Titanic (Encores!) (2024)

No, it's not Celine Dion but the music in this Titanic by Maury Yeston is pretty. There's a big lush orchestra on stage. The orchestrations are great but the music isn't especially memorable. The cast is enormous so there are a lot of grand choral numbers. The opening introducing all of the characters is surprisingly long. With so many characters though, we don't really get to know any of them all that well. And what little plot there is in the first act, is basically irrelevant come the second act since we know they're all going to die anyways, not fulfilling any of their dreams. There's something about class in there, but after a certain point we don't see much of the third class passengers anymore. To be honest, I dozed off in the first act. And when they finally do strike the iceberg, it mostly happens without fanfare. Everyone stays fairly calm. It's nothing like the chaos and spectacle of James Cameron's Titanic. 

My first year at Encores! I saw all 3 productions, and this one was my least favorite. Once Upon a Mattress and Jelly's Last Jam were both fantastic. This one a bit of a letdown in comparison.
 

An American in Paris (Broadway) (2015)

This is a gorgeous stage adaptation of the classic Gene Kelly film. Much like the movie, the focus of this production is dance.  I have a great appreciation for dance. It is mostly ballet, but there are brilliant infusions of jazz and contemporary dance (and maybe a bit of Fosse). The choreography is so beautifully elegant and intricate. Director-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon makes an extraordinary Broadway debut. The opening number is a gorgeous dance to Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F.  It is these lyric-less moments in which the production shines brightest.  George Gershwin's jazz inspired score is great but personally I prefer the pieces without words to the songs with (no offense to Ira). The beautiful jazzy theme from the second movement of the Concerto in F recurs throughout the production. The film is well known for its 17 minute ballet sequence to the piece of the same name.  The climax of the play is a similar ballet that is simply mesmerizing.

Robert Fairchild, brother of Megan Fairchild from On the Town, plays the male lead. He is a fine singer, but a fantastic ballet dancer. We did not see the Tony-nominated Leanne Cope because we have terrible luck but her understudy was a gorgeous dancer, too. And from a distance, they actually look very similar.

The design of the musical, that is the sets and costumes, are brilliant. Fittingly, the protagonist designs a ballet. Bob Crowley designs a rather minimalist set, leaving the floor mostly open for the dancers. As you enter the theater, you see a lone piano at the center of the stage (this image comes back at the end). A projection of the Arc di Triomphe on a sheet on the back wall transforms into the French flag from which the principal dancer emerges.  The background is made of cutouts drawn at an angle for perspective, and the projections fill in the details slowly in digital pencil. One of the best scenes features a sophisticated, animated hand-drawn ballerina on the moving set pieces that have angled tops, and ballet bars for manual movement. The masquerade costumes in the Cuban Overture are delightful, and the chromatic geometric design of the ballet sets and costumes are highly original.