How did the Titanic sink on Broadway?

Did the musical have a mock-up of the ship and how did they show it sinking?

Can anybody elaborate?

I almost got a titanic musical memorabilia on ebay but I lost
Inside the Titanic

To elaborate, there was a three level set, all on hydraulic lifts. All through Act 2, the floor gradually sloped more and more (Stage left lifting up in the air) until it reached a 45 degree angle.

There was a little boat too, but it was only used at the very end if Act I, when it hit the iceberg.

Updated On: 5/3/09 at 02:53 PM

We had tickets for a preview which was cancelled as they could not get it to sink.

The ship at the end of the first act was very effective.

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They hit an ice berg.

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Actually, Titanic is produced alot in many venues, including high schools and community theatres because it has a large, diverse cast. Plus, I think the music is great. The score is lovely. Ive seen a few scaled down versions and most leave the sinking of the sink to the audience imagination with blackouts or curtains rising from the bottom of the stage.

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In the touring version, the set tilten to about 45 degrees then a black curtain slowly rose from the front of the stage until the whole stage was in blackness and then a black out. It was extremely effective and you could hear sniffles and gasps from the audience. You really felt that you were watching the ship go down.

I actually loved this on B'way, and I went unwillingly.

I thought the mini boat, howwever, was the worst part of it.

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I'll never understand why people laughed at the mini boat, but I've read that it was more effective depending on where you were sitting. It looked amazing from my seat and I was also impressed with the watter effect underneath the ship and how it all disappeared in the quick blackout.

To me, the most effective moment was at the top of act 2, as the first class passengers gathered in the salon and bitched about being awakened for nothing. During a pause in the song, a rolling bar cart suddenly rolled across stage as the ship was starting to sink. The simple easy effect brought the drama home far better than any of the subsequent hydraulics.

It doesn't have to be. It just was on Broadway.

I love it when Michael Cerveris talks about this show. I would sell someones first born to have seen it.

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CatsNY is right. It doesn't HAVE to be all that elaborate. In fact watching the Broadway production I wished they had gone with a minimalist staging (thing GRAND HOTEL at sea and you'll get the idea.)

Trouble was the set was huge but some of the drops looked cheap and scenes such as the first class dining room cried out for an opulence that was missing.

Also director Richard Jones seemed so concerned with the technical aspects he wasn't giving more than general direction to the cast. (Jones was not even nominated for a Tony that year.) Fortunately most were able to develop some kind of characterization from Peter Stones' very thin script.

But the show had moments. The tableau at the end of act one when the set cleared away and se saw the mighty Titanic off in the distance sailing across the ocean and off stage to a crash. Blackout. I thought it was brilliant. But when I first heard about it I must admit it sounded chintzy. Then I saw it and saw how effective it was.

Maury Yeston's score was (as any who have heard the cast album know) gorgeous. The show was helped by first by Rosie O'Donnell constantly plugging it, then winning the Tony award, and finally when the phenomenally successful movie coming out 8 months later. Unfortunately the movie was so huge that within a year there was Titanic backlash and audiences grew weary of hearing about it. The receipts for the show fell off rather dramatically in the winter of 1999 and the show closed still in the red. It was a flawed show but certainly interesting. I know at least two community theatre groups here are planning to mount it next spring.

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