Dream Ship of Nightmares: A Review of “Titanic: The Musical” at Marriott Theatre
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Growing up in the 1960s and seventies, the Titanic disaster was an iconic event that had occurred some fifty years before. Thus, it was still possible to have a personal connection to a survivor’s story at that time.
I had two: an elderly cane-sporting grade-school teacher with a soft Irish brogue had been a young girl on the ill-fated ship, lost her father and became a nun in thanksgiving for surviving the sinking. And a high-school friend’s Irish grandfather had been a fifteen-year-old in steerage who ended up floating in the water unconscious in a life jacket, but was miraculously picked up by some German sailors days later.
The 1985 discovery of the Titanic on the ocean floor set in motion two epic and independent works that each took over a decade to put together: James Cameron’s 1997 “Titanic,” which became an all-time blockbuster film, and 1997’s “Titanic: The Musical,” which had a successful five Tony Award-winning Broadway run and tour before subsequently sinking into relative (though cult-like) obscurity.
The Broadway production had included an immense ship set on a hydraulic lift that was deemed too cumbersome and expensive to travel. Thus, the minimalist 1999-2000 road show that had a three-month run at the Civic (later Lyric) Opera House was virtually a concert version—albeit with a cast unable to meet the vocal demands of Maury Yeston’s operatic score.
Apart from the reimagined scaled-down chamber-music version done at Griffin Theatre over a decade ago, I am unaware of a local professional production of “Titanic: The Musical” in the quarter-century since.
Therefore there was much anticipation when Marriott Theatre announced “Titanic: The Musical” as part of its fiftieth anniversary lineup. Although the production is the so-called ensemble version that premiered at Griffin, the immersive use of the Marriott space—as if you are all passengers on the doomed ship—makes it never feel small.
As a prologue to the show, the White Star Grill at Marriott’s Three Embers Restaurant serves up elegant entrees of the early twentieth century that are said to have actually been served on the Titanic, such as salmon, breast of duck and short ribs served in First Class to the Steak and Ale pie served in Second Class.
Making a spectacular Marriott debut, director and choreographer Conor Gallagher describes “Titanic” as a “formative show” for him. Gallagher never lets us forget that the strongest element is its haunting music, under the music direction of Ryan T. Nelson with conductor/keyboardist Brad Haak. From the stirring opening chorus to the various solo and duet pieces that characterize the dreams and hopes of the passengers of all classes, we feel intimately involved with each of them thanks to a sterling cast. The captain and those who have so much riding on this maiden voyage are no less a part of the journey.
When the inevitable happens, we are right there with each and all of them—those who make it and those who don’t—powerfully caught up in the surreal reality that the vessel between you and the sea is about to be no more.
