Titaníque opens on Broadway
The musical parody Titaníque officially opened April 12 at the St. James Theatre, using Céline Dion songs to lampoon the 1997 film. Reviews note the Broadway transfer adds more musicians and recent material, features Jim Parsons as a new cast member, and marks Layton Williams’s Broadway debut — the opening came exactly 114 years after the sinking of the RMS Titanic. (broadwayworld.com) (deadline.com) (nydailynews.com) (westendtheatre.com)
Titaníque officially opened on Broadway on April 12 at the St. James Theatre, bringing its Céline Dion-fueled Titanic spoof uptown after its off-Broadway run. (playbill.com) The Broadway run began previews on March 26 and is scheduled as a 16-week limited engagement through July 12. The production runs 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission. (playbill.com) (titaniquebroadway.com) The Broadway cast includes Marla Mindelle as Céline Dion, Constantine Rousouli as Jack Dawson, Melissa Barrera as Rose, Jim Parsons as Ruth, Deborah Cox as Molly Brown, Frankie Grande as Victor Garber, John Riddle as Cal, and Layton Williams as the Iceberg. Williams’s casting marks his Broadway debut. (broadway.com) (westendtheatre.com) Reviews said the transfer arrived with a larger band and newer jokes than the downtown version. The New York Daily News called it a “souped-up Broadway production” with “more musicians, more recent material, and new cast member Jim Parsons.” (nydailynews.com) The show reached Broadway after building a following off-Broadway and then in London, where Broadway.com said it followed an Olivier Award-winning West End engagement and international productions. Playbill describes the move as the show’s “grandest voyage yet.” (broadway.com) (playbill.com) Its opening date also carried a built-in historical wink. BroadwayWorld noted the Broadway opening came exactly 114 years after the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic on April 12, 1912. (broadwayworld.com) Critics broadly treated the Broadway version as a bigger, still deliberately unruly edition of the same joke. Deadline called it “an uproarious musical parody,” while the Daily News said the production “affectionately parodies” James Cameron’s 1997 film and Dion’s pop persona. (deadline.com) (nydailynews.com) The commercial picture looked solid before opening night. Playbill reported that, as of the week ending April 5, the show had sold 8,978 seats at 95.79 percent capacity and grossed $664,020.93 in previews. (playbill.com) For now, the Broadway version is selling itself as a short-run event rather than an open-ended booking. After years as a cult downtown hit, Titaníque is now playing its largest New York house with a clock already running toward July 12. (titaniquebroadway.com) (playbill.com)
