Lake County’s most luxurious resort and theater has gone all out for its Fifty Year Golden Jubilee by staging the 1997 winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical Titanic: The Musical Broadway’s Epic Voyage of Love, Loss and Legacy opens Wednesday, April 16 at 7:00 pm, and runs through June 1, 2025. Maury Yeston (music and lyrics) and Peter Stone (the book) focus their musical on the heartbreaking story of the celebrity, crew, and immigrant passengers. Stone portrays their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for their new world adventure from the Bon Voyage scene in Southampton, England, to their untimely disastrous encounter only four days into the journey. The musical is unlike the James Cameron romantic disaster film Titanic, which was released in 1987. Titanic: The Musical captures a more historically accurate depiction of the passengers on the luxury ill-fated maiden voyage of the British registered (White Star Line) and American owned (Royal Mail Ship) RMS Titanic.
Approximately 1500 people died while only 500 survived. The disparity between the rich and poor in horrifying death statistics was striking. Thirty-nine percent of first-class passengers died, and fifty-eight percent of second-class passengers died. In comparison, seventy-six percent of third-class passengers and the same percentage of crew members met their deaths on April 15, 1912, after the unsinkable ship struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Titanic: The musical delves into the human drama and explores social class divisions. The sinking of this fully loaded 50,000-ton ship was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters. According to Britannica, the Titanic’s selling point was its grandeur, opulence, and luxury, not its safety: as evidenced by the insufficient number of lifeboats, which were also not loaded to capacity, and by the outdated safety regulations for a gargantuan passenger ship.
Ironically, the Titanic and its sister ship, the Olympic, began construction in 1909 in Belfast, Ireland. The Titanic was named for the Titans of Greek mythology, the major gods of great strength and intellect. It launched in 1912 and sank the same year despite the misnomer that it was unsinkable. Producing such a dramatic musical calls for a stellar team of Titans, and the Marriott Theater Team deftly accomplishes this task.
Actor, Director, and Choreographer Connor Gallagher has worked extensively with Disney. Also known for The Big Gay Jamboree, The Robber Bridegroom, Into the Woods, Beauty and The Beast, Disney’s Tale of Moana, and Tangled) He did the choreography for Broadway’s Beetlejuice. This is his Marriott Lincolnshire Maiden Voyage. As a child, he discovered musical theatre in the ’90s. Gallagher said, “Titanic was a formative show for me. The chance to bring it to life on the Marriott Theatre stage is a thrilling, daunting, and ultimately energizing task. Add to that the legendary actors of Chicago and one of the most haunting scores ever written, and I couldn’t be happier to be collaborating on this production. I promise it will be unlike any Titanic you’ve seen before.”
Director Gallagher is correct, Marriott Lincolnshire’s Titanic cast is stellar. David Girolmo portrays Captain E.J. Smith, who valiantly went down with his ship. Girolmo has the commanding presence and gravitas of a veteran sea captain. Adam Pelty is J. Bruce Ismay, a British businessman, chairman of the White Star Line, and a Titanic survivor. Christopher Kale Jones stars as Thomas Andrews, the shipbuilder. Lillian Castillo plays Alice Beane, based on Ethel Beane a second class American passenger and narrator. She deftly adds the comic relief necessary for retelling this dark historical moment. James Earl Jones II is Edgar Beane/Fourth Officer Boxhall. Erica Stephan is cast as one of the three Kates. She is a third-class Irish passenger named Kate McGowan, looking to move up her social status through marriage, possibly to another passenger.
Garrett Lutz’s character is a sacrificial hero, Jim Farrell, a third-class passenger who saved some female lives. Eric Amundson is a Bellboy. Joel Gelman is the British Second Officer Charles Lightoller. He also portrays John Jacob Astor, the richest American business magnate, on board the Titanic. Darian Goulding has dual roles as Frederick Barrett, a boiler room stoker, hero, and Benjamin Guggenheim, a wealthy mining industry magnate. Laura Guley is another Kate Murphy, a third-class passenger saved by Farrell. She is also Eleanor Widener, a first-class passenger. Kelli Harrington is a wealthy textile heir, Charlotte Cardoza, who had the most luxurious suite aboard the Titanic. Matthew Hommel has several roles. He is the British merchant seaman and a junior wireless operator, Harold Bride. As Joseph Bell, he becomes the Titanic’s Chief Engineer. As Bandmaster Wallace Hartley, he kept the eight-member band playing to calm the passengers as the ship was sinking.
