Review by Don and Peg Doman, and Lavinia Hart.
For nearly the whole week before going to Tacoma Musical Playhouse to watch Titanic The Musical, I found myself singing. I knew no old songs nor original songs from the Broadway show, but the folk and children’s song “The Titanic” kept popping up in my brain. The lyric “Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives, it was sad when that great ship went down” had been there since my childhood. The largest ship in the world, the jewel of the White Star Line was struck and sank on April 14/15 1912. According to Wickipedia, the first folk songs about the Titanic disaster appeared within weeks after the disaster. Recordings of various songs about the disaster date to as early as 1913.
Titanic The Musical, with book by Peter Stone and music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, tells a sober version of the story of the unsinkable ship from boarding to death and disaster. In the hands of Tacoma Musical Playhouse, we are treated to a story that lets us take part in both the joy and exaltation of the journey as well as the sobering realities of the end.
Titanic runs through May 7. For tickets, go to www.tmp.org.
The Titanic was characterized as “unsinkable” by the White Star Line; however, hubris by Captain E. J. Smith (Eric Furuheim) who changed the sailing coordinates further north to meet his personal goal of cutting a day off the trip time may have set up the loss. The coaxing of the shipping line’s managing director, Joseph Ismay, through whose goading Captain Smith allowed the vessel to increase speed two more times, over the objections of other officers was also a major contribution to the sinking.
The First Class passengers included some famous names: millionaire, John Jacob Astor (Sam Barker) and his five-months pregnant wife, as well as Benjamin Guggenheim (Steve Barnett). Of the Second Class passengers, Edgar Beane, a successful shop owner and his unsatisfied wife Alice (Rebecca Maiten), are taking the trip of a lifetime. Alice sneaks up to the First Class restaurant to drool over the magnificent clothes, furs and jewelry.
Many Tacoma Musical Playhouse ticket holders were given Boarding Passes for the White Star Line’s R.M.S. Titanic. Each boarding pass has an image of one of the passengers or one of the actors portraying a particular passenger. They make waiting for the opening curtain much more interesting.
Twenty-eight scenes and songs in the first act alone made it difficult to recognize all the actors and their parts for review. A dozen more scenes in the second act had the same problem. The problem was not about the actors, it was merely about the numbers of people and their actions. This was the only problem in identifying the actors for me. However, we do want to mention a stand out dance number: We have long admired the work of Mauro Bozzo from A Chorus Line, Singing in the Rain plus now, Titanic, and the Damicos dance number he did in this show with Ceili Caruso.
The characters of the musical were engaging and interesting. Jon also pointed out that one of the passengers was “The Unsinkable” Molly Brown, who disregarded the “men only” card games.
Here are some of my favorite comments from the characters:
- “My father never cornered the market. He had a market on the corner.”
- Perhaps, I’ll run for congress again . . . the best part is that you don’t have to know anything.”
- “It’s difficult to send radio messages and remain a Christian.”
Set designers Dennis Kurtz, Erik Furuhelm, and Jon Douglas Rake did a marvelous job from the steering in the wheelhouse to the stoking coal fire furnace in the boiler room below and everything in between. Lighting designer John Chenault, musical director Jeffrey Stvrtecky, and director/choreographer Jon Douglas Rake worked well as a team. Jon informed us that the Saturday night performance was the 112th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. How special. Timing is everything.
The first act contains dreams of a better world. The second act is about reality . . . as we see passengers sliding down the deck to their death and yet we know that not all will die. The rich will end up with bottles of expensive wines, life preservers, and a chance at living. Many on board were looking for a better life in America. From third class upward people dreamed, but we know that in just over a year World War One would begin and even more people would die. Over a hundred years later, like the ticket holders of the Titanic, all we can do is hope.
The production is well laid-out, the actors were excellent and believable, the set worked well, the music was uplifting, and we look forward to our own tomorrows and yet we can still feel the loss.
