{"id":196505,"date":"2026-04-14T07:05:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/196505\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:05:35","slug":"titanique-hits-broadway-runs-aground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/196505\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Titanique\u2019 hits Broadway, runs aground"},"content":{"rendered":"

After an unusually strong stretch of theater, including three standout revivals \u2014 a galvanizing \u201cDeath of a Salesman,\u201d Second Stage\u2019s sharp \u201cBecky Shaw,\u201d and the deliriously inventive \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball\u201d \u2014 it was perhaps inevitable that something would break the momentum. Unfortunately, that something is \u201cTitanique,\u201d which has improbably washed ashore on Broadway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show, which previously ran Off-Broadway and developed a niche following, is a jukebox parody built around the songs of C\u00e9line Dion, reimagining the 1997 film \u201cTitanic\u201d as if Dion \u2014 who, of course, was not in the movie but merely sang its hit single \u201cMy Heart Will Go On\u201d \u2014 were not only present for its events but responsible for narrating and reshaping them.<\/p>\n

The Broadway version is the same \u2014 except now with a larger budget, a bigger stage, and several high-profile new cast members, including Jim Parsons, Melissa Barrera, and Deborah Cox. Its arrival on Broadway is itself surprising, the result of a post-pandemic stretch in which numerous new musicals have flopped, leaving the current season seriously short on new productions and allowing \u201cTitanique\u201d to take over the St. James for a limited run after the early closure of \u201cThe Queen of Versailles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The musical embraces a loose, anything-goes style built around audience interaction and meta humor. Dion hijacks the story with frequent commentary and a stream of songs dropped into the action.
\n\"actorsJim Parsons as Ruth and Melissa Barrera as Rose in \u201cTitanique.\u201dPhoto by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade\n<\/p>\n

Like the ship it parodies, \u201cTitanique\u201d begins with a splashy premise but ultimately struggles to stay afloat. Occasionally, a joke lands. But more often, \u201cTitanique\u201d simply isn\u2019t funny, inventive, or especially interesting. At 100 minutes, the show plays less like a fully developed musical than an extended sketch, with scenes frequently interrupted by asides and non sequiturs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli, who co-wrote the book with director Tye Blue, lead the cast as Dion and Jack Dawson (the Leonardo DiCaprio role), respectively. Mindelle is technically impressive in her vocal parody of Dion, even if the act itself wears thin over time, while Rousouli remains energetic and likable, leaning into the role\u2019s buoyant absurdity. Melissa Barrera, who broke out in the film adaptation of \u201cIn the Heights\u201d and makes her Broadway debut, plays 17-year-old Rose (the Kate Winslet role) largely straight and feels underutilized.<\/p>\n

Parsons plays Rose\u2019s disapproving mother Ruth in drag, with clipped line readings and well-timed asides that briefly sharpen the show\u2019s comic rhythm. In one ad-lib, he notes that both he and Mindelle were nominated in 2023 for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical \u2014 which she won \u2014 for her work in \u201cTitanique,\u201d while he was recognized for the superb Off-Broadway revival of the musical \u201cA Man of No Importance.\u201d One wishes Parsons were bringing that performance to Broadway instead, or simply allowed to improvise as Ruth for the full 100 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"womanDeborah Cox as the Unsinkable Molly Brown.Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade<\/p>\n

The move to Broadway works against the show. What once felt scrappy and self-aware in a smaller setting now looks oddly exposed on a larger stage, its thin material fully laid bare. The trajectory recalls \u201cDames at Sea,\u201d the affectionate parody of 1930s Busby Berkeley musicals that began at Caff\u00e8 Cino in 1966 and later made its way to Broadway in 2015 \u2014 with similarly mixed results when scaled up beyond its intimate origins.<\/p>\n

For audiences in a celebratory mood \u2014 or those deeply invested in Dion\u2019s music or the original film \u2014 \u201cTitanique\u201d may provide a breezy diversion. But its appeal is narrow, and its comic returns diminish quickly.<\/p>\n

More telling is what its Broadway presence suggests about the current state of new musicals. In a season so thin that \u201cTitanique\u201d could plausibly contend for major awards, the industry may need to take a hard look at whether this is a temporary lull or the new normal for original musicals on\u00a0Broadway.<\/p>\n

St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th\u00a0St.,\u00a0titaniquebroadway.com<\/a>. Through July 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After an unusually strong stretch of theater, including three standout revivals \u2014 a galvanizing \u201cDeath of a Salesman,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[207,78320,78321,78322,9,24,55,54,56,905,78323],"class_list":{"0":"post-196505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-broadway","9":"tag-deborah-cox","10":"tag-jim-parsons","11":"tag-melissa-barrera","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-city-news","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-theater","18":"tag-titanique"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}