The tragedy of the Titanic is a story which is known all around the world. It was the "unsinkable ship" which collided with an iceberg on it's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York and slowly sank beneath the ocean, taking with it the lives of 1517 people.
Titanic the musical first opened on Broadway in 1997 with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone. This current UK tour is to celebrate the productions 10th anniversary of it's London Premier.
Titanic the musical tells the story of several different characters all of which are based on real people who actually boarded the Titanic on its maiden voyage. This makes the story so much more powerful and moving as these people were real and actually lived through the tragedy. The show focuses on the stories of J. Bruce Ismay the owner of the titanic, Thomas Andrews the ships designer and Captain Edward Smith as well as First class passengers Isidor and Ida Straus, Second class passengers Alice & Edgar Bean, Charles Clarke and his fiancé Caroline Neville and Third Class passengers Kate McGowan and Jim Farrel. We also meet some of the ships crew Stoker Fred Barrett, Lookout Frederick Fleet and wireless telegraph operator Harold Bride. The show really points out the class divide at the time and how the different classes were treated.
The set for this show was quit simple it basically looked like the deck of a ship with two floors. It didn't really change very much throughout the show instead they used props such as chairs and tables to show that they were in different areas of the ship but they did rely a lot on the audiences imagination. Their was a scene near the end of the show where they were getting into lifeboats and they basically just jumped into invisible lifeboats they just jumped on the stage so it would have been nice if they had actual lifeboats or some kind of boat for them to jump into as at first I wasn't sure what was happening. The costumes were excellent, you could really see the difference in class in the costuming and they definitely reflected the time in which the story is set.
The score for this show is beautiful and really helps to tell the story, the songs weren't that catchy it's not something I'd go out and want to buy the soundtrack for but the songs worked really well in the context of the musical. My favourite song from the show has to be god speed Titanic it involves the whole cast and when they are all singing together it just sounds like a really powerful.
This show has quite a large cast of around 25 individuals and they were all excellent I can't really pick out a standout performer as they were all equally good. One of the best things about this cast was that they all had such wonderful voices they made all the songs sound so beautiful, the quality of the singing was just so good.
It is the end scenes of this musical which really tugs on the heart strings and make you realise just how big of a tragedy this event was. A screen is lowered on to the stage listing all the names of the passenger who had tragically died that night, some of the cast members stand Infront of the tribute wrapped in a blanket with the name R.M.S Carpathia on it which is the name of the ship which rescued the passengers which survived. These characters then one by one turn round to tell us their story of the loved one they had lost in the tragedy.
Titanic the musical is a beautifully moving piece of theatre which is very respectful to the tragic event which took so many lives.
Titanic The Musical is on at The Lowry until 8th July you can purchase tickets by clicking on the button below.
If you would like more information about the musical and see where it will be touring to please click the button below.
Photo Credit - Pamela Raith
*Our tickets for this show were kindly gifted in exchange for an honest review
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