TITANIC in Toronto- Page 2

[lambchop2]

Posted: 6/25/15 at 11:48am

I haven't heard anything about a cast recording, sadly.

I wonder if by 'little' cast recording he meant it literally--just a little recording for the audio that they used in the trailer/footage reels for the show.

I'd love a cast recording with this cast, though. Or a professional video, but given that they seem to be touring (to some extent) I'm doubting it'll happen.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 6/25/15 at 2:25pm

"...it looks fairly traditional, not a huge departure, if anything slightly more literal than the original. I thought this staging was more minimal. I'm not complaining, just surprised."

 

The staging is indeed quite minimal. 

STAGING SPOILERS AHEAD

For example, the scene with the loading of the lifeboat consists of ship crew members lifting the lifeboat passengers over the edge of nothing (pantomiming the edge of a non-existent boat) after which the passenger stands in a line next to the other passengers in the non-boat.  Other crew members throw two ropes to the two passengers on the ends of the line, they pretend to lower the boat with the ropes, and then the "lifeboat" sails by having its passengers split up into two halves of the line, then walking away in two opposite directions (wtf?  the 'boat' just split in half?).   I get that it saves money to not have an actual boat prop, but the running cost would have been the same if they had all walked in one direction, at least pretending that they were actually in a boat together.

The ship sinking is a bit more fancy, but not by much.  They do tilt the back deck of the set at the very end of Mr. Andrews' song just as the lights go out, and he slides down it the one-person-length or so that he is elevated as they tilt the deck more and more during his song.  It is tilted by very visible ropes. 

Another minimalist staging concept is re-using all of the cast members except for the actors playing Andrews, Ismay, Smith, and Isador Strauss to play more than one character, sometimes even different named characters in each of the classes (e.g. the same actor plays the Stoker, Guggenheim in first class, and another passenger with some solo lines in the third class ensemble number about coming to America).  They make no attempt to disguise his face through all those changes, so it is a bit disorienting wondering why the stoker is singing with the third-class passengers instead of, well, stoking, until you realize that he is supposed to be representing a different character there despite his identical appearance.  Same thing with Ida Strauss and a third-class ensemble passenger, Edgar from second class and a prominently-featured ensemble soloist in third class, Jim Farrell from third class and a first-class steward, the orchestra leader and a bellboy, etc.  It was very weird and disorienting.

END SPOILERS

Having said all that, the singing was superb, with Ben Heppner and the actors playing Andrews and the stoker being particular standouts in that regard.