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Titanic

Cover to Original Broadway Cast Recording

A Musical in Two Acts, a Prologue and Twenty-Three Scenes. Story and book by Peter Stone. Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston.

Lunt Fontanne Theatre, New York; Opened 23 April 1997; closed 28 March 1999 (804 perfs)

Synopsis:

TITANIC begins as Thomas Andrews, the architect of the great ship, pores over the blueprints of his design. The curtain then rises to reveal the Ocean Dock in Southampton, England, where people are gathering to wonder at and to board the ship on sailing day: first a Frederick Barrett, then additional crewmen, officers and stevedores, the owner, the architect and the captain, the Third and Second Class passengers, and finally the First Class passengers. Now fully boarded, the ship pulls out as the company sings a prayerful farewell.

One by one, the dreams and aspirations of key characters are presented: Barrett, the Frederick Barrett who wanted to get away from the coal mines; Murdoch, the ship's officer contemplating the responsibility of command; Kate McGowan and the Third Class passengers who yearn for a better life in America; Chief Steward Etches and the millionaires he serves who exult in the wonders of their world.

Barrett finds his way to the Telegraph Room where he dictates a proposal of marriage to his sweetheart back home in a telegram transmitted by Harold Bride, a young telegraph operator smitten with the possibilities of the new radio technology.

The next day, April 14, after Sunday morning church service, the First Class attends the shipboard band's spirited out-of-doors dance-concert, an exclusive event crashed by Second Class passenger Alice Beane, a hardware store owner's wife who wants more out of life. That evening, as Fleet the lookout scans the horizon and bandsman Hartley regales the First Class Smoking Room with a new song, the ship sails inexorably towards her collision, which ends Act One.

Act Two opens as the suddenly awakened First and Second Class passengers are assembled in the Grand Salon for life-belt instruction by Chief Steward Etches, before being sent up to the Boat Deck to board the lifeboats. In the Telegraph Room, Captain Smith, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Ismay, the owner, argue over who is responsible for the disaster while Mr. Bride tirelessly sends out the S.O.S.. Up on the Boat Deck, the male passengers are separated from their families and all express hopes of being reunited as the final boat is lowered. Isidor Straus (the owner of Macy's) and his wife Ida remain behind together, as she refuses to leave his side after 40 years of marriage and Mr. Etches utters a prayer. In the abandoned Smoking Room, Thomas Andrews desperately redesigns his ship to correct its fatal flaws until the futility of his actions leads him to predict, in horrifying detail, the end of Titanic just as she begins her now-inevitable descent.

In an Epilogue, the survivors picked up by the Carpathia numbly retell what had once been Mr. Andrews' dream. The living are joined by their lost loved-ones in a tableau recapturing the optimistic spirit of the Ocean Dock on sailing day.

Cast:

Officers and Crew of the R.M.S. Titanic: Passengers aboard R.M.S. Titanic:

Captain E. J. Smith
First Officer William Murdoch
Second Officer Charles Lightoller
Third Officer William Pitman
Frederick Barrett, Stoker
Harold Bride, Radioman
Henry Etches, First Class Steward
Frederick Fleet, Lookout
Quartermaster Robert Hichens
Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhal
Chief Engineer Joseph Bell
Wallace Hartley, Orchestra Leader
Bandsman Bricoux
Bandsman Taylor
Stewardess Robinson
Stewardess Hutchinson
Bellboy

First Class:

J. Bruce Ismay
Thomas Andrews
Isidor Straus
Ida Straus
J. J. Astor
Madeline Astor
Benjamin Guggenheim
Mme. Aubert
John B. Thayer
Marion Thayer
George Widener
Eleanor Widener
Charlotte Cardoza
J. H. Rogers
The Major
Edith Corse Evans

Second Class:

Charles Clarke
Caroline Nevlle
Edgar Beane
Alice Beane

Third Class:

Kate McGovern
Kate Murphey
Kate Mullins
Jim Farrell

Scenes and settings:

The action takes place between 10-15 April 1912. All characters and events are based on fact.

