This is the first professional outing in London for this five times Tony award winning musical which took Broadway by storm in 1997, and Titanic certainly lives up to its name. It’s a huge musical to fit onto the ‘large’ stage at Southwark Playhouse, even with David Woodhead’s ingenious use of the space.
With a cast of 20 actors playing upwards of 40 characters, the thrust stage is never far away from being jam-packed with bodies practically on the audience’s laps, and with composer Maury Yeston’s preference for big chorus numbers rather than more reflective ones, you’re not allowed much breathing space either physically or mentally.
A good 10 minutes long, the rolling opening number takes us by the scruff of the neck and force-feeds us all in vital information we need, mostly in the form of social climber Alice’s (a radiant Celia Graham) quick-firing low-down on the rich passengers she’s so desperate to rub shoulders with. It’s a neat way of getting round the problem of having to set the scene succinctly when it’s all so familiar to everyone already.
What’s surprising in such a small space is that the cast are amplified. Sometimes the singing from twenty mic-ed up people is a little overpowering but, again, there’s method in it, for this is a big, big story about a big, big ship. And they don’t let you forget it for one minute.
Although small, the four piece chamber orchestra (plus keyboards) on a balcony behind the audience, makes a round, more than satisfying sound, and the songs, although generic musical theatre, are memorable and complex enough to give the piece a textured feel.
The main characters, nine in all, are bunched into groups of three to help us read them more easily. There are the top dogs: Captain Smith (Philip Rham) who comes across as a bit dim; the owner Ismay (Simon Green), the fall guy in this version of the story; and the architect, the troubled Andrews (Greg Castiglioni).
The three Third Class Kates all blend into one when they sing their main number, Lady’s Maid, about their shared hope: to make it big in America. There’s an awful lot of bigging up the USA in this (American-written) musical. “It’s a new world out there,” is the refrain from start to finish and one I got a little tired of. And apparently “in America you rise above your class.” Do you indeed.
Lastly, there are the three younger men, the emotional anchors of the piece and the most fleshed out characters. James Austen-Murray plays stoker Barrett with a grounded solidity while Matthew Crowe as telegrapher Harold Bride feels a little underpowered in such a ramped-up piece, as if he’s stepped into the wrong musical. Leo Miles, who plays lookout Fleet, has the stand-out voice of the piece, a real musical theatre belter that I could listen to all day. It’s just a pity he doesn’t have more songs, although he does have the wonderful No Moon when all is calm just before the first act is closed by his lookout’s inevitable cry.
With so many cast members, it really is difficult, even in a three hour show (it’s billed as having a 2 hour 15 minute running time, but was nearer 3 on the press night) to get to know them all – or any – little more than fleetingly and so Yeston takes the sensible path of letting the story itself be the main character.
The ironic pointers to the tragedy are shovelled in. “I expect the maiden run to create a legend,” puffs Ismay, while Smith says portentously, “I’m sure this is my final crossing.” Refraining from sniggering isn’t easy, but then hindsight is a wonderful thing.
It was also difficult to get Scotty from Star Trek’s “she cannae take it, Captain” out of my head every time Smith frequently cranked up the knots, and some of the dialogue is more than a little cringey (when told the ship’s struck an iceberg, Ismay blurts “Well, that was pretty damned careless, wasn’t it?”)
Caveats aside, this is a stonker of a musical and just what musicals should be: big, bold, brassy and chock full of easy to digest songs given a light and airy chamber twist. A West End transfer wouldn’t surprise me, so get down to the Southwark Playhouse and see it now while tickets are only £22 (or just a tenner if you subscribe to their Pay As You Go scheme:
And don’t forget to look down at the floor when you leave the theatre. It’ll remind you just how big a tragedy the sinking of this great ship really was….
WHAT: Titanic
WHERE: Southwark Playhouse, Newington Causeway, London (just down from London Bridge station)
WHEN: Until August 31, various times
TICKETS: £22/£18 or cheaper if you use the Pay As You Go scheme
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 15 minutes (but expect longer)
MORE INFO: CLICK HERE:
WOULD I SEE IT AGAIN?: Yep. It was a real treat