The concert series Encores! at New York City Center has sustained a healthy batting average of late. Over the past two years, productions of Jelly’s Last Jam, The Light in the Piazza and Oliver! have garnered ebullient reviews; 2022’s Into the Woods transferred to Broadway, where this past winter’s Once Upon A Mattress will begin previews in August.
At first blush, Titanic might seem less ripe for either homage or re-exploration. Neither a cherished classic like Woods nor a spunky cult favorite like Mattress, this musical account of the great disaster of 1912—with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone—enjoyed a respectable run on Broadway back in the late 1990s, when the kind of pseudo-operatic pomp that had made The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables hits in the previous decade was still being mistaken for depth by many theatergoers.
Titanic is certainly not unmarked by the self-seriousness and bombast its subject matter would seem to invite. But for those who missed its stint in Times Square, and haven’t spent much time with its score since (I’m guilty on both counts, I’ll admit), this new staging—which teams a sprawling, starry cast with a 30-piece orchestra—will prove nothing short of a revelation.
[Read Steven Suskin’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
At its core, Titanic is a tale of aspiration and hubris—topics that former City Center artistic director Anne Kauffman, who helms this production, has explored previously in revivals of Working, Assassins and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, to name a few. Here she has enlisted top-drawer performers to approach those issues from a variety of angles, among them the beloved Chuck Cooper, who plays the ship’s noble but not invulnerable captain, E.J. Smith—one of numerous characters lifted from history—and two of Cooper’s children.
Lilli Cooper, herself an accomplished veteran, plays Kate Murphey, one of three third-class passengers sharing that first name, all young Irish immigrants; Eddie Cooper appears as real-life survivor Henry Etches, a first-class steward presented here as a wry, dignified servant. Bonnie Milligan, fresh off her scene-stealing, Tony Award-winning turn in Kimberly Akimbo, is delightfully feisty as a second-class passenger intent on mixing with the more elite travelers—much to the chagrin of her mild-mannered husband, sweetly played by Drew Gehling.
While Captain Smith and others instrumental in steering the Titanic—controversial businessman J. Bruce Ismay, depicted in the show and in Brandon Uranowitz’s performance as an arrogant weasel, and the more sympathetic shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, robustly played and sung by Jose Llana—were British, the musical looks more to the American century that was rising up as the ship sunk. John J. Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim are among the doomed passengers represented in the show; so are Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida, who famously chose to die together, and whose devotion is made predictably vivid in charming, moving portraits by Chip Zien and Judy Kuhn.
For the less privileged passengers, New York, their intended destination, promises the fulfillment of dreams, or at least a better life. In one of the most stirring numbers, “Lady’s Maid,” they imagine the different roles they’ll assume in “the new world”: a governess, a constable, a millionaire.
Jonathan Tunick’s characteristically exhilarating orchestrations are gorgeously rendered by the orchestra, whose presence above the stage lends to the sense of grandeur and enhances the tension that builds during the second act. The singing is glorious throughout, with other players like Ramin Karimloo and Samantha Williams—as a crewman and a particularly determined immigrant, respectively—delivering potent solos, and ensemble numbers that are rife with piercing, soaring harmonies.
At the performance I attended, on opening night, several audience members seated around me rose up for an ovation before the curtain call had even begun. That’s not to say this Titanic will sail on to the theater district; stars would have to align, literally and figuratively, for that to happen. So I’d try to score a ticket before this run ends, even—especially, in fact—if you’re not already a hardcore fan.
Titanic opened June 11, 2024, at City Center and runs through June 23. Tickets and information: nycitycenter.org
