TITANIC THE MUSICAL: SPOILER ALERT, THE BOAT SINKS

Well, there's the rub as they say

And I say, stop rubbing that thing!

Ahem

But yeh, that is the problem with trying to create art based upon some famous true story. We know how it ends. The Titanic, ship built to never sink. It sank

Wow, what suspense

Of course, people have been taking a crack at this story for a long time. Notably, the suspenseful, well acted,  humane It Happened One Night and the bloated, insecure (hey one of the greatest human tragedies of modern times may not be captivating enough, let's have a guy chasing another guy with a pistol) James Cameron film, Titanic. Both, in their ways, were successful. The success of Titanic speaks more to the weak minds of most contemporary audiences but hey, it allowed Cameron to make Avatar so I shall complain no more

Now we have a musical version of the story, currently playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. When I first heard about this I will admit that I found the concept to be thoroughly cheesy. A musical Titanic. All I could think of was Celine Deon. Major shudder take

But I am glad to be wrong. Yes, I am pretty much glad all the time.

Back to the point at hand. I was wrong about Titanic the musical. Simply, it was spectacular. It goes way up my list of fave stage musicals alongside Les Miz and Warhorse

Like those plays, Titanic deals with some very big issues, some historical and social issues, on a very big canvas, but in a very personal way. Les Miz and Warhorse were able to gain a personal perspective on their issues by focussing on one or two characters. Titanic is much different from that. There is a big cast here, some actual historical characters (Captain Smith, the ship's architect, owner of Macy's, Isador Strauss) and other characters who may represent hundreds of actual people: A butler, a stover, various third class passengers.

It is through these characters that we come to understand the true scope of the tragedy

Musicals, when they are good, are able to convey some very complicated ideas in a single three minute song. Titanic does that in several moments; the third class passengers, resigned to the ship's deepest levels, mostly the poor of Ireland, dream of making it big in America. "I dream of being a lady's maid" a young woman sings and her fellow passengers go dewey eyed with the prospect of such a glorious dream

Of course, these ardent dreamers will not fare well. If there is a lack of suspense in a story who's ending is predetermined, there is also power in that foreshadowing. As we learn about various couples; an upper class lady who's "slumming" with her hardware store owning husband, a middle class couple with a wife who swoons and dreams of "rubbing elbows" with the elite of the elite, you can't help but think how will these people end? Will they be among the 1200 who perish in that frozen ocean

The bones of this story are well known: The impetuous owner who is more concerned with proving Titanic's superiority than with safety; the experienced captain who is convinced to delay his retirement and who puts aside his concerns in order to please his employers; the architect who perhaps in the back of his mind knows that his creation is not exactly unsinkable

We are shown all signs of these characters with the exception of Ismay, the representative of owners Star Line. He is greed and progress personified, wanting more, need more, demanding more. It dooms all of them

The cast is spectacular. So many amazing voices. And acting prowess to match. When the entire company sings it is big, it is grand, it is powerful, you really feel you are in their grasp, they can take you anywhere that they care to, from joy to fear to tragedy to pathos. The cast is the ocean and you are one of Titanic's lifeboats, subject to their whim and you just hope they will leave you ashore

The casting for Toronto includes Ben Heppener, perhaps Canada's greatest opera baritone. He plays Isadore Strauss, owner of Macy's who is sailing alongside his wife Ida, played by soprano Judith Street. They are a presence throughout the play but they have only one solo. As the ship is sinking and the lifeboats are being held for the women and children (though not really) the old couple decide to stay together. Their song recounts their long life together, not two lives but one. Heppener's voice is as powerful as one would want and Street is right there with them. It is a powerful moment in the story, one of many

And as great as these voices are, they do not overwhelm; there are some truly great performances here. The singing stays in the mind for a long time after you vacate the theatre

Towards the end of the play, after the great ship has perished and the survivors find themselves blinking and confused in the sunlight, a giant card is lowered from the rafters. On it is the name of everyone who perished that night. The survivors turn and look at it and for a moment, there is no music nor any sound at all. Perhaps the most powerful music of all

The play honours the dead. It honours the survivors. It points out the folly of trying to do too much too soon but it understand that that is part of our human condition.

I knew how this play would end. The journey to that moment was as epic and as moving as the great ship's own passage