WASHINGTON — “Iceberg, right ahead” was just the tip of the iceberg, folks.
By the time James Cameron’s blockbuster Best Picture hit movie theaters nationwide in December 1997, a stage musical version of “Titanic” had already been running for eight months on Broadway.
Now, 20 years later, you can see the Tony-winning musical at Signature Theatre through Jan. 29.
“I will be playing it like Leonardo DiCaprio,” joked Christopher Bloch, who plays doomed Captain E.J. Smith. “Jack and Rose were wonderful inventions for the movie, but they’re not included in this version. … It’s a little bit more historical. … Almost everybody in the cast is a historical character.”
Written by Peter Stone (book) and Maury Yeston (music and lyrics), the plot’s true story follows the “unsinkable” ocean liner RMS Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912 and claimed the lives of 1,517 of the 2,228 people on board. In the Signature stage production, Act 1 showcases the lavish grandeur, while Act 2 shows the aftermath of an iceberg that hits just before intermission.
Thus, the play’s structure allows its cast to portray vastly different emotions in two separate halves. Prior to the iceberg, Bloch must play the captain with beaming pride as he steers his luxurious vessel.
“I was able to find a biography of the captain,” Bloch said. “He was very close to retiring. He was a very experienced captain known as The Millionaire’s Captain. He had been sailing with a lot of these people before, almost like a miniature party at the captain’s table, inviting all his friends aboard.”
After the iceberg, Bloch’s demeanor must drastically change as he dutifully goes down with the ship.
“When they hit the iceberg and [realize] they have two hours tops before it goes down, there’s just something that drops,” Bloch said. “The realization is monumental. My god! How crushed can a person be? … When the hubris of modern design and engineering meets the forces of nature, there has to be failure. I think when you start realizing the limitations, it becomes a shock to the system.”
Directed by Eric Schaeffer and choreographed by Matthew Gardiner, the infamous sinking plays out within an immersive 360-degree set using multiple layers above an audience seated in the round.
“The entire theater becomes the ship,” Bloch said. “The entire theater, top to bottom, side to side, everything is used. With the lights and sound effects it really creates a very interesting environment.”
All the while, a 17-piece orchestra plays Tony-winning music by Yeston, who penned “Nine” (1982) and “Grand Hotel” (1989) before winning Best Original Score for “Titanic.” Here, Yeston’s showtunes include “Fare-thee-well,” “To Be a Captain,” “We’ll Meet Tomorrow” and “Mr. Andrews’ Vision.”
“It’s a stunning score,” said Sam Ludwig, who plays third-class passenger Frederick Barrett. “Every song, every second is bursting with emotion. One of the interesting things that makes musicals different from other art forms is that you can show groups of people dealing with something. … The show does a great job of these amazing choral numbers and these big group scenes where everybody is processing the disaster or the grandeur or the journey collectively, instead of as individuals.”
Arguably the most touching song is the duet “Still,” performed by Ida and Isidor Straus, the elderly couple who famously went down with the ship so they wouldn’t have to part ways with each other.
“A lot of people think this is the true love story of the Titanic,” said Florence Lacey, who plays Ida across from John Leslie Wolfe’s Isidor. “He wouldn’t get in the lifeboat because he thought the younger men should, and she wouldn’t get in the lifeboat because she wouldn’t leave her husband.”
The couple’s ice-water fate becomes all the more chilling when you learn their doomed backstory.
“Isidor was a co-founder of Macy’s department store in New York,” Lacey said. “Ida wasn’t well, so they spent the winter in the French Riviera. They were scheduled to sail home on a different ship, but there was a coal strike in Europe and all the coal went to the Titanic for its maiden voyage, so they got bumped to the Titanic. This was so much their fate that they were supposed to perish this way.”
In her final moments, Ida helped other less fortunate passengers.
“Not only did she not get into the lifeboat, she gave her maid her seat in the lifeboat and gave her maid her stole [shawl] so she wouldn’t be cold floating out in the water waiting to be rescued,” Lacey said. “We know this is true because her maid told this story once they got back to New York.”
It’s a silver lining of kindness on a night where society’s class divides were on horrific display, as many of the lower-class passengers didn’t stand a chance at survival compared to the first-class citizens.
“The whole thing is a microcosm of society,” Ludwig said. “Very few third-class people were saved. They were gated, kept down because it was after hours, so they weren’t able to get to the lifeboats. … Lifeboats going largely empty, a lot of lifeboats being sent out with the first-class people not wanting to be too crowded on their lifeboat or feeling like they’re going to be overrun by the lower classes.”
This clash of the classes makes the story of Titanic timeless. But while there is much tragedy during the heartbreaking sinking in Act 2, the show is equally filled with joy, excitement and wonder in Act 1.
“I’m getting tears in my eyes from the hopefulness and joy from the first act,” Lacey said defiantly. “I’m finding all of the dancing and excitement and glamour and the imagination of what’s going to happen to them on this wonderful ship, and then to know the dark side, I find myself crying in the first act.”
Ramping up the emotion is a brilliant interactive touch for the audience.
“You’re a member of the passengers on this ship,” Lacey said to attendees. “You’ll be given a name with your ticket, so afterwards you can actually check out whether you made it or not.”
Such audience involvement is fitting for a public that remains obsessed with Titanic a century later.
“There’s something about the story that still draws people,” Bloch said. “It’s such an amazing story of both tragedy and triumph. You get all of it. You get the grandeur in the first act, the excitement of the trip, and then all of a sudden things change and people have to adapt. That’s riveting theater.”
Click here for more information. Check out the full chat with the “Titanic cast” in the audio and video below:
