Connoisseurs of elephantine production values will miss the hydraulic pumps that, on Broadway, gave us three stage levels. In this simpler roadshow production, the level playing field works to the show’s advantage, especially in act one’s big penultimate number, “No Moon,” wherein passengers from all three classes, singing side by side, give voice to their very separate and individual dreams for the future.
While this scaled-down staging is a step in the right direction, “Titanic” remains handicapped by a certain literal spirit. Tilting the floor boards to replicate a sinking ship, for example, is ultimately ridiculous, and the production groans under the strain.
Yet “Titanic” is a classic American musical, and Yeston has filled the show with plenty of ballads and love songs to punctuate the bombast — he does occasionally comes down with anthem-itis. The loveliest moment arrives halfway through act one when a stoker (Brian d’Arcy James) sends a love letter back home via the ship’s radioman (Dale Sandish). The two men’s simultaneous arias, “The Proposal” and “The Night Was Alive,” are beautiful laments of isolation.
Also remarkable are Isador and Ida Straus’s love song, “Still” (sung by S. Marc Jordan and Taina Elg), and “I Have Danced,” a social climber’s ode (sung by David Beditz and Liz McConahay).
But Yeston’s powers desert him with some of the recitative: e.g., “You must get in/Step right this way/Don’t delay.” More crucial, he has failed to find any adequate musical representation for the show’s central triumvirate: Capt. E. J. Smith (William Parry), the ship’s owner, J. Bruce Ismay (Adam Heller) and its architect, Thomas Andrews (Kevin Gray). Instead, we get a messy trio, “The Blame,” that is all bitch fest with no heartbreaking regret.
Still, Peter Stone’s book keeps the focus firmly on his tragic trio as he weaves together the disaster’s myriad stories. Especially fine are two quiet nonmusical interludes just before the final reprise when first the victims and then the survivors recount the disaster’s final moments.
When the musical opened on Broadway two seasons ago, it was saddled with sets and costumes by Stewart Laing that were literal and tacky-looking, despite the show’s $10 million pricetag. Unfortunately, the costumes have been exported intact for this roadshow production, and they still make the stage look like a Cecil Beaton garage sale.