Review: TITANIC Thrills in Mac Theatre Production

TITANIC is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical. Set on the ocean liner RMS Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912; TITANIC has improved with age. The music is simultaneously complex and accessible with lyrics that draw characters, offer thought provoking debate and fills in details with skill and depth. In the impressive production staged by Joshua Denning at McCallum Fine Arts Academy, it reveals itself to be a show of great musical complexity as well as being a show capable of stirring the heart and mind simultaneously, a welcome antidote to all the overblown mega-musicals of today.

Musical director Ammon Taylor guided the voices of the company in such a way that it presented a stunning wall of powerful vocal beauty and his orchestra sounded rich and complex. On a simple, yet amazingly versatile, set by director Joshua Denning, Denning staged the show with fluidity, invention and dramatic power featuring clever choreography. The lighting by Scott Vanderberg was immensely effective and the projection work was the finest I have ever seen in town. Technically, the show was a knock-out.

The show is, by nature, an ensemble acting piece... making it difficult for individual performers to actually stand out from the canvas of humanity that is at the core of the work... and yet, there were indeed performances worth noting. I started to mark those performances that impressed me with their honesty and force in my program, but was soon simply swept away by the grandeur of the performance as a whole.

Max Corney delivered an impressive performance as Andrews, the Titanic's designer, going from pride to apprehension to fear culminating in a final riveting song of despair envisioning everyone's demise.

JR Scott brought a quiet dignity to Capt. Smith that turned to steel as the crisis began.

There's a superb duet between Kendrick Knight as Barrett, the stoker, and Ezra Hankin, who plays the radio operator, Bride, with a great deal of charm.

Among the passengers, Anna McGuire was an absolute delight as Alice Beane, the social climber, and Riley Simpson, Megan Hudson and Grace George win and break your heart as the trio of Kates in Third Class.

One of the loveliest vocal moments comes from Meg Willimont and Jason Holtkamp as Isidor and Ida Straus, who made magic out of their final duet, "Still".

Other standout musical moments of the production include: "In Every Age", "First Class Roster", "What a Remarkable Age this Is!", "The Latest Rag", and "The Blame".

TITANIC is engaging, entertaining and deeply moving... and you really can't ask more of a musical than that. While McCallum Fine Arts Academy is, in essence, high school theatre; it is first and foremost theatre that is as fine as anything being produced on any stage in Austin... and that is high praise indeed.

TITANIC Book by Peter Stone, Music / Lyrics by Maury Yeston

Running time: Approximately Two Hours and Forty Minutes including one intermission

TITANIC, produced by McCallum Fine Arts Academy, at 5600 Sunshine Drive, Austin, Tx 78756. Closed 3/6. Box Office at http://www.mactheatre.com/tickets/

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