Information about Titanic the musical- Page 3

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 2:58pm

Hah! I'm just like you in that respect, best12. I recently saw a performance I'd been invited to, and I spent the first half wondering just what the hell I was going to say to these people after. Fortunately, the second half got much better, so I was able to cull a positive sound byte out of that. I totally agree that all the set money went to the hydraulics when they might of been better spent elsewhere. This clip of Ladies Maid is a good example of the sets looking cheap.

Interesting that you noticed the lack of backstory on the Strausses, bbb, Obi and adamgreer. They origionally did have more scenes, but they were cut due to length.

I never had any use for the movie, other than a handful of scenes. I thought it was a tremendous waste of an excellent true story rich with characters and drama, to be used merely as a backdrop to a subpar love story.

Ladies Maid Updated On: 7/23/10 at 02:58 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:07pm

I've always thought it would be fun to read the various drafts of the book (and score) as the show was going through rehearsals. I know that Judy Blazer and Don Stephenson lost a great amount of their story.

There's a musical theme that plays at the end right before the last reprise of "Godspeed Titanic," that sounds like it must have been a full song at one time. I wonder if it was...

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:43pm

newintown---did you take lessons to be a jerk or did it just come naturally?

"When they sang together in unison" ... Forgive my hasty thoughts on this thread. I should have said "homophonic" singing, which is the same rhythm but different pitches simultaneously. Did you really need a flowchart to figure that out from what I said? Or do you just like to "correct" people to make your point seem more valid?

I'm sorry to hear you were a music teacher. And I'm glad I didn't have you guiding a class when I was on a double music scholarship. I'm also glad you weren't around when I was writing jingles for TV or joining ASCAP.

Yes, I said "unison" singing when I pooped all over a show you happen to adore. So sorry.

I'm glad you liked Titanic. I truly thought it sucked (yes, that bad). The performers did the best they could with it. But it remains IMO the WORST winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in history. And that includes the recent years.

[D2]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:53pm

Besty, I love you.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:57pm

I think it comes naturally; I don't recall lessons.

But you're right - my hackles rise when I hear what sound like dilettante-ish comments about good music. I mind far less when someone says "I didn't care for it," making it their opinion, rather than saying what is clearly well-crafted music (by a teacher of music at Yale, and a director of the BMI program) is bad.

It doesn't ring true as something a good musician says. Perhaps you write a great jingle, but to dismiss a work of quality like Titanic is akin to saying the Kunst der Fuge is hackwork.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 4:01pm

Oh, good God.

Clearly credentials speak louder to you than forgettable and boring tunes from a hit-and-miss composer.

Yeston can be great, but he sure wasn't this time.

... My lowly, non-Yale opinion only, of course.

Posted: 7/23/10 at 4:30pm

That ladies maid clip spotlights my problems with the set too- and for those who didn't see it- that is the Steering dining room. Late the EXACT SAME SET is used as the FIRST CLASS dining room.

And why build a full stage set that is so empty and pointless- roll on a platform with a table and do it "in one."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/23/10 at 4:51pm

If I remember correctly, they didn't use the exact same set for the first and third class dining room scenes. The tables in first class were elaborately decorated with table cloths and expensive china, and they had chairs. Third class had wooden tables and long wooden benches. In addition to that, the "ceiling" drop was different on Broadway for the first class and decorated to look like the glass dome that was actually over the grand staircase on the real ship.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/24/10 at 10:03am

Well, best12, we'll just need to leave it at you finding me obnoxious and perhaps pretentious, and me finding your comments somewhat lowbrow and uninformed. I find it to be a great score.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/24/10 at 10:30am

I want Marty Moran back on Broadway NOW!!!! :)

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/24/10 at 4:24pm

I think it's a great score too, but I can't imagine referring to Best12 as "lowbrow" or "uninformed".

And absolutely Marty needs to be back on Broadway. Henry, too.

[singingbackup]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 3:11pm

Count me as a Titanic fan. I am fascinated by the real story and love the musical. (Hate the movie)

My take on the little boy running about: The loss of innocence. This event had a huge impact on the Western world in many ways, one being the loss of some incredible captains of industry and larger than life figures who were shaping the new Century and the modern world. The publicity alone for the maiden voyage of "the largest floating object in the world" brought worldwide acclaim, and was touted as mankind's greatest achievement at that time. Also, the very existence of the Titanic, in size and scope, and the desire to "fly in the face of God" on this 'indestructible creation" laid bare man's arrogance and immaturity. I thought the representation the boy was a (not too?) subtle illustration that perhaps we were acting like children. The little white sailboat was also meaningful in that it represented a simpler and more natural way to journey on water (wood for the ship, air from the sky...'what God has supplied)

[Tsao5]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 5:18pm

Having recognized what worked and what did not work with the Broadway production, the producers for the 2 major European productions (who were essentially the same as the Broadway production, Stage Holding renamed Stage Entertainment) made efforts to improve the show when it went to Holland and then Germany. Among other things, all agreed that the Broadway director and set designer had not brought to the stage what the producers had envisioned. When the show was mounted in Holland (and then Germany with the Holland set), a new set was created that looked more...."real", for lack of a better word. Gone was the red digital alarm clocks that were on either side of the Broadway stage, gone was the Toys are Us looking boat model at the end of the first act, the bellboy was no longer played by an actress with her boobs taped down, scenes were completely re-staged, new costumes were designed and the sinking was made more dramatic.

