Review: TITANIC, King's Theatre, Edinburgh

Maury Yeston's Tony Award-winning musical Titanic enjoyed an acclaimed run at London's Charing Cross Theatre last year, and this week Edinburgh's Southern Light Opera Company takes on the challenge of staging it. Titanic first premiered on Broadway in 1997 (exactly 100 years after Southern Light was founded) and this production - remarkably for an amateur staging - contains a cast of 90, with an orchestra of 27, so is certainly no small-scale offering.

This is, of course, not a musical in which one has to work hard to follow the storyline, but it is to Southern Light's credit that audience attention is held throughout. It is also not a musical that depends on a core group of principals, and as a result the depth of talent in this company is apparent.

Even when a cast member only has a line or two of sung dialogue, it's generally sung confidently with conviction and good pitch. Eighteen scenes and 26 musical numbers flow very well - the production has clearly been technically well-rehearsed, with very few opening night glitches - and the original and highly effective use of projections during both the overture and epilogue is a professional touch, and adds to the intensity of the drama.

Almost without exception, vocals soar above a sumptuous orchestra - credit to the sound design here - and the show calls for more complex chorus work than usual, with the chorus being split into various classes of ship passengers. The subtle, understated performance by veteran David McBain as Captain E.J. Smith is perhaps the standout of the leads, but this is an ensemble piece, and notably there are no solo bows at the end of the evening.

The well-established Southern Light creative team of director Andy Johnson, musical director David McFarlane and choreographer Louise Williamson each demonstrate their experience, and can be proud of what is achieved here. Set design is comparatively simple but effective, and lighting is quietly unobtrusive.

A special mention must be made of the 40-page A4 printed programme - a labour of love filled with many interesting production articles and 32 full cast biographies (a pleasure to see in an 'amateur' programme). Each programme also contains a unique insert about the historical background of a passenger on the Titanic. In another example of this company's attention to detail, many of its playing members made a trip to the Titanic Experience in Belfast last month, to understand more about the characters and - in a majority of cases - their final hours of life.

This production of Titanic will go down in history as a triumph for Southern Light, and certainly whets the appetite for their next production, Hello, Dolly!, in 2018.

Southern Light's Titanic runs at Edinburgh's King's Theatre until 25 February.

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