Last night Neva and I went along to the Press night of Titanic The Musical, which is being performed at Norwich Theatre Royal until 6th May 2023.
In the final hours of 14th April 1912 the RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg and ‘the unsinkable ship’ slowly sank. It was one of the most tragic disasters of the 20th Century. 1517 men, women and children lost their lives.
Based on real people aboard the most legendary ship in the world, Titanic The Musical is a stunning and stirring production focusing on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of her passengers who each boarded with stories and personal ambitions of their own.
All innocently unaware of the fate awaiting them, the Third Class immigrants dream of a better life in America, the Second Class imagine they too can join the lifestyles of the rich and famous, whilst the millionaire Barons of the First Class anticipate legacies lasting forever.
With music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone (Woman of the Year and 1776), the pair have collectively won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, an Olivier Award and three Tony awards.
The original Broadway production of Titanic The Musical won five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. This stunning production celebrates the 10th anniversary of its London premiere where it won sweeping critical acclaim across the board.
Our Thoughts on Titanic Musical
We were both interested to see how such a tragic event could be made into a musical, although I would say more of an opera, the voices were outstanding and when they all sang together it was quite spine tingling!
The first half of the production introduces you to the three groups of the passengers, the aristocrats and millionaires were treated to the star treatment at the Captains Table, my favourite couple were Ida and Isidor Straus, who’s long life together made me shed a tear.
The second Class had aspirations to better their lives and make their way up to the first class, the stand out performance was from Bree Smith as Alice Beane who knew all about the first class passengers and tried on several occasions to sneak in and interact with the upper class, whilst her poor husband had to keep apologising for her actions!
And finally the third class passengers who all had a story to tell, about how they were travelling to America to seek out new lives and better experiences, during the first half you got introduced to some of the characters and a small glimpse into their stories.
The set was simple, but effective, with a large set of steps moved across the stage to give the illusion of different staircases across the giant ship.
The ‘staff’ moved effortlessly across the stage setting tables and attending to the guests, even until the last few moments.
The second half of the performance leads you on a harrowing journey, that follows all the passengers final few hours aboard The Titanic.
The story is a sad one, and you can’t help but feel anger towards White Star line director J Bruce Ismay, whos constant need for being a legend and insisting the vessel keep going faster, and not listening to advice from others.
You feel some sympathy towards Captain Edward Smith and the designer Thomas Andrews, who both seem genuinely sorry for their part in the disaster, from ignoring the iceberg warnings to not noticing that minor adjustments could have prevented a disaster, but ultimately it came down to greed and classist notions, they got rid of the correct amount of lifeboats so that the first class passengers had a larger deck space!
The evacuation of the ship, was executed well, no lifeboats appeared on stage but the women and children were ‘launched’ from the vessel, and then the start reality hits, as the poignant moment the survivors stand in front of a list of all the passengers that lost their lives.
They tell you how many people could have been saved due to the amount of spaces in the lifeboats, but they would not allow the third class passengers to be rescued as they thought it would cause too much panic.
So instead they were left down below deck to await their demise (apart from the few lucky ones that managed to find a way to the top deck).
A very thought provoking performance with so many unanswered questions, but overall an amazing cast with a stunning score and a true telling of the story of the Titanic and all its passengers.
Titanic Musical is in Norwich until 6th May 2023, but its not even halfway through the tour, so there are lots of chances for you to see it yourself, check out the TOUR DATES