Interview: Erica Peck talks the Canadian Premiere of TITANIQUE

Erica Peck is no stranger to being associated with theatre that garners a cult following. From the year and a half she spent as Scaramouche in the Mirvish production of WE WILL ROCK YOU, to her return to that same show several years later playing the character of OZ on tour, to her memorable turn as Magenta in the ROCKY HORROR SHOW at the Stratford Festival in 2018, and now the Canadian production of TITANIQUE, opening Thursday at the Segal Centre in Montreal and then later at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre in Toronto. Here, she talks to Broadway World about this exciting new opportunity.

TITANIQUE is a show that has already taken the world by storm off-Broadway and in Australia, and Peck acknowledges that she has a knack for finding herself in shows that attract passionate fanbases! “I literally have no idea how I’ve done it, but I’ve somehow managed to find my way into being a part of shows that have a sort of like cult [following]…An underground swelling of people who are very passionate about it! What’s so cool about that is that I am one of those people so I understand that world. I go to horror conventions and I am a big movie geek and obviously I’m a theatre geek…I feel like I get it!”

Written by Director Tye Blue, and original off-Broadway stars Marla Mindelle, and Constantine Rousouli, with Orchestrations and Arrangements by Nicholas James Connell, TITANIQUE is a musical parody of the hit 1997 film Titanic set to the music of beloved Canadian icon, Céline Dion. What’s more, Céline is a character in the musical. It turns out she was there on that fateful day, and she is here to tell us what went down (aside from the ship), in a way that only she can. “Our Canadian production offers something unique that no other TITANIQUE has!” Peck shares. “Our Céline, Véronique Claveau is French Canadian and also sounds so much like Céline.” She adds: “Véro isn’t necessarily an impersonator so much as she can throw her voice to pick up ‘Célinisms’ in a way that is unsettling! (Laughs). Truly it’s so moving. We all cried the first day because you spend literally your entire life listening to a voice and suddenly it’s in the room with you - In a way that I hadn’t experienced before because I hadn’t seen Céline in concert. It was incredible.

Peck grew up listening to Céline, and adds: “I do think it’s very important to highlight the fact that this is a celebration of Céline. There is no world we are here to sully the queen. This is a celebration of her and her incredible career, her incredible voice, and her spirit. She is an endlessly positive and supportive person.”

In TITANIQUE, Peck portrays the ‘Unsinkable Molly Brown’, a character forever immortalized by her portrayal in the film by the great Kathy Bates. This is a role that has some iconic moments both vocally and comedically. We chatted about two particular moments where Molly really gets to shine, one of which involves singing alongside Claveau and Mariah Campos (Rose). “I do get to sing with my two other leading ladies of the show. I know, here we are in 2024, but literally any time you get to band together and sing and act and play with other women, it is so exciting and it still feels very rare. And we just have such a power moment where…the three women get to really face forward and be funny and be talented and be proud of both those things at the same time and it’s really incredible and I’m really really grateful.”

The other musical moment we chatted about, without giving too much away, involves an exciting solo moment for Molly. “That is a little more intimidating because it’s A) an incredibly iconic moment, B) where it comes in the show and C) it’s just really f$@#ing high!” Peck laughs. She notes that although concert performers face a whole other set of challenges, what they typically don’t have to do is perform this type of music eight times a week where “the potential to have a day where it feels difficult is exponentially higher!” She notes that the cast is staying at Air BnBs and don’t have the care team behind them that an artist performing in big concerts would have. “So it’s intimidating. It feels like a responsibility to know that you have to do it always, and people are really expecting it. And also we don’t have the option to change keys because there is a band behind us so once it’s set, it’s set. So this is a job where I will have to be a little bit more aware and careful. This isn’t one of the gigs where I can just live my life and then do the show. I have to live my life around the show a little bit, but for the amount of fun and joy and extreme diva-ness I get to have, it is absolutely worth it!”

TITANIQUE has been a smash hit off-Broadway since 2022 and is still going strong with multiple audience members returning to that production literally over a hundred times. BWW asked Peck her thoughts on how Canadian audiences might receive this special show: “There’s the potential that our audiences will be quite different…Obviously we’re in Quebec so the language is different here obviously, and Véro is able to tailor some of her Céline to include a lot more français and a lot more of the jokes that people here in Montreal would understand, which is incredible.” She adds that director Tye Blue has been “not just supportive, but whole-heartedly enthusiastic” about this Canadian cast making the show their own. “On the first day, he said ‘you all in Canada but especially in Montreal, you own Celine in a way, she is yours in a way that we can’t understand as Americans.’ And I thought that was so…aware. I thought that was a really wonderful thing. He really feels the responsibility to deliver for her people.”

Peck is excited about the different experiences audiences might have in the two different theatres as well. This is her performance debut at the Segal Centre: “Montreal sort of still feels like a bit of a mystery to me in an exciting way. What’s really cool about it is because the theatre is smaller, you’re going to be able to pick up on so many details. You’re going to be able to read people’s faces. And this is the type of show where people might come 3, 4, 5 times, and you will see something different every single time.

On the flip side, Peck is very familiar with the CAA Theatre. “I know that theatre intimately because I did WE WILL ROCK YOU there for a year and a half!” She also sees some similarities between TITANIQUE and WE WILL ROCK YOU and suspects that they may attract similar audiences: “The style of humour and the passionate following of a certain band, those things are very much in common, so I feel a lot more confident in who we’ll get. We’re also close to the village, you know the gays will turn out! (Laughs). And also it’s your hometown crowd so that will be wonderful. I’m really really really excited and I have a lot of confidence that people will come many times and that people will be passionate about spreading the word and bringing new people to see it.” She adds that it is already selling quite well and so she has been telling her friends to not wait too long to get tickets as it might sell out. “So if you’re sort of on the fence and you like to have a good time, get your tickets now - at the risk of sounding cliché! It is a limited run because there’s another production coming into the theatre.”

Peck shares that between the familial and collaborative relationship that has developed among the company, and the material itself, this experience has already been one of the highlights of her career. She also believes that it offers something for everyone:

“The coolest thing about this show is it asks you to be as funny and silly and ridiculous as you possibly can be, but it also doesn’t ask you to dumb down what you are capable of. And I think that is a really important distinction in terms of offering something that’s very funny, but also still of great quality. And still, shockingly moving! We sing a few songs that have no right to be touching – because of what we’re doing in them … and yet we all cried the first day we got to sing some of the music. And I think that’s a really amazing thing. Comedy’s hard. Everyone agrees what is sad – sad is sad. But funny is not funny to everybody. And I think the show really offers something pretty incredible for our older audiences and also our younger audiences…and also Drag Race fanatics (laughs).”

“Everyone is so grateful to be here.” She adds. “Everyone is so focused, so talented…we get along so well. It just reads on stage when everyone is friends…And I think there is a magic that happens when you know that you’re part of something really special.”

TITANIQUE is currently playing at the Segal Centre in Montreal from now until November 24th and will then play at Mirvish Productions’ CAA Theatre in Toronto from December 5th until January 12th.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marie-Andrée Lemire

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