On Sunday my mother and I went to see the matinee of Titanic at the Ogunquit Playhouse. I went in completely blind (other than obviously knowing the story of the Titanic), so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I was dubious about the whole existence of the show, why they would decide to make of all things a MUSICAL about a horrible maritime disaster. I thought about how I would feel if they made a musical about 9/11, it just feels in poor taste, right? Even though it happened over 100 years ago, there’s still something just odd about people thinking they should make a musical about it.
In spite of my misgivings, I tried to go in with an open mind. I figured it wouldn’t be playing if there were anything distasteful about it. So I made myself a little hairclip in the shape of a Titanic life ring, got a sailory looking dress to go with it, and hoped it would be a good show.
The response I got for that little hairclip I made, from the front of house staff and other audience members, was hilarious. I’ve made several themed hairclips and worn them to different shows, and I’ve never had one get the amount of comments that this one did. I couldn’t even count the amount of people who commented on it, and one woman even asked to take a photo of it. I found it funny because I’ve spent a lot more time and effort on making other hairclips, and had barely anyone notice those. I don’t know what it was about that little life ring that got people so excited by it.
The stage was set up where you could already see part of the ship set. Everything was dark, but they had a projection of light shining through waves going across the ship that gave the effect of it already being underwater. It was very eerie given that we know that the ship is still in the ocean, a watery grave for all of those people at the bottom of the sea.
So… I’ve been sitting with this in my drafts since frickin’ Monday y’all, and it’s now Wednesday. I’m not sure why, but I’m having a difficult time recapping this show. And it’s not because it was bad, or because I didn’t enjoy it. It was just such an experience, I’m having a difficult time finding ways to put it into words. This is a show that I feel can’t be put into words in any way that does it justice.
One of the ushers who commented on my hairclip said that this was going to be a humdinger of a show, and she specifically said, “Wait till you see the ship!” You can already see some of it as soon as you enter the theatre because there was no curtain to be raised. There are staircases and metal platforms with railings, and a riveted metal backdrop near the top. Once the opening number is about halfway through and the ship is about to depart, the metal backdrop gets lifted up, and you can see just how much more there is to the ship set. It’s fully three levels high, and utilizes every inch of the stage, so there’s a tremendous sense of both depth and height to it. They had the entire cast spread out and filling up all of the different sections as they all harmonized together. I literally mouthed, “Holy shit,” as it was revealed. There is no way any photos or videos could do justice to the spectacle of that reveal.
That opening number gave me goosebumps from head to toe. I am an enormous fan of harmonies, but particularly when there are a LOT of people singing different parts all harmonized together. It’s why Prima Donna is my favorite song from Phantom over some of the more well known songs. In the opening number the entire cast are singing together, and everyone had such wonderful voices, and there were some people even hitting opera type notes and it was just like a wave of goosebumps went all through me as they reached the climax of that song. It was absolutely incredible.
One of the main roles of the head boiler worker was being subbed in by an understudy, so another member of the ensemble was also taking over the understudy’s usual role. Both did amazing in their parts, and I can’t imagine the main actors being any better than they were. Once you get to this level of theatre, every single person is so damn talented, that everyone is capable of giving an absolutely incredible performance.
Every single person in this cast was a star, down to the young guy who played the little cabin boy who had barely any lines. They all sold the emotion of their characters so completely, and sang SO WELL. This musical is nothing like the film Titanic, there is no contrived romance and every single character is based on someone who existed in real life and either died on that ship, or survived to tell about it. Their stories are told incredibly sympathetically, with a lot of focus on people who boarded Titanic with the hopes that going to America would change their life for the better. It’s truly an ensemble show with there rarely being characters who sing on their own, with the notable exception of Thomas Andrews, the ship’s architect who has two songs to himself where he’s first designing the ship, and then lamenting later on after the crash how some small changes could have saved everyone. It’s a poignant way to show how he feels isolated in his responsibility and his blame for the disaster. I’ve just been reading Thomas Andrews’ Wikipedia entry, and the guy playing him in the show looked shockingly similar to him.
The guy who played Bruce Ismay and was essentially the “villain” of the show, looked so much like Matteo Lane that it distracted me the whole time. I knew it wasn’t actually him but I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching Matteo Lane in a Broadway show. He was very committed to the villainous aspect, which made Ismay’s portrayal a bit one-sided, but he certainly sold it.
