Review: Titanic the Musical

Prepare to set sail upon a rollercoaster of emotions as the industrial revolution’s most memorable and heart-breaking tragedy is re-enacted on stage, and as an award-winning musical no less.

Based on the true stories of the innocent souls lost on the Titanic, the show focuses on the lives of several ladies and gentlemen that ventured on the ship’s maiden voyage, most of which never made it back to tell their tales in full. In the musical, we witness the lives of a working-class Irish couple, the ship’s crew from a lonely radio operator to the captain, and the 20th-century elite – each tale told in one emotive performance.

While one may think it would follow the story from the popular 1997 James Cameron movie or earlier movies from the 1950s etc, this plot prioritises eye-witness accounts and key information, aiming to re-enact and connect with the audience with the tangible reality of social progress.

After the tragic deaths on the Titan submarine, and my first time watching the Titanic movie earlier this month (yes, really), the ship has been at the forefront of my mind. Only time would tell how the musical genre would be adapted to empathetically pay tribute to those lost. Indeed, one touching detail was not only the carrying over of the names of those present, but also the memorial wall, and eye-witness quotes as the fourth wall is broken to highlight its enormous impact.

Opening and concluding with the repeated motifs from ‘In Every Age’ and ‘Godspeed’. This creates a sense of an endlessly repeating story, with society constantly striving towards goals of industrial improvement and progression, despite the potential fatalities. Of course, the sense of pride and wonder in ‘The Largest Floating Object in The World’ starts innocent and pure, with dreamers hoping to improve their lives in America and engineers ardently wishing to prove their work ‘unsinkable’.

While I was initially unsure about the choice to sing throughout most of the performance, after a few songs, the trouble melted away and I became much more engaged, along with the rest of the audience, in the charismatic characters and their inevitable fate.

The acting was not only engrossing but also delicately handled, taking care to not over villainise certain characters in order to maintain their very real and human condition. Every actor and actress shone in their own role to the extent that it would take too long to praise each individual as they made their characters tangible, relatable and full of vigour.

Song-wise, ‘The Proposal/The Night was Alive’ and ‘No Moon’ particularly stood out with enchanting melodies, taking into account the musical stylings of the era and blending stunningly effortless harmonies that captured the emotions, class and charisma of each character at all times – after all, social class played such an important part in each party’s chances of survival.

It seems every rendition of the Titanic will always get me in their emotional portrayal of the Straus’ (Martin Allanson and Valda Aviks) and their tender love for one another as they refuse to leave the other behind on the sinking ship.

Whilst a theatrical performance seems an unlikely setting for a reproduction of the Titanic, the set was surprisingly versatile. The main two levels of the deck appeared throughout the performance, whilst the ladders to the deck could also be manoeuvred to appear as a crows-nest or give the illusion that the ship was leaving the docks. Additionally, the use of ropes for imaginary lifeboats, prop guns, the real orchestra (mirroring the one playing on the Titanic as it sunk), and the switching out of dining, furnace and operator room props furthered the illusion and added to the feeling of enclosure in the doomed vessel. One of the best effects however was the platform they used to pull the upper deck down to allude to the gradual inclining of the ship before its final submersion.

All in all, Titanic was certainly an unexpectedly engaging and emotional take on the events with an amazing cast of actors and singers, a fabulous orchestra and an unforgettable story.

Titanic is docked at The Lowry (Lyric Theatre) until July 8 and will cruise around the UK until July 29, before sailing over to Dublin, Ireland from July 31 to August 5 2023.