Prologue: Harland & Wolff, Shipbuilders, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Act 1

Scene 1: Southampton: The Ocean Dock.
Scene 2: Aboard the R.M.S. Titanic. The stern.
Scene 3: The Dock.
Scene 4: The Bridge and Boiler Room #6.
Scene 5: The Saloon ("D") Deck.
Scene 6: The First Class Dining Saloon.
Scene 7: The Bridge.
Scene 8: The Middle ("F") Deck. The Third Class Commissary.
Scene 9: The Bridge.
Scene 10: The Radio Room.
Scene 11: The Boat Deck: First Class Promenade.
Scene 12: "A" Deck.
Scene 13: The Bridge: then The Promenade ("B") Deck, The Saloon ("D") Deck, The Middle ("F") Deck; The First Class Smoke Room and The Crow's Nest.

Act 2

Scene 1: First, Second, Third Class Corridors, and The Bridge.
Scene 2: The First Class Grand Salon.
Scene 3: ("E") Deck: A Stairwell.
Scene 4: The Boat Deck.
Scene 5: The Radio Room.
Scene 6: At the Lifeboats.
Scene 7: Portholes.
Scene 8: The Upper Promenade ("A") Deck.
Scene 9: The First Class Smoke Room.
Scene 10: The Aftermath. The Decks: Boat Deck: The Bridge, the Radio Room, the Life Boats
Upper Promenade (A) Deck: First Class Promenade, First Class Reading and Writing Room, First Class Smoke Room Promenade (B) Deck: First Class Promenade Upper (C) Deck: Second Class Promenade Saloon (D) Deck: First Class Dining Saloon; Second Class Promenade Main (E) Deck: Second Class Cabins Middle (F) Deck: Third Class Dining Saloon; Third Class Promenade Lower (G) Deck: Third Class (Steerage) Dormitories Orlop (H) Deck: Boiler Room #6

Musical Numbers:

ACT 1

  1. Prologue: In Every Age - Thomas Andrews
  2. The Launching: How Did They Build Titanic? - Frederick Barrett
  3. There She Is - Frederick Barrett, Harold Bride, Frederick Fleet
  4. Loading Inventory - Captain Smith, Stevedores, Ship's Personnel
  5. The Largest Moving Object - J. Bruce Ismay, Captain Smith, Thomas Andrews
  6. I Must Get On That Ship - Herbert J. Pitman, Second and Third Class Passengers
  7. The First Class Roster - Herbert J. Pitman, Alice Beane
  8. Godspeed Titanic - The Company
  9. Barrett's Song - Frederick Barrett
  10. What a Remarkable Age This Is! - Henry Etches, Staff and First Class Diners
  11. To Be a Captain - William Murdoch
  12. Lady's Maid - Kate McGowan, Kate Murphey, Kate Mullins, Steerage
  13. The Proposal - Frederick Barrett
  14. The Night Was Alive - Harold Bride
  15. Hymn - The Company
  16. Doing the Latest Rag - Joseph Bell, Robert Hitchens, Joseph Boxhall, Company
  17. I Have Danced - Alice Beane, Edgar Beane
  18. No Moon - Frederick Fleet, Company
  19. Autumn - Joseph Bell

ACT 2

  1. Wake up, Wake up! - Henry Etches, Stewards, Company
  2. Dressed in Your Pajamas in the Grand Salon The Company
  3. The Staircase - Jim Farrell, Kate McGowan, Kate Murphey, Kate Mullins
  4. The Blame - J. Bruce Ismay, Thomas Andrews, Captain Smith
  5. Getting in the Lifeboat - John B. Thayer, Marion Thayer
  6. I Must Get on That Ship (reprise) - William Murdoch, Charles Lightoller, Henry Etches, Bellboy, Passengers
  7. Lady's Maid (reprise) - Jim Farrell
  8. Canons - Company
  9. The Proposal (reprise) - Frederick Barrett
  10. The Night Was Alive (reprise) - Harold Bride
  11. We'll Meet Tomorrow - Charles Clarke
  12. Still - Isidor Straus, Ida Straus
  13. To Be a Captain (reprise) - Henry Etches
  14. Mr. Andrews' Vision - Thomas Andrews
  15. In Every Age (reprise) - The Company
  16. Finale - The Company

Discography:

Original Broadway Cast Recording - RCA Victor 09026-68834-2