Titanic - the musical — Page 2

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.

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

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".

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.

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...)

is there going to be a 9/11 musical?

I think its all in the treatment.

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

"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... :)

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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