just trying to compensate for a less involved set.) They did still have the tilting floor, though, and ironically, one of the few numbers that had the same visual impact as on Broadway was that same "Mr. Andrews' Vision," this time with Andrews among the crowd of passengers, instead of being on the deck below them. Still, one missed the moment on Broadway where the set took its final tilt and there was a blackout as we saw a grand piano coming straight at Andrews down in the smokeroom...

 

I could go on and on about the show, especially the magnificent score, but for now, that's probably enough lol. But yeah, I'm a huge fan...

Hi Thanks for sharing! I think it came out before the movie did and that if it was revived today with a huge budget and amazing sets I think it would be a huge hit.

[bostonman]

Hi Thanks for sharing! I think it came out before the movie did and that if it was revived today with a huge budget and amazing sets I think it would be a huge hit.

 

There was actually talk in the last few years of a Broadway revival but in a much smaller production. I don't know if Covid has killed the chances for that. And although I know the show has been done in more "chamber" settings I do think it benefits from a large scale production. But I'd welcome any well-thought out version, frankly. Our production accomplished a lot with projections, and with only one other deck above the stage floor. But still in a rather large theatre.

 

One of the other very cool things about the original production. When one walked into the box office area of the Lunt-Fontanne, the walls were covered in small golden plaques with the names of the passengers on them. It set the mood for the history of the show right away. A really great touch, and a sobering one.

 

At least that original cast recording is almost complete in terms of the songs - the only major number missing is the Act II opening ("Wake Up, Wake Up"), along with some short reprises, incidentals, etc. There's a good deal of dialogue in the show, and of course most of that isn't recorded. It's a shame they didn't include the closing dialogue (which goes over the incidental music heard at the end of the CD before the reprise of "In Every Age") which is quite affecting, as the survivors recount the last moments on the ship, and the legacy of the lives lost. But the CD still gives one a good idea of how the story unfolds.

 

Another great visual that of course one doesn't get on the CD. If you listen to "Dressed In Your Pyjamas In The Grand Salon," there's a moment where everything stops, after a huge moment of choral panic. In that moment onstage, there was a tea cart set up on the floor of the Grand Salon, and during that silence, everyone watched as it slowly slid offstage by itself, and crashed offstage. The first inkling to the passengers that something really WAS wrong...and then the music starts up again, slowly, as everyone tries to deal with (or pehaps deny) what they saw...

 

One more, because I can't resist, lol. In the scene preceding "Still" (the duet for Mr. and Mrs. Strauss, who have pledged to stay together on the ship instead of taking advantage of the lifeboats), the steward offers them a bottle of champagne in a gesture of appreciation. At the end of the duet, Mr. Strauss wraps one of the champagne flutes in a handkerchief and stomps on it, in a gesture of rekindling their wedding vows. When I first saw the show on Broadway (and had all but memorized the CD, lol), I had no idea that was coming. I was already very involved emotionally at that point in the show, but that sent me over the edge. When we did our production, our Mr. Strauss wasn't initially sure he was going to accept the role. I remember telling him that he would inevitably have one of the most moving moments in the show, lol. I was right...?

Edited January 18, 2021 by bostonman

[+ Lucky]

I enjoyed reading the history of the show as told in Michael Riedel's new book, Singular Sensation.

[Merboy]

I enjoyed reading the history of the show as told in Michael Riedel's new book, Singular Sensation.

Will have to read that!

[MaybeMaybeNot]

I think it is as remembered as other shows of its era. We live in a day and age where musicals are remembered mostly once they've had a movie adaptation. Perhaps it was always that way; we just have much fewer movie adaptations now.

 

I saw the show on your. Unfortunately, for my venue, the sound was poor, and you couldn't always make out what the basses and baritones were singing. I also echo the tour staging comment above. I remember being confused why there was a sailor standing at the edge of the stage. Looking at the souvenir program, I realized they had nixed the bird's nest/lookout.

[bostonman]

I remember being confused why there was a sailor standing at the edge of the stage. Looking at the souvenir program, I realized they had nixed the bird's nest/lookout.

 

That's funny, because I could swear that the crow's nest was flown in for the Boston leg of the tour. Perhaps there was a problem with rigging it in your venue. I could be wrong - but I seem to remember thinking I was glad they still had that set piece even when the rest of the Act I finale was all done on the stage floor.

 

And of course, we haven't yet mentioned the one part of the original design that even I found ridiculous (used on Broadway and kept for the tour) and that was the actual depiction of the ship hitting the iceberg, done with a tiny "model ship" way upstage (as if we're seeing it from far away, I guess?). It looked very odd compared to the rest of the show's design, and was rather unintentionally comical. I tend to wish that they had gone for something less "literal" - maybe some sort of lighting effect would have conveyed the moment more dramatically.

 

Another scene that was visually electrifying on Broadway was the end of the "lifeboat" sequence (The poignant and dramatic "We'll Meet Tomorrow") with the passengers desperately holding onto each other across the ship's rail in a last farewell just before some of them are lowered into the lifeboats. An absolutely chilling moment.

[MaybeMaybeNot]

That's funny, because I could swear that the crow's nest was flown in for the Boston leg of the tour. Perhaps there was a problem with rigging it in your venue. I could be wrong - but I seem to remember thinking I was glad they still had that set piece even when the rest of the Act I finale was all done on the stage floor.

 

And of course, we haven't yet mentioned the one part of the original design that even I found ridiculous (used on Broadway and kept for the tour) and that was the actual depiction of the ship hitting the iceberg, done with a tiny "model ship" way upstage (as if we're seeing it from far away, I guess?). It looked very odd compared to the rest of the show's design, and was rather unintentionally comical. I tend to wish that they had gone for something less "literal" - maybe some sort of lighting effect would have conveyed the moment more dramatically.

 

Another scene that was visually electrifying on Broadway was the end of the "lifeboat" sequence (The poignant and dramatic "We'll Meet Tomorrow") with the passengers desperately holding onto each other across the ship's rail in a last farewell just before some of them are lowered into the lifeboats. An absolutely chilling moment.

Well, that explains it. We had a bird's nest and you had a crow's nest! Seriously, though, perhaps the rigging didn't work out that day or that week.

 

I didn't mention that I have the cast recording and am always moved when I listen to it. I've read the book of the show (which was published and I own), and I love the show, despite the limitations I experienced on tour.

 

I saw a really bad community theater production years ago, with some of the parts cut (probably because they didn't have the actors for it). I would love to see another strong production of "Titanic" somewhere.

[dcguy20]

I also forgot the one night concert version of this show performed at Lincoln Center several years ago. Huge orchestra, chorus and members from the Broadway company. It was a thrilling evening.

 

Edited January 28, 2021 by dcguy20

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

And then there was Serenbe's production:

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay/Exclusive-Watch-Highlights-From-Serenbe-Playhouses-TITANIC-THE-MUSICAL-20180724

 

I never saw it, but did see their Ragtime. That was an interesting one.

[bostonman]

And then there was Serenbe's production:

 

Yes. But since then, both Serenbe and their former AD, Brian Clowdus, have had their share of trouble. Allegations of racism among the staff, and Clowdus seems to be a trump supporter and Qanon guy. Hmm...

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Yes. But since then, both Serenbe and their former AD, Brian Clowdus, have had their share of trouble. Allegations of racism among the staff, and Clowdus seems to be a trump supporter and Qanon guy. Hmm...

 

Oh yeah... They put themselves into a hot fucking pot of water. The whole thing imploded.

 

But politics aside, their history with production was interesting. Not always good, but they took their shot and I respect that.

 

It reminded me of less talented Zach Scott Theatre (in Austin).