Those of us looking for a full-voiced, full-throated, full-played musical theater epic that grabs the emotions and all but overwhelms the senses in a wash of words and melody may confidently head to City Center over the next two weeks. Maury Yeston’s masterful score for Titanic can be heard — and I mean really heard — nightly, featuring a full-sized complement of actors, singers, and musicians who seem not only to appreciate the material but also know how to perform it.
Yeston, who burst from academia in 1982 with the astonishing Nine, joined bookwriter Peter Stone (1776) in 1997 to tackle one of the most jarring disasters of the last century, the sinking of the Titanic. The saga of that purportedly unsinkable luxury liner served as a perfect morality tale of 20th century ambition, greed, hubris, caste, and technology. The success of Titanic — the musical, not the boat — can be ascribed in great part to the unfettered creativity of the composer/lyricist.
The Encores series, now finishing its 30th season, has always stressed the musical elements of musical theater. Rob Berman, who recently stepped down as its music director, returns as guest conductor and transports us from the moment we hear those first shimmering chords suggestive of watery deeps. Jonathan Tunick’s original orchestrations — which won him Broadway’s first Tony Award for Orchestration — seem to be slightly expanded for the occasion, with Berman and his players providing full value.
[Read Elysa Gardner’s ★★★★★ review here.]
The authors set themselves a daunting task, starting with the launch of the boat from Southampton, England, on an April Wednesday at dawn — Yeston’s eight-part opening sequence remains jaw-droppingly effective — and continuing through the sinking in the early hours on Monday. The Titanic was a virtual floating city, which is reflected by the necessarily large cast. The major players assembled by director Anne Kauffman at City Center, drawn from the ranks of Broadway’s top singing actors, are universally strong. These include Jose Llana as ship designer Thomas Andrews, Brandon Uranowitz as owner J. Bruce Ismay, and Encores mainstay Chuck Cooper as Captain E. J. Smith. Composer Yeston keeps these three in conflict, erupting when they fight over who most deserves “The Blame.”
Vocal honors go to Ramin Karimloo as stoker Frederick Barrett (“The Proposal”), Alex Joseph Grayson as radioman Harold Bride (“The Night Was Alive”), Nathan Salstone as lookout man Frederick Fleet (“No Moon”), and Matthew Scott as bandmaster Wallace Hartley (“Autumn”). Samantha Williams, Ashley Blanchet, and Lilli Cooper are featured as the third-class trio of Irish Kates (“Lady’s Maid”), abetted by Andrew Durand as Jim Farrell; while Bonnie Milligan takes comedy honors as second-class passenger Alice Beane ogling the celebrities in first class. Capping the evening — and almost stealing the show from the others — are Judy Kuhn and Chip Zien as Ida and Isidor Straus of Macy’s, choosing to go down with the ship rather than part (“Still”).
The original production featured a company of 43, several playing multiple speaking/singing roles; Encores has a cast of 32, which results in even more doubling with the effect that a number of the first-class millionaire characters are relatively indistinct. Given the abbreviated rehearsal time available for these staged concerts at Encores, it is not uncommon for the vocal portions of the evening to sometimes lag behind the orchestra at first performances. The more complex the singing requirements, the greater the difficulty. This is not to suggest that Titanic did not sound glorious at its premiere last night. However, some of the ensemble singing was muddled. Not altogether surprising: there are something like 22 distinct singing roles, plus the chorus ensemble. At places, Yeston appears to have written as many as seven overlapping vocal lines, and even the most expert sound designers cannot begin to make adjustments until they’ve heard the show with an audience in the seats.
“In ev’ry age mankind attempts to fabricate great works at once magnificent, and impossible,” goes the opening lyric of the prologue. Which, in itself, serves as something of an epitaph for not only the RMS Titanic, but for the Yeston-Stone musical extravaganza. The opportunity to hear this score in full throttle is not to be overlooked.
Titanic opened June 11, 2024, at City Center and runs through June 23. Tickets and information: nycitycenter.org
