'Titanique' Broadway review — an even bigger boatload of campy fun

Read our review of Titanique on Broadway, the Titanic parody musical playing at the St. James Theatre after an award-winning three-year run off Broadway.

Summary

• Titanique is a parody musical inspired by the Titanic movie and the songs of Celine Dion
• The Off-Broadway hit expands to fill a Broadway house with powerful vocal and comedic performances from cast members like Marla Mindelle; Jim Parsons; and Layton Williams
• The show is recommended for fans of Celine Dion's music; RuPaul's Drag Race; and other Broadway shows like Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Oh Mary!

In the move from Off-Broadway's Daryl Roth Theatre to Broadway's St. James Theatre, the parody musical Titanique clearly got a boost to its design budget. You can tell immediately by looking at the Heart of the Ocean, that deep blue jewel that greets audiences as they enter, which I described in my 2022 Off-Broadway review as looking like a Party City decoration. Now, it looks like an expensive Party City decoration. It dangles from the rafters beneath a heart-shaped hole outlined in tinsel, like a jewel that's fallen off its chain, as a subtle reminder that Titanique is nonetheless still the off-kilter affair it's always been.

If the Broadway production is your first encounter with Titanique, you might not guess its NYC voyage began, as a now-cut joke once put it, "in the basement of a Gristedes" (i.e. the below-ground former location of the comedy venue Asylum NYC). The Broadway set (by Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher for Iron Bloom Creative Production), sound (Lawrence Schober), and lighting (Paige Seber) have all been amped up to, well, titanic levels to befit the biggest venue Titanique has ever docked in. Alejo Vietti's costumes, too, are more detailed, but those remain the most cheerfully tacky visuals on stage.

That's not a dig, as Titanique delights in being kooky and irreverent, perhaps more so now that it's infiltrated that stolid old institution of Broadway. (Heck, tonight's opening is only three days before the anniversary of the Titanic's sinking.) Much of the first 20 minutes feel like the Céline Dion Stand-Up Comedy Hour, where Marla Mindelle, a no-holds-barred comedic powerhouse returning from off Broadway as the French Canadian singer, riffs with the audience and prepares to tell us how the sinking of the Titanic really went down, because she was there. Get it, because Dion sang the theme song to the movie?

This intro admittedly drags a bit, but like the infamous ship, Titanique suddenly picks up speed and stays at an exhilarating pace from there as the cast flings out mile-a-minute one-liners and pop culture jokes. Unlike the ship, the entrance of the iceberg doesn't bring the show to a halt — narratively, anyway. The late-stage showcase of Layton Williams as a rollicking, rubber-limbed Iceberg accounted for one of five mid-show standing ovations on my night. To say any more about Williams's Olivier Award-winning performance, reprised from Titanique in London, would spoil one of the show's best reveals; I don't want to rob you of the slack-jawed awe my completely unaware +1 at the show had when it happened.

The 90 minutes in between are packed with equally delightful zaniness as Céline recounts a wild refashioning of the Titanic movie plot as though it were historical fact. Actually, she doesn't narrate the proceedings so much as aggressively insert herself and her songs in them, to the greatest chagrin of Rose (a sweet-voiced Melissa Barrera) as she's trying to get things going with Jack (a beefy Constantine Rousouli, who originated the role off Broadway). But Mindelle-as-Dion is not the only one who wrests control of the spotlight: there's Williams; former Dion backup singer Deborah Cox with a soaring "All By Myself"; and Jim Parsons as Rose's acid-tongued mother, Ruth, wearing a raspberry dress and feathered headpiece that resembles a knockoff Dolly Levi outfit. I only realized this when, during an extended temper tantrum that utterly stops the show, Ruth takes her anger out on, among other things, a cardboard cutout of Carol Channing-as-Dolly.

