Treading Water, Valiantly
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| (l. to r.) Daryl Robinson, Michael Jeffrey Lucas, Todd Cooper, Jim Graysmith |
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| Heidi Swinford, Allen Cruz |
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| Andrew Bolden, Sarah Marie Young |
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| (l. to r.) Alexis Wilson, Kaelin Curran, Morgan Brown |
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| Michael Jeffrey Lewis, Sean Fleming |
By Tom Wachunas
“…And the night was
alive/ With a thousand voices /Fighting to be heard /And each and every one of
them /Connected to me...”
- lyrics by Maury Yeston from “The Night Was Alive” for Titanic – The Musical
A confession: At this writing, I am overcome
with mixed feelings in a sea of sad ironies. Not the least of those is that
opening night of the Players Guild production of Titanic – The Musical came so soon (May 17) after the sudden
passing on May 9 of 55 year-old Scott Sutton.
Through decades,
his work as lighting designer and sound engineer brought magical dimensionality to hundreds of Players
Guild productions, including the spectacular artistry of his final project in
April, Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s
not unreasonable to think that processing the loss of such a vital and beloved
member of the Guild family might profoundly affect how the cast members -
directed by Jonathan Tisevich – would rise to the challenge of insightfully
focusing their hearts and minds on navigating the Titanic narrative (story and book by Peter Stone, music and lyrics
by Maury Yeston). And that’s another irony. For here is a story - an operatic
voyage, really – about unexpected tragedy, the promise and fragility of human
dreams, and mortality itself.
So in one sense, perhaps the emotive core of
this show is to be found in the genuinely valiant efforts of the performers to
somehow bind the weighty pall of their personal bereavement to the hopes,
aspirations, and worldviews of the people they’re portraying. Still, the energy
pouring from the stage is a wandering one, feeling oddly sporadic and numbing
at times. It’s as if all these characters can do is to dutifully tread the cold
water of circumstance.
To be fair, the undermining
flaws in this production are, for the most part, not the fault of the clearly
gifted cast (though there are some distinctly off-pitch singing passages), but
rather in the decidedly flaccid songwriting. While the live orchestra conducted
by Steve Parsons plays superbly enough (as it always does), the music as a
whole is not particularly remarkable. The
melodies themselves are largely impotent, doing little to evoke palpable
urgency or suspense, despite some impassioned delivery from accomplished singers.
Though too few and far between, the moments when the music is at its most
powerful are those featuring choral singing from the full company, magnificent
in its sheer aural opulence of thunderous, soaring harmonies.
There are some compelling dramatic scenes here
that keep this “ship of dreams” afloat long enough for us to savor intervals of
authentic anger, pathos, tenderness, and exhilaration. Daryl Robinson is a
quietly riveting picture of brooding
obsession as he plays Andrews, the designer of the Titanic who never stops
looking at his blueprints. As Captain Smith, Jim Graysmith is a cold figure,
stern and aloof in the night atop his bridge, seemingly uncaring about the
safety of his passengers. Similarly uncaring, Todd Cooper is sinister hubris
and unbridled pride personified in his role of Ismay, Titanic’s owner,
insisting that his property set a new trans-Atlantic speed record. In a
startling song titled The Blame, the
three of them engage in a chaotic flurry of insults and vicious finger-pointing
as the ill-fated vessel begins to sink.
On a gentler note, Heidi
Swinford is all impish charm in her role of Alice Beane, a second-class
passenger humorously swooning over and idolizing the wealthy first-class
celebrities on board, all bedecked in flamboyant period costumes designed by
Stephen Ostertag (oh! those ridiculous ladies’ hats!). Kaelin Curran, Alexis
Wilson, and Morgan Brown are deliciously animated as a giddy trio of young,
third-class Irish women, each named Kate, each dreaming of the good life in
America. Meanwhile, Sarah Marie Young as Caroline, along with Andrew Bolden as
Charles, are thoroughly captivating as they look forward to married life. Their
duet, I Give You My Hand, is
especially commanding. Another most tender and endearing duet, The Proposal / The Night Was Alive,
features Sean Fleming playing a stoker named Barrett, and Michael Jeffrey Lucas
as Bride, who works in the ship’s teletype room. As Bride taps out Barrett’s
dictated marriage proposal to his distant girlfriend, the two men are joined in
a mesmerizing moment of contrapuntal harmony.
The
set designed by Joshua Erichsen is a transfixing apparition of steel ramps,
scaffolds, railings, and columns superimposed with projected mechanical
drawings. It effectively captures the metaphorical spirit and epic scale of the
historic vessel, described in the song In
Every Age as, “…a human
metropolis... A complete civilization! Sleek! And fast! At once a poem and the
perfection of physical engineering...”
A complete
civilization indeed. Sleek, fast, destined for disaster. Perfection? To a
point, yes, as in…perfectly ironic.
Titanic: The Musical
/
Through
June 2, 2019, on the Players Guild Mainstage, Cultural Center for the Arts,
1001 Market Ave. N, Canton, Ohio
/ shows
at 8 p.m. on May 24, 25, 30, 31 and June 1 / shows at 2 p.m. on May
26 and June 2
/ TICKETS: $32 adult, $29 seniors 65 and
older, $25 for 17 and younger / at
www.PlayersGuildTheatre.com and 330-453-7617.
