By Barrett White
As a gay youth living in a small house in the middle of a cotton field in Needville, Texas, Tye Blue never dreamed that he would one day have the chance to produce and co-write an Off-Broadway musical that would earn the praises of none other than the Andrew Lloyd Webber.
When James Cameron’s Titanic hit theaters in December 1997, not only did it steal the hearts of romantics across the nation, but it became a prime subject of parody after parody—from MTV to SNL—and not just in the late ‘90s, either. As recently as this year, comedian Bowen Yang personified the iceberg on “Weekend Update,” and you still can’t scroll through Twitter without seeing Rihanna stans posting the “Old Rose ‘It’s been 84 years’” meme in response to the musician’s new releases.
Titanique, the recently extended Off-Broadway sleeper hit, takes the weepy-Edwardian-era love-story-slash-action-hit depicted in the film and reimagines it with a “labrador boyfriend” Jack Dawson (Constantine Rousouli), angsty-hilarious Rose DeWitt Bukator (now, Rose DeWitt Bukakke, played by the fantastic Carrie St. Louis), and of course, the tart-tongued Unsinkable Molly Brown (Desireé Rodriguez). Telling the tale is none other than vocal powerhouse Marla Mindelle as Céline Dion herself (the title of the show, in fact, is simply how the French-Canadian singer pronounces “Titanic”). Rounding out the cast of characters are Rose’s mother, Ruth (Russell Daniels), fiancé Cal (John Riddle, of Phantom of the Opera fame), and Frankie Grande as Victor Garber (no, not shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, played by Garber in the film—the character is Victor Garber), a chorus of backup singers (Blu Allen, Courtney Bassett, Brad Greer, and Donnie Hammond), and, of course, the iceberg itself (Avionce Hoyles).
The gags are a mile a minute; top-down every voice in the show is spectacular; and if you can see through your tears of laughter, you’ll spot some of the best character performances in the city. Titanique has secured one of cinema’s greatest love stories—and Canada’s own national treasure—in a modern camp masterpiece. Titanique is the funniest thing playing in New York—Off-Broadway or on.
And did we mention the production is a Céline Dion jukebox musical?
Photo by Aaron Jay Young.
Blue, Rousouli, and Mindelle were no strangers to parody musicals when they teamed up to co-write Titanique. The trio had spent years perfecting the craft while performing for Los Angeles dinner theaters. Co-writing alongside them was music supervisor Nicholas Connell—it was this four-way writing team that Blue says led to a creative alchemy that ensured the show’s success.
“Having [four] strong writing voices rather than one gave this really diversified and fortified creative amoeba, which makes a lot of decisions collectively,” Blue says. “All of those things helped us stand out. The film and Céline both being internationally beloved IPs doesn’t hurt either.”
Producing a hit musical is a little like playing chess—the creative team calculated each move. Blue continues, “Because I was the sole producer for the first few years, it had to be small and organic, so I just produced one-off pop-up performances here and there for awhile, which I think gave it the space to grow and develop organically each time we presented it, but it also allowed our audience to develop a longing to see it again. I was busy with a full-time TV job and was very protective of this passion project. We really took our time.”
Perhaps as interesting as the characters on stage is the road it took to bring the show to life. Blue and his team began workshopping Titanique in 2017 with a string of Monday night rehearsals culminating in an industry reading presentation at a dance studio, where the show was being performed in a concert format. This got the attention of the Wallis-Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, who invited Titanique to premiere the show in their concert series. From there, Titanique began performing “every few months” to sold-out houses at the highly-curated comedy venue Dynasty Typewriter at the Hayworth Theatre through 2018 and 2019.
“With that momentum, I booked Green Room 42 in New York City and we did a sold-out week-long run there, still in concert format, which is when we snagged the attention of Broadway producer Eva Price, who is an old pal,” Blue explains. “After the show, [Price] said, ‘Goddamnit, I actually have to produce this now.’”
As buzz began to circulate about the uproarious parody musical performing in a theater in the basement of a West Village Gristedes supermarket, familiar names and faces began to see what all the fuss was about. Among them Pennsylvania State Representative and outspoken LGBTQ+ activist Brian Sims, actor and subject of the parody Victor Garber himself (who could be seen heaving in laughter with his husband during certain “Victor moments”), and on one special evening, the one and only Andrew Lloyd Webber.
“Andrew Lloyd Webber’s attendance was a massive moment for the entire company,” Blue says. “The fact that our little basement show could attract an actual living legend of the industry will never be lost on me. He was extremely attentive during the show and, right after company bows, he made a beeline to Nicholas [Connell], our music supervisor, arranger, and music director, and offered the highest praise to the music department.”
“He [Webber] stayed and chatted with the entire cast and was incredibly complimentary,” Blue adds. “He was so approachable, with zero air of ego or whatever. We spoke very candidly about the logistics of keeping shows open. He seems like an open book, very amenable and considerate. God, I would love to work with him one day. It was a dream come true.”
Titanique’s success goes beyond the buzz and the accolades of celebrity admirers, too. The parody musical is now set to sail right into a new theater for an extended run (a theater not located in a supermarket basement, no less).
Not bad for the gay youth from Needville.
Catch Titanique’s extended run at Daryl Roth Theatre beginning on November 20. For tickets and more information, visit titaniquemusical.com.
