Titanic - the musical- Page 2

[BroadwayMel]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 9:49pm

It also inspired one of my favorite Gypsy of the Year parodies. The cast came out with little rubber swimmies and lifesavers and sang to the tune of All That Jazz...

Come on boys, why don't we faint and drown?
And all that ice?

another smippet

And, instead of "Where the gin is cold, but the piano's hot" they sang "The props are bolted down, but the piano's not."

HILARIOUS.

[morebroadwayplease]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 9:54pm

My voice teacher was in this show.

[Nath]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 9:54pm

Wasn't most of the problem with titanic that, as opposed to lets sayu the movie' the focus of the story wasn't on the 'actors/characters' but arther on the 'ship', the ship or notion of it was the star (and no I'm not talking about the set). In this way the chracters that came into focus were teh ones that 'interacted' with the ship or affected or were affecetd by it. So in this way the show didn't work that well because there were so many chracters you were supposed to feel compassion for, that you never really felt for any of them, sure the whole story is a sad one, butthe show didn't really develop teh charcters enough(because there were too many 'leads')

This probrably makes no sence written out, but is clear in my head! lol

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 9:59pm

Thank you all very much, I will definately be buying this cast recording!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:08pm

Titanic The Musical & Titanic the Movie are kinda apples & oranges. The movie basically used the backdrop of the ship & its sinking as a setting for a wholly fictional love story, and was full of inaccuracies otherwise. The musical largely stuck to the true story, with fewer inventions & literary license.

BroadwayMel, I'd already granted that CHICAGO won the acting awards - I was simply pointing out that the two musicals weren't in competition. Nothing personal. Peace?

I also have that Gypsy "All That Ice" recording.

"The props are bolted down,
But the piano's not,
And when it starts to fall,
It crushes things real small,
In all
That
I-ice".

[Nath]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:19pm

but perhaps that is where the musical went wrong, by attempting to focus on every truth (although there were alot of assumptions and extensions of the truth made in the musical), instead of using the event as a backdrop, and working on character and story.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:31pm

I don't really see that the musical did go wrong, Nath. It did win best musical, and while it was a flawed piece that ultimately did not make back its money, it did run a few years. The ship was not the star, the story & characters were.

I have never understood the appeal of the movie - I mean, why bother to use a true story to tell a false tale? Mind you, I'm not saying it was a bad movie, just definately not my cup of tea.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:38pm

It won Best Musical over STEEL PIER, THE LIFE, and JUAN DARIEN. That aint saying much.

[Nath]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:43pm

well 'technically' the musical told false tales as well, combinding storylines, inventing characters and their r'ships... just happened to have a few 'real' characters in there to make it more plausable.

I dunno I really liked Titanic, buit its one of those shows that I think don't quite worked, and while we could sit back and say "it was the story" "it was the score!" " it was the book" etc... I think the simple fact is..

the made Titanic... into a musical... (i mean come on...)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:51pm

Titanic has inspired multiple movies, hundreds of books (Both fiction and non), TV shows, poems, songs, you name it...why wouldn't they make a musical out of it? It's one of the 3 or 4 defining events of the century and a source of boundless fascination- fraught with drama, symbolism and conflict. There are Titanic dicussion groups, vacation cruises to the site of the sinking and endless exhibitions of relics and memoribilia.
Is is any odder a subject for a musical than say, a spelling bee, a girl's trip to Italy or two con men on the French Riveria?

[Nath]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 10:55pm

is there going to be a 9/11 musical?

[joniray]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 11:10pm

I'm sure with time and a little bit more emotional distance there will be a 9/11 musical. It has already been the center of quite a few plays. And William Finn included a couple of 9/11 songs in "Elegies." It's only a matter of time before there is a full-length musical piece on the subject. Anything that involves that much emotion can and should be memorialized through the therapeutic power of music and theatre.

[Nath]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 11:15pm

I think its all in the treatment.

although, I'm sorry, but a giant sinking ship on stage...

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 7/4/05 at 11:54pm

Let's put it this way. Thoroughly Modern Millie won best musical. What more needs to be said?

