It's a novel, it's a movie, and now it's a musical: Titanic.
The saga could best be described as a Greek tragedy: Everyone knows how the story will end. The only tragedy found in this retelling is the cheesy-looking sets. More about that later.
Titanic unfolds brilliantly and the singing voices are terrific. We're introduced to a cast of characters, some familiar and some unknown. The fact that there are three classes of passengers onboard the doomed ship gets stressed, along with the notion that the Titanic represents "a new world." (That particular line gets repeated somewhere in the neighborhood of 711 times, the same number of people who were actually saved. Such a coincidence.)
The wealthy first-class passengers are first to board. They include some of the world's best-known and wealthiest men: John Jacob Astor (Rob Donohoe), Isidor Straus (S. Marc Jordan) and Benjamin Guggenheim (Ken Krugman).
The voice of second class gets no better representative than Edgar and Alice Beane (David Beditz and Liz McConahay). Mrs. Beane knows the pedigree of all the first-class passengers (as recited in the amazing patter song: "The 1st Class Roster") and spends most of her days trying to hobnob with the upper crust. McConahay becomes one of the most watchable cast members and has a great singing voice to boot.
Third class "spokeswomen" are a collection of Irish Kates, known as "The Three Kates" (Melissa Bell, Jodi Jinks and Kate Suber). One of the Kates falls in love with a ship's stoker, Barrett (Marcus Chait). And who wouldn't, with a gorgeous baritone such as his.
Under the command of Captain E.J. Smith (William Parry), standouts within the Titanic crew include 1st Officer Murdoch (David Pittu) and radioman Harold Bride (Dale Sandish). Indeed, one of the best duets happens between Chait and Sandish as they sing "The Proposal/The Night was Alive".
Titanic takes its act break just as the ship gets struck by the iceberg. That leaves the entire second act for the inevitable to happen. The obligatory "how could this have happened?" song occurs with "The Blame", sung passionately by the captain, the ship's designer, Thomas Andrews (Kevin Gray) and an official from White Star shipping line, J. Bruce Ismay (Adam Heller).
While it's wonderful to hear the soaring score, it's far more disappointing to see these "abstract" sets. The New York production had depth and detail, such as when a full-size grand piano goes sliding across the stage as the ship is sinking. The national tour gets a tea cart.
Most distracting of all are the painted backdrops. One in particular, the opening drop used to indicate stairs, gets called to duty in Act Two to represent clouds on the open sea. Did scenic designer Stewart Laing think no one would notice? Or care? A vast majority of the time the sets look to be nothing but enormous black and white panels ... that need ironing. I've seen better paint jobs in high school.
The action in Act Two gets slowed down by a long, predictable series of 12 monologues, each spoken by one of the drowning men as they watch the lifeboats float away. Luckily, the action picks back up, and the effect of having the ship tilt is nothing short of stunning.
There are numerous ballads worth mentioning, but none more than Still. Isidor Straus and his wife Ida (Taina Elg) sing the touching remembrance of what it's like to have lived and loved someone for more than 40 years.
Titanic -- "the largest floating object in the world" -- remains such an enormous story that no one movie, book or musical could ever cover it all. The gem to this Titanic is found in the magnificent score and beautiful voices. But those sets: Back to the drawing board.
Best line: "Anyone with a few million dollars thinks they're rich nowadays."