‘Titaníque’ Broadway Review: An Uproarious Musical Parody

Ah, another Broadway musical that positions Tina Turner as a lethal iceberg, a leading man who quotes 20 year old YouTube memes and a time-traveling Céline Dion whose surreal version of a historical tragedy is so much better than the real thing. Dime a dozen, right?

Wrong. Titaníque, the outrageously campy musical that puts Dion on the Titanic and in the museum that holds its artifacts, isn’t exactly unprecedented in its blend of movie-loving homage and knowing parody (I’m thinking of that shouldn’t-be-forgotten ’90s Off Broadway cult favorite take-off on Valley of the Dolls, and just about anything from the late, great Everett Quinton), but Titaníque is such a gloriously entertaining concoction that it feels in a class by itself. First class, steerage, whatever it wants.

The brainchild of Constantine Rousouli – who plays his unique version of Leo’s king of the world Jack Dawson – and co-writers Tye Blue (who directs) and Marla Mindelle (reprising her award-winning gem of a performance as a surreally wise and wacky Céline Dion), Titaníque is, on its basic level, a parody of James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, the sort of mock-the-thing-you-love take-off whose ancestry dates back at least to the old Carol Burnett show.

But Rousouli, Mandelle and Blue know their reach has to exceed that one film (and that one theme song) no matter how wildly popular it remains. Titaníque, with generations of gay humor in its wake, uses the bubbly adventures of Jack and Rose to encompass a seemingly infinite cache of cultural references. Remember that early viral news-blooper video in which a newswoman describes a mountain climber as gay before correcting herself (“I mean, he’s blind”)? It’s in Titaníque. Matthew Morrison taking over for Jonathan Groff in Broadway’s Just In Time? That’s here too, in an insanely clever bit that builds to an insidery joke about Lea Michele’s literacy that had the Broadway audience howling.

(Indeed, Titaníque also owes a hat tip to that long-running Off Broadway hit Forbidden Broadway – you might as well stop counting the Broadway references after jokes about Chicago, Beauty and the Beast and Patti LuPone’s Equity status.)

Having arrived at the St. James Theatre, where it opens tonight just two days shy of the 114th anniversary of the real thing and following a nearly decade-long route that includes stagings in Los Angeles, Off Broadway, London, Paris, Chicago and others, Titaníque, with considerable improvised content that allows for those up-to-the-moment Matthew Morrison jokes, plays by its own kooky rules. The premise: Céline Dion, who of course sang Titanic‘s theme “My Heart Will Go On,” is actually a survivor of the shipwreck (along with Peabo Bryson, Victor Garber, and an unsinkable Molly Brown who seems to be fully aware of Kathy Bates’ ouvré).

Employing a long list of Dion’s hit songs – both originals and cover tunes, the latter to work in “All By Myself,” “Who Let The Dogs Out” and a Tina Turner bit, or is it a Tina! The Musical bit, with “River Deep, Mountain High” – Titaníque hits all of the movie’s high points (the king of the world scene, the backseat romp, the Heart of the Ocean blue diamond here presented as a purse-size ball and chain necklace) while stuffing the tale full of anachronisms, fact-and-fiction blurs and cultural winks that stream by so quickly you’ve barely had time to register one before the next one lands.

And land they do, or at least an improbably high percentage. The cast – in addition to Mindelle and Rousouli, there’s Melissa Barrera as Rose, John Riddle as Cal, Franki Grande as an out-and-proud Fire Island-bound Victor Garber, Debora Cox as Molly Brown, Layton Williams as a randy Seaman and Tina Turner-esque Iceberg and scene-stealer Jim Parsons as Rose’s uber-nasty mom Ruth – rides these chaotic seas without so much as an errant gasp for breath.

Parsons, in particular, is a welcome addition to the ensemble (many of the cast members are reprising roles they created or performed in previous productions). By now the former Big Bang Theory star (and yes, there is at least one crowd-pleasing reference to the sitcom) is pretty firmly entrenched on Broadway, but his recent, critically lauded appearances (Our Town, Mother Play, The Boys in the Band) have been on the dramatic side. Titaníque lets his inner clown soar, in drag yet, and with garish make-up just this side of Baby Jane Hudson and a mouth as foul as any David Mamet character. (Alejo Vietti’s costumes, from Jack’s hand-me-down Newsies look to Victor Garber’s dime store sailor get-up, are punchlines in themselves.)

The large cast has no weak links – Rousouli has honed the clueless, gleeful Jack-as-“aging twink” to a shine that blue diamond might envy, right up to and including his shivery resentment at Rose not making room on that floating hunk of wood – but Mindelle is the real key to keeping this whole shebang afloat. Too mean and we’d never go along with the joke, given Dion’s recent struggles, and too nice and we’d never laugh at them. Mindelle, with her sweet, ever-so-slightly garbled French Canadian accent and Dion-speak (“love” is “lurve”) has us on her side from entrance to big, splashy finale on a set that, she jokes, looks like something from The Voice.

Campier than the campy Cats: The Jellicle Ball but no less generous in its embrace of queer heritage’s seismic impact on American culture, Titaníque on Broadway is bigger than a mere hoot. It’s a riotous, high-cresting celebration just when we need it most.

Title: Titaníque
Venue: Broadway’s St. James Theatre
Director: Tye Blue
Book: Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli
Music: The hits of Céline Dion
Cast: Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, Jim Parsons, Melissa Barrera, Deborah Cox, Frankie Grande, John Riddle, Layton Williams
Running time: 1 hr 40 min (no intermission)