Titanic

[Talissa]

I only have a few minutes, and will try to post a proper review in the next few days, but I wanted to post to urge anyone who can to try to see Titanic. The cast is in general fantastic. It's rare to get an ensemble with that much sheer vocal power behind it, and in something like this it's needed. The staging is simpler than the Broadway one, but works, and proves that something like this doesn't necessarily need dazzling sets to work, as the story pushes it along.

So please go to see it, and I'll update more later!

[Hannah]

Wow... saw this the other night... um... well, the cast were fantastically talented (and large in number)... the rest of it was... terrible!!

If you are planning to go, do yourself a favour and don't. Worst show I have seen in quite some time. And all because of the direction.

My worst gripe: why oh why did we need to be told every place we were on the ship, even when we were revisiting a specific environment we'd been in before? Like flashing up a projection of "Bridge" the first 5 times we visited that set area (um... even, if you didn't know it was called the bridge, you'd know where they were by the fact that the captain-like people were all up there giving directions with the big frickin wheel that steers the ship!). The first time they stopped telling me it was the bridge, I was completely lost. I thought we were on a plane. Oh, and my other favourite was the song where 3 couples were standing on the same deck set piece, and they were all from different classes. Yes, this is a little tricky I know - despite their clear class-differentiated clothing. So of course we had to flash up the projections of "1st class deck", "2nd class deck" and "3rd class deck" when each couple spoke. But then they started going back and forth between the couples with snatches of their convos... did we really need those signs flashed up again every time we changed?

And don't get me started on the corny staging moments (like the whole 3rd class cast holding hands when they sing their "Look at us, we're young and innocent and have dreams and you know we're going to die" song). Oh and the little Titanic the movie references in the staging? So not needed.

The director and designer deserve to be shot. I've seen better high school musicals. I just feel sorry for the huge and very talented (but under-directed) cast.

I was bored. Especially in the first act. So bored. And I could see that it wasn't the actual musical that was boring me but this production of it. People around me were laughing at some of the un-funny parts because it was so high school. It's the closest I've ever come to walking out of a show at interval to not come back (and I've never left a show mid-way before).

So disappointing.

[laurelin]

Um, I couldn't disagree more, but each to their own. As far as I recall, the words "Ship's Bridge" were only projected once. Most of the projections were to do with dates and times, which, especially in the second act, were quite important I thought. I agree that the projections switching back and forth between the three couples on the three different decks was unnecessary after the first time, but it didn't particularly worry me.

Titanic movie references? If there were any, I can't say I noticed them. Apart from the ship sinking of course! I've only seen the movie once though, so I might have missed any references that weren't obviously "I'm the King of the World" related

And I couldn't have been less bored if I tried

[Hannah]

Perhaps they made a change to the show and decided to flash up "Bridge" more or less times (depending who out of the 2 of us saw it first). It was put up so many times...

I agree about the times and dates - they didn't phase me. The locations did though.

The film references were subtle (occurred when there was heaps of action onstage and therefore if you weren't looking at the members of the chorus doing them, you wouldn't have noticed). But enough.

[laurelin]

I saw it first in early November and then quite a few more times during the run. After reading your review, I made special note of the projections and only saw "Ship's Bridge" once. Of course before that I wasn't focusing on how many times the projections appeared, so it is possible they changed it.

Only having seen the film once, I wouldn't have noticed any minor references. Though I do know that Jack and Rose were on stage - that was the nickname for the two birds in the cage carried by Ana Marina at the beginning