Tragic tale's music scores a triumph

VIRGINIA BEACH

Against the odds, Virginia Musical Theatre has maneuvered the awesome complexities of the choral opera "Titanic... The Musical" into the most professional outing yet in its initial year at Sandler Center for the Performing Arts.

With a cast of 31, an 18-piece orchestra and gorgeous costumes inherited from the original Broadway production, audiences get through this voyage without any sinking feeling (none of the miscastings of "White Christmas" or the technical problems of "Miss Saigon"). "Titanic" emerges as something of the epic it can, and must, be.

The Broadway opening in 1997 was threatened by technical mishaps, involving a $2 million hydraulic lift that slanted the entire set, and cast, to simulate the sinking Titanic. Everyone feared the worst.

Then, we saw it. With music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, "Titanic" evolved as an intricate composition that enhanced and stretched the boundaries of conventional musical theater. It is an ensemble work with triplets and sextets that emphasize choral mastery and, with its opening anthem urging the Titanic to "sail on," encompassed the feeling and mood of an expanding industrial revolution amid class differences.

Wisely, the VMT version does not try to recreate the Broadway staging. There is no hydraulic lift or crashing piano careening across the stage, but, more importantly, there is a choral ensemble that has been rehearsed to a fine tune.

Brian Marshall directs with an eye toward moving things briskly, even if the second act does slow a bit after the collision. Act I is all threat. We cringe as the captain chooses "the northern course" and the orchestra sends us an ominous cue. The sense of doom pervades, and there is a bit of gulping as we realize that everyone and everything we see is to end - abruptly.

However, in the ensemble rush of the varied, admirable musical moments, intimacy is largely missing. We don't know these people. John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim are on the passenger list along with real people, but they pass quickly through the night. They are introduced fleetingly for their spotlight moments and then sent back into the chorus.

"Titanic... The Musical" is a cool, aloof number that keeps its characters at a distance, making this less than the truly involving drama it could be. But, after all, they are human beings. We care, and besides, they sing like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Four Seasons combined.

It's an all-star, no-star outing, but there are notable individual moments. The male duet of Adam Armstrong as a coal stoker who wants to get word back to his girl, and Andrew March as a radio operator emphasize class differences among the youth. Julie Cardia adds a lively social-climbing gusto as second-class passenger Alice Beane. Ilona Dulaski adds much-needed character-maturity to the passenger list. John Payonk looks the bearded image of Captain E.J. Smith, although the part provides little soul searching and much stoic reserve as the wrong nautical decisions are made right up to iceberg time.

To single out anyone, though, is a bit unfair because this, above all else, is an achievement for the choral ensemble, aided greatly by the restrained musical direction of Frederick Willard. The orchestra is used for dramatic effect, not just rhythmic accompaniment.

The tragic threat is framed by a wonderfully macabre dancing couple who introduce a stylized kind of ritual when needed (much like the master of ceremonies in "Cabaret").

There is only one standard song-and-dance number, a ragtime bit that could have used better dancing. There is a hummable ballad, "Autumn," which is meant, one supposes, to be ironic. There is a song called "Lady's Maid" that suggests the hope the third-class immigrants have for the new America, which we know will never happen for most of them. There is the anthem "Godspeed Titanic." In fact, every mood and dramatic hint is an excuse for a rousing choral anthem.

There is a plethora of statistical information about the time of collision, the number of life boats and so on - information that is also available in the program notes, which is a much better place for it.

The $10 million budget of the original Broadway version coupled with the epic nature of the ambitious vehicle has caused theater groups to avoid this work as if it were a financial iceberg. The scenic and lighting design of George Hillow has been adapted to a real-time budget. That hydraulic lift on Broadway always created what looked more like a tilting set than a sinking luxury liner. Gone, too, is the toy boat and mini-iceberg, which always got a laugh on Broadway. If anything, the present version plays better.

Some fans will prefer toe-tapping to storytelling, and they can stay around for the upcoming "Smokey Joe's Cafe." As for "Titanic," it has more serious aims in mind.

In its 16th season, Virginia Musical Theatre, still the only professional company in the state committed exclusively to musicals, has scored a triumph here - with something markedly new. Rather than offering musical gems from the past, this is an act of creation, not re-creation.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com