For the German production a new song, 3 days, was added which was sung as a power ballad love duet between Jim and Kate as they try to escape the doomed ship.

The little boy, Jack Thayer, did not run around with a sailboat but stayed with his parents during the opening and was incorporated a bit more into the staging throughout the show.

Also in the German production rather than Isidor Strauss breaking a glass (as in a Jewish wedding) at the end of Still, the Strausses hugged instead.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 6:09pm

I love the Dutch/German set design with the projection of the ship instead of the blue back drop.

Updated On: 8/1/10 at 06:09 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 10:20pm

I was always confused as to why they chose to cast a little boy as Jack Thayer, when in reality he was seventeen years old when the Titanic sank.

I also can't help but feel that the power ballad love duet Tsao5 mentioned was added as a response to the movie. Was there a German cast recording? I would be interested in tracking it down and giving it a listen if it exists.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 10:53pm

There is a German cast recording, but I don't remember it having a new song.

http://castalbums.org/recordings/Titanic_2002_Original_Hamburg_Cast/1991

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 11:18pm

I have both the German and Dutch cast recordings and the song list is identical to the Original Broadway cast recording.

Tsao5, I thought you said the costume designs were different. The picture shown of the Dutch/German design features costumes that look virtually identical to the original Broadway production.

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 8/1/10 at 11:25pm

Updated On: 7/8/14 at 11:25 PM

[Tsao5]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 1:05am

3 Days, the duet in Act 2 was added after the show opened. I believe it was added about a month after the show opened. There was never an official recording of it, though there was some talk of Gloria Estavon recording it for German radio (in English). It was intended to create a marketable......and hummable....."love song from the musical Titanic". This plan never materialized. I believe somewhere on Youtube Donna Vivino (who did the studio recording of the song) can be heard singing a single version of it.

As Titanic was housed in one of the larger German theater's in Hamburg it had trouble filling the seats for its intended 1 year run. It also could not compete against the other two musicals running at the time there, Mamma Mia and Lion King.

The German production did not use the projection of the ship, it was still the blue background for the opening.

I believe the costumes were quite similar but not totally the same especially for the first class passengers. They needed to be historically correct, so they might have looked very close to the B'way production. Tuxedo's for the men, Proper crew uniforms, rags type clothes for the 3rd class would all look the same.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 3:46am

I saw a local production a few years back. They rented a huge set, but it was not the Broadway set. This set was much more detailed and not a s stylized. It was a breathtaking production in terms of special effects and scenery. As for the show itself, I just felt that something was missing. I would have liked to have seen more character development and a little bit more of a story. I know it would be hard to have an intricate and detailed plot because the show focused on the actual people on the ship. To have more of a storyline, there would have had to have been fictionalized characters and accounts which would not have had the same effect on the audience.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 6:38am

bwayphreak, I'm wondering if the set you refer to is from the Long Beach production. I saw pictures of their set and it was absolutely stunning.

[Tsao5]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 2:59pm

I was mistaken where to find the song 3 days. It is not on Youtube, but on Donna's homepage. Copy the link below and listen to it.

http://www.donnavivino.com/audio/Donna%20Vivino-Three%20Days%20by%20Maury%20Yeston.mp3

As you are listening to it, imagine it being sung by the Jim and Kate characters and with a fully orchestrated and full orchestra. Also, at the very end in the musical version of the song (when the two are holding their final long note) there are strains of God Speed Titanic playing ( though not on this somewhat Celine Dionish version) . But at least you can hear basically what the song sounds like..

:)

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:01pm

DottieD'Luscia - I am not sure where the sets were from. Here is a picture though.

[matineeidol2013]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:09pm

http://www.vyt.com/media-gallery/titanic.aspx

bwayphreak: that picture is from valley youth theatre's production back in 2004. this set is absolutly stunning, and i imagine it could be the set you saw a few years ago. it was available for rent for years, but hasnt been for the past many months.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:27pm

^ Yes, I saw it at Valley Youth Theatre. It was an amazing set. The set was going to be destroyed after being in storage for so long when Valley Youth Theatre purchased the set for $1. I remember reading about it in the paper. I do not know what has happened to the set since then.

Updated On: 8/3/10 at 06:27 PM