Titanique, Michael Cassell Group, Grand Electric, 12 Sept-1 Dec (currently, though may extend)

 

A ridiculous spoof of the James Cameron movie, Celine Dion's career, the conventions of musical theatre and anything else going in the culture at the time they wrote this, "Titanique" as a show observes little sense of reality, spares little budget for props, has no respect for the fourth wall and runs about half the length of the James Cameron movie it's based on. And thank goodness for that - this is a good old fashinoed laugh riot. One might quibble, perhaps, that the song list lacks the obvious song for a flashback (It's all Coming Back To Me Now, presumably because Jim Steinman proved surprisingly less amenable to music liscencing than either the Walt Disney Corporation, Phil Spector, Diane Warren or any of the other writers of the 18 Celine tracks performed during the show). But it's a minor quibble. 

The plot features Celine inserting her into a broadly played recap of the 1997 James Cameron film, stealing any solos going and generally making a French-Canadian mashup of vowels all over the place. Nothing is sacred - not the front row of the audience, not the performances of the original cast, not Celine and certainly not any random sex jokes that can find their way into the script somewhere. It's a big bouncy burlesque of a show, with a core of respect for the music, sung spectacularly by a cast of eleven plus band. and given go-for-broke performances led by Marney McQueen as the glorious diva herself, with a well-studied performance that includes every askew head bop, every heroic arm wave along with the glorious notes we need. Drew Weston is an enthusiasticaly idiotic Jack and Georgina Hopson matches him for empty-headedness as  Rose. Keane Sheppard-Fletcher's Cal is suitably self-impressed as himbo finance Cal, Stephan Anderson drips venom as Rose's disapproving mother Ruth, Abigail Dixon is a boisterous Molly Brown and Abu powers through as the Seamen, the Iceberg and whatever else the show needs him to do. 

The Grand Electric is very much a found-venue, a back-of-the-alley hall jam packed with seating for the occasion and very eager to sell the audience as much booze as possible - given seating is first-in-best-dressed in your area, I'd suggest arriving early for best sightlines unless you've paid for the front-row cabaret tables. 

If you dislike Celine or 1997's biggest grossing box office sensation, this is not your show. But for anbyody else, this is a ridiculous, fun evening of song, story and budget-appropriate-spectacle for anyone with a sense of nonsense.