Theater Review—

Musicals At Richter’s Latest Is A ‘Titanic’ Feat

Oh they were not far from England, and they were not far from shore

When the rich refused to associate with the poor

So they put them down below, where they’d be the first to go

It was sad, when the great ship went down.

             —old camp song

By Julie Stern

DANBURY — Maury Weston’s musical version of the disastrous maiden voyage of the “greatest ship that was ever built” won a bunch of Tonys in 1997, and now Musicals at Richter has taken on the ambitious challenge of staging that show.

Veteran director Bradford Blake, working with a cast of more than three dozen performers, 22 scenes and 35 musical numbers has accomplished a “titanic” feat.

In contrast to James Cameron’s movie blockbuster, which focuses almost exclusively on the star-crossed Jack and Rose, the play is far more of a historical period piece which plays up the contrasts that exist between the three distinct social classes of passengers: Not only does the passenger list contain a large number of famous American millionaires, as well as impoverished Irish laborers hoping for a better life in the New World, but it also has a “second class” for those genteel members of the middle class who are “above” the workers, but are not accepted by – or can’t afford to mingle with – the wealthy.

Then there is the tension between the excitement of modernity – the newest, fastest ship, equipped with the latest in radio technology – and an aging captain’s adherence to the values of an earlier time, when the naked eye was the most reliable resource.

Built in Belfast, Ireland, in 1912, Titanic was enormous for its time: eleven stories high and a quarter of a mile long. The set uses a clever arrangement of scaffolds to give a schematic suggestion of a ship, first as seen from the Southampton dock as it prepares to leave for New York, and then in a cross-section, as the action moves between the various decks, the bridge, the dining saloon, and the boiler room.

With its many actors and short scenes the play relies heavily on pageantry, which gives it a certain static quality, which is accentuated by the persistent three-quarter beat oom pah pah character of the music, as if to replicate the steady thrum of the engines and lapping of the waves.

Stephanie Gaumer-Klein’s musical direction makes good use of the many fine singing voices at her disposal, however, and whether it is the navy-uniformed crew or the finely bedecked passengers, she has them all singing in a powerful and moving harmony as they celebrate the ship, dream of the future, or respond to the disaster.

Even with the multiplicity of scenes, the talent and experience of the performers comes through in  numerous deft and entertaining character sketches:

Bruce Tredwell, as the ship’s owner, harries the Captain (Greg McMahan) and his worried First Officer (Joseph Efferen) into continually pushing up the speed and ignoring ice warnings, in order to make headlines by reaching New York in record time.

Walt Cramer and Christina Balsama are the sentimental couple, Isador and Ida Straus, who made a fortune by founding Macy’s, and who, after forty years of marriage, would rather die together than be separated.

Priscilla Squiers and Matt Austin are appealing as the aristocratic young Caroline Neville, running off with her journalist lover, Charles Clarke, because her parents consider him socially beneath her.

Betsy Simpson is bold and delightful as the fiery Kate McGowan, heading to New York to become a lady’s maid, but needing to find a husband quickly, and she finds a prime candidate in the manly laborer Jim Farrell (Sean Josephs)

Jane Ryan does a fine comic turn as Alice Beane, the American storekeeper’s wife who stalks the first class precincts and  sniffs out millionaires so that she can tell her friends about it back home, while Eric Greenfeld is her long suffering husband.

Patrick Zaia gives a great double performance as Frederick Barrett, the romantic stoker, who makes use of the new telegraph to dictate a proposal to his sweetheart back home, and also plays the insufferable “Major” in a red fez, whose interminable accounts of his exploits in the old “Empire” are an effective distraction to cover up his manipulations at the Saloon card table.

Finally, Matthew Grills demonstrates that he has a truly beautiful voice as the lookout, Frederick Fleet, who stands alone up in the Crow’s nest and sees “No Moon.”

There are more talented cast members, but space here is limited. The show is visually beautiful, and as always, Dee Alexander’s costumes are an extra added treat to the whole mixture.

You will not go away humming memorable songs, and this is not a show to bring the children to, but history buffs should certainly enjoy it, and the production itself is an immense accomplishment.

(Performances wrap this weekend, and there are two opportunities left to see this majestic event. Remaining shows will be Friday and Saturday, July 28 and 29, and 8:30; grounds open earlier for picnics. Call 748-6873 for last-minute reservations or details.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 seniors, and $12 students/children, and can be purchased at the gate.)