Heather Leuder, Andan Nguyen, and Kurt Matherly in Titanic: The Musical (photo by Nat20 Photography)
The tragedy of the wreck of the huge luxury liner RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City still captivates and horrifies, 113 years later.
More than two-thirds of the estimated 2,240 passengers and crew perished – poor emigrants and billionaires alike. Most survivors were from first class, and most of them were women, due to the "women and children first" rescue tradition. The real event provided plenty of drama to raise from the depths, and Titanic: The Musical, now playing at the Spotlight Theatre, tells a compelling version. Its book and story are by Peter Stone, with its music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. The show received five 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Book, and Score, and Spotlight director Noah Hill and musical director Amy Trimble had a boatload of logistics, decisions, and inspirations to sort out. Their staging of this intricate, visually stunning spectacle is exemplary.
Hill's production isn't truly "immersive," as spectators don't participate (and that would be an insensitive word in this instance anyway). However, his playing space here has neither proscenium nor boundaries. As some audience members sit on the conventional stage, the Spotlight becomes the ship, as well as a theatre in the round.
The 45 performers occasionally use the aisles and the house exit doors, and must play to audiences on all four sides. Two- or three-person scenes are played a few feet from the audience on one or another side, and everyone in the ensemble proves adept at acting, including during their background business – looking natural writing letters, wandering the deck, conversing silently, or standing dazedly at the railing, looking at the iceberg that will kill them. There are too many excellent singers in this cast to mention by name, and the blend when everyone sings together is pleasing and powerful – and the high notes are really high.
In this musical, as on the actual Titanic, death ends love stories, destroys dreams, and haunts survivors. We know the end of this tale, so every number hits as poignant, or just plain heartbreaking. So "Doing the Latest Rag," with the ensemble enlivened by the amazing voice and energetic dancing of Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt as bandmaster Wallace Hartley, is a welcome, cheery break. Another compelling number is "The Blame," an intense, accusatory argument between Ted Brown's Captain E.J. Smith, Victor Angelo's shipping company executive J. Bruce Ismay, and J. Adam Lounsberry's ship designer Thomas Andrews. (Though none were at the helm for the collision, they're all among the culpable.) Co-owner of Macy's Department Store Isidor Straus (Joe Urbaitis) stayed on the doomed ship with his wife Ida (Marissa Elliott), who, according to survivors' testimony, refused to board a lifeboat without her husband of 41 years. This pair deliver the show-stopping number "Still," Elliott's stunningly soaring, perfect vocals mingling with Urbaitis' intense, emotive baritone. I got chills.
The Spotlight is an excellent venue for this musical, due to its size, lofty ceiling, and raked seating on three sides providing unimpeded sight lines throughout. Hill and theatre co-owner Brett Tubbs designed the ingenious set, the bulk of which comprises five long platforms, four of which usually serve as tables, and occasionally places to stand. The fifth platform center stage represents the gangway in the first scene, the captain's table in another, and otherwise a prime place to sing, pace, and emote. When not in service at the tables, chairs are pulled under the extant railings in front of the audience to become deck chairs. Elevated spaces on the audience's left, center, and right are the engine room, the bridge, and the wireless room.
Friday night's scene changes were smooth and nearly invisible, and neither distracted nor delayed. The only one I even noticed landed when frantic mariners sweep plates and papers from tables, then flip the tables to serve as lifeboats, with the displaced props becoming detritus from the collision, floating in the ocean. I commend stage manager Paula Vandervelde and the cast for keeping things running so smoothly.
Costume designer Heather Blair did marvelous work in providing 1912 fashions, common-folk wear, top hats, and huge ladies' hats. The men's facial hair, in particular, is impressively in period (actors make many sacrifices), and I especially admired touches such as stoker Frederick Barrett (Tyler Henning) making his entrance in pristine working garb, then becoming more oil-smeared as the days went on.
The biggest hindrance on opening night, to my ears, was that the score sometimes drowned out the performers' speech and song. Some dialogue was underscored with music, as in a film, which was often annoying rather than atmospheric. At other times, echoes or careless diction hampered my comprehension of lines and lyrics. (In one scene, a performer stood a mere 10 feet from me, but was also facing away from me, and I couldn't understand a word.) However, with 30 musical numbers and so many delightful details (including the life jackets labeled "Titanic"), there's much to appreciate and enjoy in Titanic: The Musical, and I certainly did. Make time to see this professional-level production at the Spotlight. Sink me if it isn't extraordinary.
Titanic: The Musical runs at the Spotlight Theatre (1800 Seventh Avenue, Moline IL)_ through April 13, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)912-7647 and visiting TheSpotlightTheatreQC.com.
