[“My heart will go on” by Celine Dion plays]
Some high schoolers spend their time playing football, being in the school play, or serving on student council. Chicago actress Abby C. Smith was a bit different.
ABBY C. SMITH
I saw Titanic. Four times when I was in high school, it was just the thing to do. You know, me and my friends were like, oh, we haven’t got nothing to do on this beautiful summer day. Let’s go see Titanic.
Now, more than 25 years later, Smith finds herself living the epic tale 8 shows a week. Well, not exactly.
[record scratch sound effect]
Smith plays the famously unsinkable Molly Brown in Chicago’s production of Titanique, the off-broadway smash hit that is part parody, part pop concert, and part Broadway glitz.
Here’s Michael Weber, the resident director of Titanique.
MICHAEL WEBER
Titanique is a sort of a celebration and a satire of the James Cameron movie Titanic. But it is being presented as seen through the sort of cuckoo crazy eyes of Celine Dion and using the Celine Dion musical catalog with the idea that Celine feels that she was actually on the Titanic, and maybe she has something personally to do with the story of Rose and Jack, and she takes us through the story of Titanic from her point of view in the sort of familiar milieu of Celine Dion Vegas concerts.
Not only does the story bring along the well loved tale of Rose and Jack, but another huge point of attraction is the angle of adding not only Dion as the madcap narrator, but also utilizing her songbook. For the show’s music director, Dr. Michael McBride, that was a big selling point in joining the production.
MICHAEL McBRIDE
I was really drawn to the score, of course, having experienced a broad variety of different kinds of theater from classic to contemporary and experimental and avant-garde. But I was really interested in working with this music that was so near and dear to my own musical upbringing and I think bringing it to the next generation is very exciting.
Coming from humble roots as a small show in the basement of a grocery store, Titanique clawed its way to the mainstream with an 3 year off-broadway run and productions sprouting up in London, Sydney, Toronto, and Paris. But it had yet to find itself with a regional production in the US, until they began having conversations with Broadway in Chicago and Chicago company Porchlight Music Theatre.
Besides serving as the show’s resident director, Weber is also the Artistic Director of Porchlight.
WEBER
What makes this unique is that the show in Chicago was built by Chicago artists with Chicago actors, Chicago musicians, Chicago designers, and we did bring in the original director and writer of the show, Tye Blue, to come to Chicago and work with all of our local talents to put up the first new vision for the show.
This led to a show with new sets, lights, and a bit more Broadway glitz all done by Chicago talent. However, this fabulousness for such a larger than life show has to extend beyond the design elements and to the actors as well.
WEBER
So it was a tall Order when it came to casting in terms of finding people who could sing their faces off. But also were hilariously funny in this sort of Saturday night live, Upright Citizens Brigade, IO kind of way.
But the Titanique Chicago team were able to find people that more than delivered. Here’s Smith again.
SMITH
A lot of my favorite moments are just watching my fellow actors be hilarious. And they’re so good at it. I mean, every night I listen to Rob Lindey do his speech because it’s a little different every night and sometimes he’ll throw something in there that’s just super funny.
McBride shares Smith’s sentiments on one of the many standout moments of the show.
McBRIDE
It’s actually one of the moments that I’m not playing for. In the middle of the show, there is one of the most hysterical monologues from one of the characters that changes a little bit each night. It’s quasi improv, it’s very interactive and it’s kind of like a jukebox of queer culture.
ROB LINDLEY
There’s a section that I just call “Ruth is a big gay jukebox” where I just kind of get to launch into very famous monologues. Well, probably famous to middle-aged gay men.
That’s Rob Lindley, who plays Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the stern mother of Rose and also the show’s “big gay jukebox.”
LINDLEY
They have moments where they say and right here, when she says, mother, it’s not fair. You say fair. Then list three things that you think are not fair. And so that’s where I can, you know, add in Katy Perry going to space and calling it feminism. That’s not fair.
However, Lindley points out that this moment is one of the few actual instances of improv in the show.
LINDLEY
I would say a lot of people think our show is more improvised than it actually is. They have written such a brilliant show with so many jokes per, you know, second, it feels like just relentless jokes and it’s our job to make them seem like we are making them up right there in the moment.
But for Lindley, his love for the show doesn’t just only come from the humor.
LINDLEY
I love that it’s unapologetically queer. It’s not trying to hide the fact that it has a lot of gay references in it and a lot of gay culture in it. And as an out gay man, that makes me really happy that queer people can continue to be agents of entertainment and joy and add a little sparkle to the world.
So whether it be the humor, the iconic-ness of Celine Dion, the affection for Cameron’s Titanic, or simply a love for Chicago theatre, Titanique is a show bound to delight audiences.
LINDLEY
It’s a joy bomb and it’s a joy bomb, and we need joy right now. It’s a lot of laughter and a lot of. Happiness and a lot of silliness and a lot of goofiness. And we are living in a world right now that is awfully dark at times. And so this is an invitation to sit in the dark with 700 other people for a little over 90 minutes and just have joy.
Titanique runs from now until July 13th at Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse.
For WNUR News, I’m Sophia Casa.
