* REVIEW: "Titanic" By Gus Gordon
Musicalizing the tragedy of the R.M.S. Titanic has to be one of the most ambitious undertakings ever produced on a Broadway stage. The probability of failure was high. Can you imagine the possible headlines? "Musical ‘Titanic’ Sinks On Stage!"
But when the stage musical "Titanic" opened on Broadway in 1997, it didn’t sink. On the contrary, the show played for 804 performances and won 5 Tony awards (including Best Musical), in spite of some lukewarm reviews.
The national tour of "Titanic," presented by Big League Theatricals, played a two-performance engagement at the Sangamon Auditorium on Saturday. It is certainly an impressive show, but not always a complete success.
The biggest problem with this adaption by author Peter Stone and composer Maury Yeston, in my opinion, was simply the scope of the entire project.
Instead of one star, we have over 30: the crew; the 1st class passengers (where was Molly Brown, by the way?); the social climbing 2nd class passengers; and the immigrants stuck in steerage, hoping to start a new life in America.
There are simply too many characters for the audience to ever become emotionally involved with anyone in particular. We already know the outcome, so if this were to be a truly affecting piece, we must care about some of the individuals we meet.
This issue was solved in the recent movie version of the story (which opened after the stage show premiered) by focusing on one fictional couple. This humanized the proceedings, and gave the audience a reason to care (regardless of whether you’re a Leonardo fan or not!).
But not one person in the musical is given enough stage time, or lines, to create anything deeper than a one-dimensional character. It is truly an ensemble musical, so much so that the cast takes a group curtain call at the end.
It plays more like a "docu-drama," with continuous underscoring and recitative, rather than a complete musical drama. There are a couple of sweeping anthems, "Godspeed Titanic" and "Lady’s Maid" among them, but much of the music in this almost completely sung-through show seems like filler.
Face it, when the most touching love ballad is between the radioman and his telegraph machine, something is out of whack.
The cast of 31 works hard, and much to their credit, they seemed like a cast of 60 or more. Some of the British and Irish accents were inconsistent, and there tended to be some overacting by a few of the supporting players, but vocally the cast was uniformly strong, especially in the choral arrangements.
You hope for many spine-tingling moments in a show like this, and one such moment was provided in the opening number when the entire cast sang "Godspeed Titanic," reflecting their wonder as the incredible ship was about to embark on its maiden voyage.
Stand-outs in the cast included Kerry Sensenbach as the weary Captain E.J. Smith, about to retire after 43 years of spotless service; Jonathan Tisevich as earnest young radioman, Harold Bride; Tom Zaniea as the 1st Class Steward, Henry Etches, a model of class under pressure; and Kimberly Brooke as spunky immigrant Kate McGowen.
In smaller parts, Jeffrey Wolf as second class passenger Edgar Beane and Joseph Bergquist as J.J. Astor (what a great speaking voice he has!) both had some nice moments.
As would be expected in a musical about the sinking of the giant ship, the sets and special effects were really the stars of the show. Set designer Roger Gray has created a series of effective drops that allow for easy transition from one deck to the other. Also effective was the railing unit that tilted as the ship sank, and the drink cart that rolled across the stage on its own (a nice effect that foreshadowed the events to follow).
Gray was aided greatly by Charlie Morrison’s evocative lighting effects and by Christopher Walters’ rumbling sound design. As a matter of fact, the final plummet of the Titanic is achieved in darkness with only the impressive sound effects creating the illusion of the ship’s final moments.
Daniel Stewart directed the show with a cinematic flair, moving the action quickly and smoothly from one scene to the next. Musical director Laura Bergquist was responsible for the outstanding musicianship on display both on stage and in the pit.
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Gus Gordon is the chief meteorologist at NewsChannel 20 and a free lance arts reviewer. He can be reached at gusgordon00@lycos.com