Titanic the Musical

'Titanic – The Musical' steamed into Norwich this week, 26 years after first opening on Broadway, and  111 years after the real, ill-fated, liner sank on her maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg. The musical fared much better, sweeping the board at the 1997 Tony Awards with five wins, including Best Book of a Musical for writer Peter Stone, and Best Original Score for composer Maury Yeston. In November of the same year, James Cameron's film version, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet, was released, and went on to win 11 Academy Awards, including Best Director.
 
However, the big difference between Cameron's story of Jack and Rose and 'Titanic – The Musical' is that the show is based on real people who were on that maiden voyage, a sobering thought that adds a dramatic extra dimension, and a sense of authenticity and poignancy to the live show. And in this 10th Anniversary Tour of Danielle Tarento's touring production, there also lurks a politically charged message just below the surface. But more of that later.
 
With a cast of 25 characters flooding the stark yet imposing set design from David Woodhead, we follow the fated progress of the Titanic all the way from Southampton to its watery demise 200 miles off  the coast of Newfoundland. We learn of the fierce rivalry between Cunard and the White Star Line, and the pressures on Captain Edward Smith (played authoratively by Graham Bickley) to increase the vessel's speed in order to arrive in New York ahead of schedule. Below decks we meet the third class passengers, mainly Irish emigrants seeking a new life in America, whilst the first class passengers are a mixture of millionaires and socialites. And sandwiched in between are the second-class passengers – an aspirational bunch with their own hopes and dreams. As the passengers dine and dance their way across the Atlantic we watch as Wallace Hartley (Joseph Peacock) leads them in 'Doin' The Latest Rag', a lively and colourful number choreographed by Cressida Carré).

 
With clever and innovative lighting design from Howard Hudson, this single set, with its huge wall of rivetted steel sheeting, ballustrade railings and alcoved stage area, manages to transport us from engine room to passenger hold to dining rooms and to bridge and decks without us ever really querying the uniformity of each setting. And this is due, surely, to the performances of each and every member of the cast. It is they that our eyes remain firmly fixed upon, that our ears respond to, and that our hearts go out to. There are simply too many to mention, but a special mention is surely merited for elderly married couple Ida and Isidor Straus (Volda Aviks and David Delve), who are served the Titanic's final bottle of Cristal champagne as they pledge their undying love to each other.
 
OK, so we all know how the show ends, but this Mayflower Theatre production has one final trick up its sleeve as a handful of Titanic survivors, draped in blankets from the rescuing RMS Carpathia, stand and face a huge wall of names of the 1517 people who drowned that night. Whilst many of the first-class passengers made it to the lifeboats, there were empty spaces left for at least another 500 passengers when the boats were launched. And we cannot help be reminded that, according to Human Rights Watch, 1200 economic migrants drowned last year in the Mediterranean Sea, as they attempted the journey to mainland Europe in small boats. Class and privilege, and aspirations and hope from 1912 starkly reflectng on the parallel economic plight of those attempting today to build a better life for their families.
 
'Titanic – The Musical' is an emotional voyage from start to finish, a show that transports you back to days of Edwardian splendour and pride but, with able direction from Thom Sutherland, also manages to resonate and reflect on the horrors of the present.