My favorite voice in the show was actually a member of the ensemble who had a few moments where he did some brief solos. He had a wonderful tenor voice that reminded me of the guy who played Piangi in Phantom. Going to have to keep an eye on his instagram to see if he winds up in any more shows near me.
I forgot to mention that the Captain was played by Charles Shaughnessy, who apparently was on The Nanny. I never watched The Nanny, so this meant nothing to me, but he was clearly “the name” in this show who was meant to pull in people. He was good as the Captain, but he didn’t stand out from the cast any more than any of the other members did. He didn’t sing very much, but the times he did sing he was fine. I just always find it funny when I go to see shows with more well-known celebrities in them, and I have no idea who this guy is.
It was delightful to see Greg Mills on stage again. He was playing the head steward, and used his Monsieur Lefèvre voice to comedic effect a lot of the time to ease a very emotionally fraught show. Kennedy Kanagawa was another character who got to lighten the mood a handful of times, playing the young man who mans the telegraph machine. There was also an American couple who were in second class who provided a bit of comic relief, with her sneaking into the first class ballroom while Mills tries to find her and chase her out. Both of them also were involved with two of the more emotional moments in the show. Mills was singing when Mr Murdoch, overcome with grief at feeling like the disaster is his fault, shoots himself. The gunshot was incredibly jarring even though you know it’s coming. Kanagawa got a beautiful solo during The Proposal, but his most emotional moment for me was when he was desperately tapping out the SOS while the captain, Bruce Ismay, and Andrews argue around him about who was to blame. Although he didn’t sing a note, the emotions he conveyed just with his face and body during that scene were incredible. I knew he was going to be amazing, and I truly think he’s one of the most talented performers I’ve ever had the privilege to see.
The laughs were understandably few and far between. This is not the sort of musical that you leave feeling delighted, with your cheeks sore from laughing. There are very few dance numbers, and they are brief, showing moments at a first class ball, and a bit of dancing down in the third class deck one evening. They keep the mood appropriately somber for most of the time, because we all know what’s coming.
The iceberg hit right before intermission as I was expecting, but it was still an incredibly terrifying moment, even though you’re waiting for it. The way they did the scraping sounds, and the vibration, you could almost feel as if you were actually there with everyone. I was also freezing cold the whole time, so when they were talking about the temperature dropping as they turned further north, and seeing icebergs it felt very immersive. I hadn’t had lunch and I’m sure my metabolism was just dropping, but it certainly gave me the feeling that I was there in the north Atlantic with everyone.
I was honestly not really looking forward to act II, because act I had already felt fraught enough, just knowing what was coming. Even though the singing was beautiful, and the cast so talented, it’s like I was bracing myself emotionally the entire time. Obviously I had no plans to not see the whole show, but it was effecting me emotionally a lot more than I was expecting it would.
Act II was as heartbreaking as one would expect. They injected a few little lighthearted moments, but I was fighting back tears the whole time. The worker from the boiler room who was planning on marrying his girl but doesn’t make it back to her, the young men waiting to become fathers who won’t get to see their children… it was just all so painful to see it brought to life in front of me. The fourteen year old cabin boy hugging the captain, and the Strauss’s who refuse to be separated knowing they’ll both die together, both pushed me over the edge to actual tears.
After the ship sinks, the survivors read lines that were taken word for word from actual testimonies. They also projected the names of everyone lost onboard the ship across the metal backdrop. It’s painfully sobering seeing so many names, and knowing that there was a life behind each one. Mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, children, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends… So much life lost in such a short amount of time. The weight of the tragedy is still heavy, even more than a hundred years later.
When the cast came out for their bows, they projected the photos and names of the real people they were based on, down to every member of the ensemble. I was trying to keep my sobs in while we stood up and clapped. It was just all so sad, but also so beautifully done and incredible. I have massive love for every person in that cast and crew and the part they played in bringing such an amazing show to life.
We considered sticking around to see if anyone came out of the stage door, but it was very cold outside with the ocean breeze, and I’d been feeling cold the entire show already. Plus the both of us were feeling very drained, and thought we couldn’t possibly talk to any of the cast without bursting into tears again, so we opted to just head home.
What a show though, what a profoundly moving show. I definitely feel incredibly blessed to have had a chance to see this production, but I don’t know if my heart could take ever seeing it again.
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