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 1:40am

"It's one of the 3 or 4 defining events of the century"

Really? I mean, yeah, it was tragic and very rememberable and a timeless accident, but I wouldn't say it necessarily ranks as one of the top 4 defining events of the century. whatever though... :)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:30am

the fact that we're just around the corner from the ship having sunk over one hundred years ago and we're still talking about it pretty much ranks it as one of the 3 or 4 defining events of the century. add in the fact that is gave way to one of the most significant advances in maritime laws, regulations and safety precautions to help ensure that nothing like that could ever happen again, and you've got a pretty decent contender at least.

[Urban]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 8:09am

JoeKv99 - yes it was 'fate' not 'fat'. It was a (somewhat embarrassing) typo. :-p

Now I do feel really embarrassed since Kate McGowan was my favorite character in the show (I think she just had all the best lines).
Updated On: 7/5/05 at 08:09 AM

[jynni]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 9:40am

I never got to see "Titanic" during its Broadway run. I did see what I believe was a non-equity tour of it a few years ago though. At least I hope it was non-equity because if it was equity than what I saw put a serious dent in the "equity is better arguement".

It was pretty bad. The local community theater puts on shows that are 100X better. I thought the score was pretty meh. Pretty but very forgettable. The characters were bland and pretty stereotypical of any Titanic story. The sets (I know scaled back for tour purposes) were so sparse they might as well have been performing on an empty stage. Basically I thought it was terribly boring. One of the only shows I've ever considered leaving early (the other being an uncharacteristically bad performance of the Les Miz tour).

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 9:41am

It won Best Musical over STEEL PIER, THE LIFE, and JUAN DARIEN. That ain't saying much.

True. The 1996-7 season was no banner year for musical theatre (my vote would've gone to Steel Pier). As far as Titanic is concerned, I saw it and didn't like it. I have the recording and have listened to it maybe twice in the seven years since I bought it. For a show that was written by the great Maury Yeston, with a book by Peter Stone, and a cast that included some of the best the musical theatre today has to offer, it was pretty lame.

[OnTheAisle]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 10:35am

"It's one of the 3 or 4 defining events of the century" - ABSOLUTELY! So much has been written about the fall of the class system following the Titanic sinking - not to mention the change in attitude from "mankind is invincible" to "we are expendable" - a lot of that is in "Mr. Andrews Vision". I love this musical - I think the music is haunting and beautiful and impressive in that so much of the facts are put forth ("The Blame" is a mini-lesson on the issues surrounding the sinking). I saw this on Broadway and the only concern I had was with the set - it failed (for me) to capture the opulence of Titanic - but overall, it is a very satisfying musical - enjoy!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 10:35am

Thanks Cats, I couldn't have said it better myself-- I'm a bit of a "Titanic buff" (The ship, not the show) and I wondered if I overstated the importance of the event. When you consider the impact it had on society, the changes it brought about, even just the impact of SO MANY famous & wealthy people dying at once; it's certainly a remarkable event.

The show is troubling; Wonderful in parts, dreadful in others. I am of the school of thought that it was the staging that did it in, actually. Some scenes were so well presented that it made the ones that weren't (The ship of air, the use of the same set to represent the first & second class dining rooms, despite being told that one is far far more elegant than the others....)

I think one day it will be presented in a concert staging (a al Encores) and be a sensation. The score is great!

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 1:24pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I saw this show on Broadway three or four times. For me, it was by far one of the worst shows I have ever seen in my life grace a Broadway stage. I was appalled that it won best score and musical over THE LIFE. I felt the book was really weak, the music was forgettable, the set was an unfortunate misfortune in itself and if I had to hear "Di-dot-di-dot-dot" sung or see that girl dressed as the bell hop run around waving or watch the model of the Titanic run across a backdrop of garbage bags one more time I was going to personally run on stage and place my head in the path of the piano in the second act.

But hey, we all like shows that other people don't, and there ya have it.

[november]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 1:36pm

One of the worst shows I ever saw on Broadway. I know some people loved it, but then again I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:27pm

Why would you see it three or four times then?

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 7/5/05 at 2:30pm

I got free tickets. Also, I got to see it in previews through opening and I was interested to see how much the show would change. I had hoped it would get better. In another thread I tell my story of how one time the show ended before the second act curtain because the ship wouldn't sink. Another time the show ran about 4 1/2 hours long due to very lengthy set changes. At that performance intermission ran half an hour if memory serves me correctly. I also thought the original logo was much better too.