Filmed in the UK with outstanding creatives and cast, this production is a “revelation” even to author Maury Yeston, who is present at the press screening. Produced on a smaller stage than Broadway, it nonetheless captures both grandeur of the dream – to build a ship than can’t sink (so that lives may be saved) and intimacy achieved by close up cameras. Observing the face of Titanic’s crow’s nest look-out for example, as he perceives what’s about to happen, is shocking. When women and children are lowered into lifeboats, we don’t need to see the boats.
This is not the tragic, fictional love story of society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslett) and poor artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) from the1997 film. Instead, we have a fisheye view of the overinflated ego of ship owner Bruce Ismay who pushed for increasing speed despite being cautioned; the accommodating-against-better-judgment behavior of Captain Edward J. Smith who took a northern route, ignoring iceberg warnings in order to maintain schedule; and the helpless awareness of remorseful designer, Thomas Andrews who, in the play, figures out how to fix things too late. (Only Ismay made it off.) It also pivotally introduces us to passengers from all three classes.
Nicknamed “The Millionaire’s Special,” the Titanic was approximately 882.5 feet long and about 92.5 feet wide at its widest point. It boasted an enormous first-class dining saloon, four elevators, and a swimming pool. A single-person berth in first class cost between £30 (equivalent to £3,200 in 2021); a parlour suite £870 (equivalent to £92,000 in 2021). Compartments featured doors that could be closed from the bridge containing water if necessary. According to original publicity, four could be breached without endangering the ship’s buoyancy. Thus, the claim to be unsinkable.
April 10, 1912, to immense fanfare, RMS Titanic set sail from Southhampton, England to New York City. Onboard were 2,200 people, approximately 1,300 of whom were passengers. Among those prominent guests were Macy’s co-owner Isidor Straus and his wife (whom Yeston movingly singles out for their devotion and love), John Jacob Astor IV with pregnant second wife Madeline, industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, and John B. Thayer, president of Pennsylvania Railroad with his mother. Madeline and the Thayers got home.
Below, there’s Frederick Barret, stoker – his fiancé waiting in England. In Third, we meet three Irish Kates with respective plans to be a ladies’ maid, a seamstress, and a governess. One fixes on and acquires a young man she feels is husband material. In second class, we observe Alice, who so aspires to experience the pleasures of First, she keeps slipping through to enjoy their pleasures, an enchanting conceit replete with a deck dance. And Lady Caroline Neville who looks forward to marrying a man society says is beneath her when they get to New York. (They’re traveling as spouses.)
Frustrated wireless radio operator Jack Phillips gets his moment in the spotlight as does the First class Steward – professional to the end, and First Officer William Murdoch who blames himself. Sequence is masterful, offering different kinds of songs as well as points of view.
We understand the exhilaration, hope, and relationships onboard, the latter tested beyond endurance. Husbands insisted their wives and children be safe. There was predictable violence and one-upmanship, but being a self-avowed optimist, Yeston chose not to depict the ugly side of surviving. He shows those remaining facing their fate like gentlemen and ladies.
Titanic’s number of lifeboats exceeded that required by the British Board of Trade, its 20 boats could carry only 1,178 people, far short of the total number of passengers. Additionally, lifeboats were launched below capacity and just earlier that day a drill was cancelled. Of 2,240 passengers and crew, only 706 people survived.
This is not a depressing or fatalistic piece. In a talkback, Yeston, whose father was born in England, tells us his show is “about aspiration in the very best sense; a great dream… How is it any different than the dream of Jonas Salk?.. It’s a praise/prose poem for our striving.” The author tells us he always writes himself in, that he’s Ismay here. “In the theater, we give you hints and you put it together. Film is more internal; it’s all laid out for you.”
Singing is gorgeous, vocal arrangements rich. You won’t leave the theater humming, but immersed, sound washes over evocatively. A single caveat of the piece itself is what seems like multiple endings, any one or even two of which would’ve done effectively.
FATHOM is quite the experience.
Photos by Pamela Raith
FATHOM EVENTS presents
Titanic –The Musical
Story and Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Celebrating the 26th Anniversary of the Tony Winning Broadway show
The UK theatrical production captured live onstage: Directed by Thom Southerland. Sets and Costumes by David Woodhead, Lighting- Howard Hudson, Sound by Andrew Johnson. Musical Staging- Cressida Carre. Produced and cast by Danielle Tarento.
Presented in more than 700 movie theaters worldwide on November 4 and 8.
