Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston

Book by Peter Stone

Directed by Thom Southerland

Just what is the human cost to the ‘dreams of progress’? One life, ten lives? Maybe one hundred, perhaps a thousand? How about numbers exceeding 1,500.

With too few lifeboats (a significant number of them not yet full), and the decision to inform the third-class passengers later than others of the collision, the legacy of the Titanic is as much an ugly stain of avarice and class divide on the human consciousness as it is a legendary tale of loss, tragedy, and survival.

Titanic the Musical rises above some expectations of schlock cash-ins and conducts its storytelling with a degree of respect for the lives lost, though agitates the flames of a class divide to get its point over. Treading the initial days of the voyage, leading to the sinking of the vessel, Peter Stone’s Titanic the Musical celebrates its 10th anniversary with one key principle at its core: Humanity in all its colours – beautiful and repulsive. Maury Yeston’s music and lyrics steer the epic musical away from the joyful and instead offer a sublimely orchestrated composed score, the live band and conductor receiving the largest jubilations of the night, which traverses the range of human emotions in their swansong moments.

In truth, musical is not the principally appropriate term for the show, being far closer in structure to a light-operatic in tone and foundation. Musical segments are as much narrative tools for imparting information to the audience as they are emotional tools to communicate a wealth of anguish, fear and love in a short period. Initially, there is a sense of overloading of plot and historical subtext, Bree Smith’s eager second-class passenger who begins sight-seeing the millionaire first-class passengers doing a sterling job of listing off the vessel’s famous travellers, including the then co-owner of Macy’s department stores, Isidor Straus, (David Delve).

Lyrically, Yeston carries tremendous weight through the production at the time, but in longevity, Titanic the Musical isn’t a score audiences will be ‘humming’ the following day. There are stand-out moments for the twenty-five-strong soundtrack; Still, Godspeed Titanic and Lady’s Maid a bouncing, more folksy number performed with gusto from Niamh Long, Emily George and Lucie-Mae Sumner as the ‘three Kates’ along with the third-class passengers. It’s here the underbelly of the Titanic’s history is more prevalent, where the parallel ripples of class divide, and disaster become a significant feature. Sumners becomes an accessible gateway for the audience, both captain’s (historically inaccurate) decisions to lock the third-class passengers below the deck, and her reasonings for leaving for the U.S. after finding herself pregnant without the baby’s father supporting them.

Barrett’s Song is another strong number, performed early in the bowels of the vessel’s furnaces, the stokers working to ramp the speed of the Titanic at the bellows of its owner. It’s the closest we come to a ‘traditional’ musical number with a chorus and Ben Papworth’s musical direction having an element of choreography. Adam Filipe delivers a mighty vocal performance that carries through the Festival Theatre, rich and powerful, an indication of his characterisation and moral centre throughout the production. His grease-marked costume is a visual counter to the other staff of the ship, the bellboys and penguin-suited members serving the first-class guests.

Class divide prevails across the story, and is nuanced-enough and to refrain from creating a staggered villainy between the first and third-class voyagers. Rather it is between the owner’s business-minded antagonism and those seeking a new life, a common motif of entering a new world – it’s seen in Joesph Peacock’s Bellboy, especially in Barnaby Hughes’ Henry Etches. Etches becomes a herald, of sorts, Hughes’ performance is remarkably understated – even in the grimmest of challenges who ensures the ship is presentable, and the champagne flows – even up to the final moments.

One may think that the set pieces for such a grand and opulent setting would become distracting for the show, but David Woodhead’s design is clean, given the potential they could draw from. It’s a large set but aims for authenticity in the free-flowing movement of Southerland’s direction. Howard Hudson’s lighting is our guide as we transition between scenes, no curtain drops or set changes to maintain momentum. They’re monochromatic, bold statements of clear choice rather than varying shades. It strikes coldly against the mask of Woodhead’s design – the restrictive nature of the ship, its bulkheads and riveted panels a constant presence overhead. It’s an immovable force, save for two changes in the final moments: one, terrifying in idea, simple in execution. The other, a solemn lament.

Southerland’s direction has tremendously small nuances: simplistic things otherwise unimportant to the story. Audiences would do well to keep an eye on the older couple Ida and Isidor (played by the charming pair Valda Aviks and Delve) as they accept their fate. Another eye on the way the ship’s owner, J. Bruce Ismay leaves the stage with the lifeboats, he and the female passengers are the first to leave the stage via the audience.

A trifecta of defacto ‘leads’ while Titanic is an ensemble performance, Paul Kemble’s Ismay (filling in for Martin Allanson), Graham Bickley’s Captain Edward Smith and Ian McLaron as the ship’s architect Thomas Andrews have a far more prominent and central presence in the story narrative arc. The trio work well as men of authority and standing, Kemble’s arrogance in speeding up the vessel is a perfect counter to Bickley’s oblivion and assurances of his skill and goading of increasing the vessel’s ship. While McLaron’s final number, Mr Andrews’ Vision, thunders with the passion and agony of the man who oversaw the ‘unsinkable’ design, bridging the final moments before the ship is submerged.

For a piece of relatively contemporary history so frequently adapted, its stories told in award-winning manners, there is an unprecedented depth to the social hierarchies, decisions and behind-the-scenes financial elements of the Titanic we may never know. With over 1,500 lives lost in the icy waters, and the carcass of the wreck rotting some 12,500 feet below, the legend of the vessel will remain an ingrained part of our history. Taking historical liberties but ensuring a rigid sense of character and culminating in a respectful commemoration of the souls lost, Titanic the Musical is a triumphantly grand and as engaging a legend as possible.