![](Encores-Titanic-DD-2_files/image001.png)
The
company of Encores!
Titanic (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Titanic
By
Deirdre Donovan
The
Tony award-winning musical Titanic closed out the Encores! 30th
anniversary season at New York City Center on a high note. Under the direction
of Anne Kauffman, and with Maury Yeston's brilliant music and lyrics intact,
this sung-through concert staging of the original show was utterly
breathtaking.
Of course, it helped that Rob Berman, as
guest music director, pulled out the stops and assembled one of the largest
orchestras ever presented at the Encores! series. Placed on a platform
above the stage, the 30 instrumentalists were always visible, allowing the
audience to see them creating their musical magic.
Act
1 was awash with songs that highlighted the Titanic as the apex of engineering
in the twentieth century and "the ship of dreams." The company number,
"Godspeed Titanic" echoed these sentiments, while also embodying the sense of
adventure lying in the hearts of the crew and passengers as they sailed toward
America.
Other melodies were more intimate in nature.
Take "The Proposal," in which the ship's radio operator Harold Bride (Alex
Joseph Grayson) agrees to let one of its stokers Frederick Barrett (Ramin
Karimloo) send a message to his girl waiting at home. On a livelier note, "Doing
the Latest Rag" (Hartley, Bricoux, Taylor and the company) brought the infectious
sounds of ragtime to the show. This frothy number was later ballasted by "No
Moon," hauntingly sung by the crewman Frederick Fleet (Nathan Salstone) and
company. Since the audience knew what was tragically ahead, this song greatly
sharpened the drama in the closing moments of Act 1.
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Chip Zien, Judy Kuhn (Photo: Joan Marcus)
If Act 1's musical numbers were mostly
buoyant and bright, those in Act 2 were of a much darker hue. There's "Getting
in the Lifeboat," in which a mother tells her small son that "father will be
staying here a while. Let us have a smile." "Still" poignantly reveals the deep
love between the elderly first-class passengers, Ida (Judy Kuhn) and Isidor
Straus (Chip Zien), when Ida refused her lifeboat seat to remain with her
husband on the doomed ship.
There are no real stars in this
musical. And there's a reason. Peter Stone (1776 and many others), who
wrote the book, made the ship and all the people related
to it the leading character. What's more, he focused on the unique
tragedy of the Titanic and how it's thematically about survival, courage,
optimism, and sacrifice.
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Andrew
Durand, Samantha Williams (Photo: Joan Marcus)
That said, Chuck Cooper (The Life,
Caroline or Change) does a superb job performing the role of Captain E. J.
Smith, first conveying his character's pride in being the kingpin of the celebrated
ship and then his later horror, after the Titanic crashed into the iceberg.
After all, who wants to be remembered in history as the captain who went down, accompanied
by over 1,500 crew and passengers, to the ocean's bottom?
Brandon Uranowitz (Leopoldstadt) is
ideally cast as the villainous businessman, J. Bruce Ismay, who urges the
Captain to take the vessel to dangerous speeds. Bonnie Milligan (Kimberly
Akimbo) is a hoot as the social climbing and celebrity-chasing Alice Beane.
And the ever-amazing Andrew Durand (Shucked), last seen as a corpse in Dead
Outlaw, is resurrected to play Jim Farrell, who is smitten with Kate
McGowan (Samantha Williams, who made her Broadway debut in Dear Evan Hansen).
This operetta-like production is done in a presentational style, with the performers holding
scripts in almost every scene. As for a set (Paul Tate Depoo III), it's as
minimalist as it gets. But then, all the scenery is in the score, if one really
listens carefully.
That
said, there was a moment during the show when a simple piece of stage furniture
spoke volumes. Although I refuse to be a spoiler, suffice it to say, that when
it happened, it was a very bone-chilling moment.
If
you missed this show, you missed something special. But take heart, there's
always next season to enjoy Encores! concert stagings that revisit the archives
of the American musical theater.
Encores!
Titanic
Through
June 23.
At
New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, Midtown Manhattan.
For
more information, visit www.nycitycenter.org
Running time: 2 hours with intermission.