My personal favorite part, though, has always been "Tell Him," in which I found myself genuinely moved by Barrera, Cox, and Mindelle's gorgeous voices even as the number turned into an innuendo involving an eggplant (now also bigger than off Broadway). Because that's the thing about Titanique: To call it a mere parody musical is to hit only the tip of the iceberg. It's always been more than that: a shining comedy showcase, a bonafide arena concert, and a well-built musical that doesn't require much Titanic knowledge to enjoy. (If anything, it benefits more from RuPaul's Drag Race knowledge, which is probably a first for a Broadway show.)

Acclaimed though Titanique was for more than just silliness, the show's expansiveness perhaps wasn't as apparent in its smaller homes. Now, director Tye Blue's production has a venue big enough to unfold to its full wingspan. Like Rose "flying" on the ship's bow, it seems it's been waiting to do that all along.

Titanique summary

What if Céline Dion, who sang "My Heart Will Go On" for James Cameron's 1997 Titanic movie, was there when the real Titanic sank? In Titanique, Dion hijacks a Titanic museum tour and spins a historically irreverent tale of what really happened aboard the ship, including to the film's doomed lovers, Jack and Rose.

Creators Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, and Constantine Rousouli first came up with Titanique over drinks in L.A. Their idea grew into two concert presentations; an award-winning, three-year Off-Broadway run; and more than six other productions worldwide before coming to Broadway.

What to expect at Titanique

There is a certain cozy smallness from Titanique's Off-Broadway runs that I miss, but it's still felt in some moments of the Broadway version, like when the cast enters through the aisles of the orchestra or Mindelle interacts with a couple lucky front row-ers. Admittedly, I was seated in the third row, so people further back or in the mezzanine might feel more of a sense of remove.

But regardless, you'll be among — if my audience was any indication — a somewhat livelier group of theatregoers than at your typical Broadway show, the kind who cheer more wildly and loudly while still, of course, respecting the actors. Those more intangible senses of intimacy, collective abandon, and play are fully intact from off Broadway.

What audiences are saying about Titanique

Titanique on Broadway has a 93% audience approval rating on the review aggregator Show-Score, with most theatregoers describing the musical as a laugh-filled good time.

• "If you need some joy and humor in your life, get thee to see Titanique. I laughed so hard I cried." - Show-Score user Don K
• "Ironically, ironically, the best thing about this voyage was the iceberg." - Show-Score user andrew s
• "Unhinged in the best way; had a smile on my face the entire time. So creative, original, hilarious. They lure you in with comedy and keep you locked in with so many powerhouse performances. We've seen it twice now- would go again with a group that hadn't seen it yet." - Show-Score user dm
• "Funny hilarious camp insane talent from the cast but my controversial opinion is that some shows should stay in smaller off broadway theatres and this is one of them." - Mezzanine user Emma Valerio
• "I have now seen Titanique three (3) times and Titanic zero (0) times." - Mezzanine user Andrew Ontiveros

Read more audience reviews of Titanique on Show-Score.

Who should see Titanique

• If you watch RuPaul's Drag Race, you'll delight in all the verbal and visual nods to that show in Titanique. The creators often update the musical with new jokes from the pop culture zeitgeist, so there's even a reference to the current season.
• Fans of Oh, Mary! and Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway will find that Titanique is in great company with those raucous, queer romps. That Jellicle Ball performs right across the street from Titanique is even more delicious.
• If you love the music of Céline Dion, you're going to hear genuinely gorgeous renditions of her songs amid the hijinks. Unfortunately, a few big hits, like "That's The Way It Is" and "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," aren't included, but Titanique makes up for it with some deep cuts for die-hard Dion fans.
• Titanique is a show made by theatre kids, for theatre kids. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot Easter eggs from a few recent shows at the St. James (hint: look closely at the trash-covered cloak in the first scene).

Learn more about Titanique on Broadway

In moving to Broadway, Titanique proves anew that it's not only a silly good time, but also anchored by true comedic know-how and powerful musical performances. I mean, just wait until you hear Marla Mindelle play the violin!

Learn more and get Titanique tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Titanique is at the St. James Theatre through July 12.

Photo credit: Titanique on Broadway. (Photos by Evan Zimmerman)