Mark David Kaplan is cast as Isidor Straus, owner of Macy’s Department Store, a true romantic, who passed up seats on the lifeboats to stay together with his wife. Kaplan is also Quartermaster Robert Hitchens, who was at the ship’s wheel and accused of causing the disaster. A Chicago fan favorite, Heidi Kettenring plays Ida Straus, Isador’s wife. They are a true romantic couple. George Keating as “First Officer William Murdoch, who was subject to many rumors about his role in evacuations. Will Lidke portrays Charles Clarke, a second-class victim dreaming of being a journalist. He is also George Widener, a first-class passenger and a member of the board of the Fidelity Trust Company of Philadelphia, the bank that controlled the owners of the White Star Line. Francesca Mehrotra plays Caroline Neville, who is Charles Clark’s fiancée. He is traveling to America to become a journalist. She is also cast as Mme. Aubert, Guggenheim’s mistress and a Parisian singer. Victoria Okafor portrays the third Kate Mullins, who Farrell also saved. Her other roles are of a Stewardess and the wealthy Madeleine Astor. Lucas Thompson is Frederick Fleet, a twenty-three-year-old lookout sailor who survived the tragedy of the Titanic. Kevin Webb as “Henry Etches, a proud first-class steward who assisted Guggenheim was hysterically funny. He is also a Third Officer Herbert Pitman, who assisted with evacuations. The understudies for this phenomenal, powerful, rip-your-heart-out production are Anna Louise Bramlett, Andrés Enriquez, David Gordon-Johnson, Michael Metcalf, and Schyler Vargas.
The artistic team features Associate Director and Choreographer Katie Johannigman, Scenic Designer Collette Pollard, Costume Designer Sally Ratke, Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer Miguel Armstrong, Lighting Designer Jesse Klug, Sound Designer Michael Daly, Props Designer Sally Zack, Dialect Coach Adam Goldstein, Conductor Brad Haak, and Stage Manager Colt Luedtke. The music is entrhalling and the movement on stage is mesmerizing. The simple, sleek staging and lighting changes set the mood perfectly. The costumes are richly designed and appropriate for the time. The artistic team has created a monumental, powerful, “WOW” production that I believe was both evocative, heart-wrenching, and, at times, humorous. From the length and volume of the standing ovation, the audience loved this musical drama.
NEW FOR 2025 WEEKNIGHT PERFORMANCE TIMES, Titanic The Musical is scheduled to run Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays at 7:00 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., with select Thursday 1:00 p.m. shows. Call for group dinner theatre, student, senior, and military discounts. To make a restaurant reservation, please call 847.634.0100. Free ample parking is available at all performances. To reserve tickets or become a Marriott Theatre subscriber during the 50th Anniversary season, please call the Marriott Theatre Box Office at 847.634.0200 or go to www.tickets.marriotttheatre.com. For more information.
Attendees are also invited to visit Three Embers Restaurant before the show to savor a pop-up experience that will coincide with Titanic: The Musical, transporting guests to another realm while enjoying a themed food and beverage menu led by Brent Mulvey and his superb culinary team at Three Embers Restaurant. The White Star Grill Prix Fixe Menu serves a haute cuisine special for only $49.00 per person. Select Promenade Salad, Deck Potatoes, Green Beans, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Cheddar Cheese, and Salad Cream or Captain Smith’s Brown Windsor Hearty Lamb, Rice, and Madeira Wine for the first course. The second course has four choices: grilled steak, glazed chicken, Atlantic Baked smoked Haddock, and garden galette rustic wild mushroom tart. Dessert is English warm custard pudding with black currant sauce. On April 16, we dined on a buffet at Three Embers. The menu included tender beef, mashed potatoes, salmon in a cream sauce with rice, grilled chicken, and asparagus spears. It was divine. The finale, chocolate almond-topped petit fours, was a decadent confectionery.
Photos Courtesy of: Justin Barbin Photography
Splash Magazines
Sounds like another great show!