‘Old Broadway is on the way out’: Titanique creators on making theatre for new audiences

How best to explain Titanique, the off-Broadway musical that became a word-of-mouth hit on the streets of New York before setting sail for Sydney?

Ostensibly, the show is a musical retelling of James Cameron’s multiple Oscar-winning 1997 film Titanic, but with Celine Dion at the centre. It imagines a world where Dion claims to have survived the Titanic’s sinking and opts to narrate (and, of course, sing) her version of what really happened to Jack, Rose, and the other characters from the movie on the night the ship sank.

Georgina Hopson as Rose Dewitt Bukate (left), Marney McQueen as Celine Dion (centre) and Drew Weston as Jack Dawson (right) in the Australian production of cult hit musical, Titanique.Credit: Daniel Boud

And yet, Titanique is much more than its frankly bizarre synopsis. It is a comedy, parody and a love story. You might call it a camp cabaret, a jukebox musical, or a nostalgia hit for ’90s kids. Basically, it is many things all at once, but the one it definitely is not? Formulaic.

“From the moment we started writing Titanique, we did so believing that the old formula of Broadway is on its way out,” says director Tye Blue, who helms the Sydney production with a local cast. “We need to make theatre for new audiences; we need to find ways to make them engaged.”

Blue co-created Titanique alongside Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli, the trio seeking to bring fun and chaos back to an art form that they believed had gone stale.

“Broadway has become a bit predictable,” explains Rousouli. “You can spend $50 million, have all the lighting in the world, the best sets, impeccable costuming, and ultimately feel like you’re at a theme park. If there’s no heart and soul, there’s no story.”

Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli, the creators of Titanique.

As an industry, Broadway has recently faced the same risk-averse pressures as Hollywood. Over the past few years, productions such as The Notebook, The Great Gatsby, The Outsiders, Life of Pi, Beetlejuice, and, of course, Hamilton have been Broadway mainstays as producers look to guarantee a return on investment by sticking with tried-and-tested productions.

While the approach makes sense, it makes the trajectory of a wacky musical such as Titanique all the more impressive. “It’s a reminder that the audience does have an imagination, and if we trust them to come along for a wild ride, more often than not, they will,” says Blue.

The trio created the show in 2017, first staging it in a basement underneath a Chelsea grocery store in New York. Before long, the buzz started to grow, and Titanique found a more permanent home in 2022, moving to the off-Broadway Daryl Roth Theatre.

Since then, it has become a cult hit. The show’s unique mix of pop culture references (prepare for several RuPaul mentions) and tongue-in-cheek humour has fascinated non-traditional theatregoers.

Marney McQueen will play Celine Dion in Titanique, a sketch comedy-inspired camp retelling of the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

“I’ve found it to be a gateway drug for younger Millennials and Gen Z. Sure, it’s based on a movie from the 2000s, but the language and the references are very contemporary,” says Blue. “In New York, we’ve welcomed audiences who would never normally consider themselves musical theatre fans.”

Blue hopes to achieve the same result in Sydney when Titanique opens this week. Much of the show’s success hinges on the casting of Celine Dion, the pop culture icon whose larger-than-life presence guides the audience on the Titanic’s fateful voyage.

The Australian production sees comedian and actor Marney McQueen play Dion, a task made harder by the star’s re-emergence during the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony.

“It was spectacular timing for us as a show, but seeing everyone revel in the joy of her strength and determination really put pressure on me,” says McQueen. “Not to mention it was a refresher of how incredible she actually sounds.”

McQueen, who has appeared in productions of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Hairspray, said to do justice to Dion’s impeccable range, she had to immerse herself in the Canadian singer’s world.

“I’ve just been listening to Celine whenever I’m in the car; my family is getting a little weary of My Heart Will Go On, to be honest,” she says, laughing. “Every time I listen to a song, I hear something new or some new inflection that she does. That’s the beauty of her voice, but at the end of the day, the most important aspect of this role is to make it fun.”

Titanique premieres at The Grand Electric, Redfern, from September 12.

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