At times you wonder if the musical director had threatened to remove all lifeboats from the rehearsal room, such is the vocal force of the Marriott Theatre’s new production of “Titanic the Musical.” The pervasive current view of this 1997 Broadway musical with a score by Maury Yeston and a book by the late Peter Stone is that the narrative of the show (which is not connected to the James Cameron movie that came out that same year) suffers from an over-familiarity of anything and everything to do with the wreck of the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. That’s undeniably true. Such is its titanic place in popular culture that you currently can choose from this seriously epic revival in Lincolnshire, or decide instead to head downtown and see the amusing parody “Titanique.” And if you go to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, you can visit an interactive and artifact-laden museum inviting you to stick your hand in a bucket of water to get a sense of the deadly chill of the North Atlantic. All of this stuff draws from the same disaster, of course. And all have to be careful not to cross the bounds of good taste, given that all of the fame draws from an incident in which some 1,500 souls perished.
In the case of “Titanic the Musical,” you get what we journalists call a tick-tock account of what happened, from an optimistic boarding in Southampton to the aftermath of the notorious fatal encounter with the iceberg. The songs are distributed between the bosses (Adam Pelty is owner J. Bruce Ismay, David Girolmo is Captain E.J. Smith and Christopher Kale Jones is ship designer Thomas Andrews), passengers (such as the second-class pair played by Lillian Castillo and James Earl Jones II and the sweet older couple essayed by Heidi Kettenring and Mark David Kaplan) and the crew (Darian Goulding, with a huge voice that could drown out a ship’s turbines, is the stoker). Since everyone is aware of how the story ends, we all spend the whole show in a state of knowing a lot more than the characters, which can be a pleasurable state in any piece of dramatic art. Certainly, nobody has to work to follow what transpires.
I, for one, don’t necessarily need to hear this sad and familiar story again. But this show has a truly magnificent score (as recently heralded when the show was performed, concert-style at New York’s City Center), especially when it comes to its choral anthems, many of which are scored for the entire ensemble. Beyond “Les Misérables,” very few other shows compare. Dramatically, the music functions here as a lifeboat of its own, especially in those huge numbers like “In Every Age.” And this cast of premiere Chicago vocalists, from Garrett Lutz to Kelli Harrington to Eric Amundson, sing as though they would otherwise go down with their ship. I’d describe the experience as one of encountering a giant wall of sound, except that Marriott stages shows in the round and the director here, the very skilled Connor Gallagher, also had the task of turning a show that often invites actors just to plant their feet on deck and open their mouths into something that works in that format.
I was mighty impressed by how well Gallagher threaded that particular needle, as well as how well he keeps the stakes high and makes the stage feel ship-like in every possible way. I wish Marriott had added a few players to its small but here over-amplified band, given the particular demands of this title and the cumulative power of the singers it cast, but this production still offers a formidable musical experience, coming at you with more emotional intensity and existential gravitas than any other time I’ve seen this particular show.
“Titanic the Musical” has a lot of music and relatively little book. Erica Stephan’s lively Irish dreamer Kate is perhaps the most developed character, albeit also something of a trope in a show full of them, but Stone’s main intention was to commemorate the whole community, if that’s the word, and come up with enough dignity to avoid any sense of maudlin exploitation. In the end, it was Yeston, the oft-underrated composer who is still very much alive, who fulfilled that expectation spectacularly well. That’s why this show, when produced at this high level, still has so much artistic heft to go with its ever-bankable title.
Referring to the beginning of “Titanic The Musical” as merely an “opening number” doesn’t do composer/lyricist Maury Yeston’s Tony Award-winning score justice. Mainly because the expansive opening feels more like a musical suite. It begins with “In Every Age,” a reflective prologue describing attempts by mankind to “fabricate great works at once magnificent and impossible” and seguing into “The Launching.” Stretching more than 15 minutes, “The Launching” is a sweeping song cycle expressing crew and passengers’ fond farewells, their first impressions of the unsinkable ship and fervent hopes it will convey them safely to America. It’s an exhilarating piece of music, as evidenced on opening night of Marriott Theatre’s magnificent, robustly sung revival when 21 singer/actors and conductor Brad Haak’s sextet nearly stopped the show.
That said, it’s unlikely you’ll leave the theater humming “Titanic’s” tunes. But Yeston’s score has an appealing, old-Broadway grandeur ideally showcased by Ian Weinberger’s lush arrangements. Writer Peter Stone (who’s also credited with the story) incorporates several romances into the story, but his interest clearly extends beyond love. “Titanic” also examines ego and ambition (which prompted powerful men to make catastrophic decisions) and class (which prevented steerage passengers from accessing necessities, including lifeboats).
Director/choreographer Connor Gallagher makes an auspicious Marriott debut, delivering a compassionate, briskly paced revival animated by the soaring vocals, exceptional stagecraft and herculean efforts by crew members to affect quick costume changes. Ably building tension in the final moments of the endlessly expositional first act, Gallagher sustains it throughout the second, which concludes with the wrenching “Mr. Andrews’ Vision.” The number finds Christopher Kale Jones’ ship designer Thomas Andrews narrating what occurred as the ship sank, mayhem Gallagher’s stylized choreography vividly portrays.
Collette Pollard’s set, with its riggings and suspended lifeboats, is one of the best in recent memory. Jesse Klug’s lighting — cool white, angry red, deep blue — is a perfect complement. Lastly, designer Michael Daly’s agonizing sound burst heralding the ship’s demise conveys the horror in a way that images cannot. “Titanic The Musical” is truly an ensemble piece, with most cast members playing multiple roles (necessitating the quick changes referenced earlier) and also serving in the chorus.
Despite Stone’s thinly drawn characters, Gallagher’s actors turn in nicely detailed performances, which are complemented by exceptionally strong voices. Among them is Kevin Webb. A veteran of Chicago’s storefront scene making his Marriott debut, Webb plays first-class steward Henry Etches with droll humor and unfailing decency. His final scene with first-class passengers Isidor and Ida Straus, (Mark David Kaplan and Heidi Kettenring), a long-married couple who remain onboard together, is a moving portrait of a principled man. Lillian Castillo displays her comedic sense as second-class passenger Alice Beane, whose comfortably middle-class husband, Edgar (James Earl Jones II), indulges her celebrity obsessions and efforts to hobnob with the elites. Darian Goulding, a terrific singer, plays Frederick Barrett, who shovels coal in the boiler room and questions the wisdom of the ship’s increased speed. Barrett’s duet with Matthew Hommel’s awkward telegraph operator Harold Bride on “The Proposal”/“The Night Was Alive” is a poignant testament to our need to connect.
Among the highlights is the aspirational “Lady’s Maid,” in which the three Irish immigrants played by Erica Stephan, Victoria Okafor and Laura Guly imagine their new, much-improved lives in America. But perhaps the most revealing moment is “The Blame,” a superb trio with Jones’ ship designer Andrews; the ship’s owner J. Bruce Ismay, a polished villain played by Adam Pelty; and David Girolmo’s stoic Captain E.J. Smith. Condemning each other for the tragedy, they recognize their complicity: the folly that comes from attempting to “fabricate greats works, at once magnificent and impossible.”
“Titanic the Musical” runs through June 1, with showtimes including 1 and 7 p.m. Wednesday; 7 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are priced between $68 and $83, with dinner/theater packages available. The production's running time is about 2 hours and 20 minutes, with intermission, making it a must-see for theater enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
