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Culture Musicals

Review: Titanic: The Musical

TITANIC: THE MUSICAL by Maury Yeston (music, lyrics) and Peter Stone (story, book) (Mirvish/Michael Harrison/Paul Elliott). At the Princess of Wales Theatre (300 King West). Runs to June 21. $35-$130. 416-872-1212. See listing. Rating: NNN

First the good news: Titanic: The Musical doesnt sink.

The James Cameron movie may have been hugely popular, but the 1997 Tony Award-winning musical has its own merits, including a glorious score, great big themes about class, immigration and hubris and, although we know how it ends, a plot thats often gripping and emotionally involving.

Alas, its not all smooth sailing for this production, which arrives from Londons Southwark Playhouse to fit rather awkwardly into the large Princess of Wales.

Under director Thom Southerland, the look and scale of the show is underwhelming. Rather than try to realistically recreate the immensity of the floating hotel, set designer David Woodhead employs movable ladders and walkways to suggest various perspectives on the great ship. The effect is sometimes like watching workers in a warehouse. And the colour scheme all white and metallic grey is hard to look at for nearly three hours.

But its easy to be swept up in the story, which includes the ambitions of the ships real-life Captain Smith (Philip Rham), its owner, Ismay (Simon Green), and architect Andrews (Greg Castiglioni), as well as the drama of the crew and passengers from third, second and first class.

An especially clever touch on the part of story and book writer Peter Stone was to have a social-climbing character named Alice (Celia Graham), who in one early number gossips about the first-class passengers. Another engaging story involves a wealthy woman named Caroline (Claire Marlowe), whos run away with a lower-class man named Charles (Nadim Naaman). Below on third class, three contrasting women named Kate are emigrating to the New World for more opportunities. And the workers include the very proper first-class steward, Etches (James Hume), a lovelorn stoker named Barrett (Matt Beveridge) and Bride (Matthew Crowe), a lonely telegraph operator. The latter two share one of the shows more moving numbers.

Speaking of music, Maury Yestons score is rich and varied, drawing on the pomp of Elgar, the preciseness of Gilbert and Sullivan, the lush lyricism of Irish ballads and even (in one of several surprising numbers) the hot syncopations of ragtime. Some songs have a momentum that makes you feel the churning of the ocean, and the cast is more than shipshape for every number.

Stones book is often on the nose, and theres one too many scenes of the Captain, Ismay and Andrews arguing about speeds and distances. (After watching this show, we could all pass our nautical exam.)

The doubling and tripling of roles doubtless to keep costs down feels obvious at times, and the staging often is cramped and claustrophobic. And then there’s the lack of ethnic variety in both the cast and story. In the original musical there are snatches of other languages heard from the third-class deck, and the poignant duet for the elderly Jewish businessman Isidor Straus (Ben Heppner, way underutilized) and his wife, Ida (Judith Street), is often finished with the ritual stepping on a glass.

Keeping these touches wouldnt have added much to the running time but would have made this show, which is about so much more than a sinking ship, feel more relevant.

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