Marla Mindelle (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
Titanique
By Deirdre Donovan
A deliriously camp send-up that gleefully rewrites pop culture history, Titanique finds Céline Dion commandeering the Titanic’s legacy with a jukebox score and a wink that never fades. Yet for all its riotous invention and winning performances, this Broadway transfer can feel like a tidal wave of gags—so relentless at times that audiences may find themselves more breathless than buoyed.
Co-written by Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, and Constantine Rousouli, the Olivier Award-winning musical comedy Titanique arrives on Broadway as a gleeful outlier. After an embryonic 2017 debut in Los Angeles, it found its footing at the scrappy Asylum NYC in 2022 before transferring to the Daryl Roth Theatre later that year and launching a string of international productions. Now, propelled by Mindelle and a game ensemble, Titanique docks on the Great White Way as a full-blown phenomenon—one that, like Oh, Mary!, thrives on audacity and impeccable comic timing.
Marla Mindelle and the Ensemble (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
The premise is deliciously absurd: in the present day, Dion hijacks a Titanic museum tour, claiming she survived the disaster and is ready to set the record straight. From there, she spins her own wildly embellished account of what “really” happened to Jack, Rose, and the ship’s other doomed passengers. The zaniness only escalates, with bursts of improvisation, cheeky asides to cardboard cutouts of Patti LuPone and Nicole Scherzinger, and a camp sensibility heavily indebted to RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The fourth wall here isn’t merely broken—it’s gleefully obliterated. In this anything-goes comic universe, Marla Mindelle repeatedly barrels into the audience, inviting them to join her running commentary on the Titanic’s voyage. She may steer the exchanges, but the crowd proves more than willing to play along, amplifying the show’s, anything-for-a-laugh spirit.
The creative team proves fully in sync with the show’s buoyant sensibility. The semi-abstract set by Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher (for Iron Bloom Creative Productions), enhanced by Paige Seber’s atmospheric lighting, evokes the grandeur of the White Star Line without sacrificing playfulness. A sweeping staircase, an onstage band, and three looming steel chevrons frame the action, while ample open space allows the cast to move with agility through both comic set pieces and Ellenore Scott’s spirited choreography.
Alejo Vietti’s costumes run the gamut from elegant to playfully outlandish, reinforcing the show’s heightened comic world. Marla Mindelle dazzles in a parade of sparkling sequined gowns (after an opening guise as a down-on-her-luck drifter), while Melissa Barrera’s Rose is clad in refined period attire. By contrast, Jim Parsons’ Ruth DeWitt Bukater is a comic triumph of excess, decked out in matronly finery crowned with a hat sprouting conspicuously fake birds.
The musical’s greatest strength is its performances, with the ensemble displaying impressive agility as they shift from museum docents to doomed passengers on the high seas. At the center is Mindelle, who commands the stage with effortless charisma, belting “My Heart Will Go On” to rapturous effect in the finale. Constantine Rousouli and Melissa Barrera make an appealing Jack and Rose, his brashness offsetting her steely independence, while Jim Parsons, in drag as Ruth DeWitt Bukater (Rose’s mother), mines comic gold—especially in a hilariously aggrieved rant about life’s injustices. Frankie Grande brings swagger to Victor Garber, delivering “I Drove All Night” with reckless abandon, and the charismatic Layton Williams is a scene-stealing delight as the Iceberg, sealing the ship’s fate. John Riddle inhabits Rose’s detestable fiancé Cal Hockley with the requisite arrogance, adding just enough vinegar to the farcical goings-on.
Director Blue keeps the production moving at a brisk 100-minute clip, but a bit more restraint would sharpen its comic impact. The gags land consistently, yet the sheer volume can feel relentless; with a touch more breathing room, the humor might land with even greater precision.
Constantine Rousouli, Melissa Barrera (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
Titanique draws primarily from Dion’s songbook—anchored by staples like “My Heart Will Go On,” “All By Myself,” and “To Love You More”—but it isn’t bound to her catalog alone. Strategic detours into pop anthems such as, “Who Let the Dogs Out” and “River Deep, Mountain High” heighten the show’s irreverent, anything-goes humor.
In the end, Titanique rides its own wave of madcap excess, delivering a night of unapologetic camp that rarely stops to catch its breath. While its barrage of jokes can at times feel overwhelming, the sheer commitment of its cast and its infectious sense of fun make it hard to resist. Like the diva at its center, the show knows exactly how to bring the house down—even if it occasionally threatens to capsize under the weight of its own exuberance.
At the St. James Theatre
246 W. 44th St.
Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission
Through July 12, 2026
