On a recent Tuesday night at the Daryl Ross Theater in Union Square, it was mid-30s outside, but on board hundreds of 30-somethings in sailor hats sipped “Iceberg” cocktails and drank Rizzo. I was obsessed with “juice”. Shimmering silver and blue tinsel hearts hang above the stage like disco balls.
Then the long-awaited woman arrived.
“That’s me, Celine Dion,” says Mara Mindell, co-writer and star of the “Titanic” musical parody show Titanic, shedding her black trash-bag cloak for a shimmering golden gown. The entrance from “Into the Woods”—and on his way to the stage to the waves of applause.
A sold-out crowd of 270 in tight green sequin dresses, black leather jackets and hot pink glasses gathered for a special performance to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1997 blockbuster film, Dion’s Set to hits from the catalog, the show has consistently been a hit since it opened in Chelsea’s Asylum NYC 150-seat basement theater in June, thanks to strong word of mouth and a devoted social media following. Sold out.
“The movie and Celine are still in the zeitgeist,” said Constantine Rozulli, who played Jack, the romantic male lead in “Titanic,” and who created the show alongside Mindel and Ty Blue, who also directs.
in the show won the praise With its campy tone, improvisational moments and energetic cast, ‘TiStaniques’ has cultivated a legion of fans, some of whom have watched the 100-minute show over a dozen times.
Ryan Bloomquist, 30, a Broadway marketer who has seen the show five times, said:
Unsinkable Celine Dion
The Canadian superstar captivates fans with octave-jumping songs like “Because You Loved Me” and “My Heart Will Go On.”
- Diagnosis of rare disorders: Celine Dion announced she had a neurological condition known as stiffness syndromewhich forced her to cancel and reschedule her planned 2023 tour dates.
- Quebec love continues: extraordinary gushing in quebec The words that greeted Dion’s announcement were indicative of how her fandom and ideas of national identity in her hometown had evolved.
- Perfect Professional: The pop divas at their 2020 concert in Brooklyn completely dominated her glorious voice —and the crowd gathered to bathe in it.
- loved by fans: Dion can count on some of the most loyal supporters in the industry. In return, she gives them everything.
Retelling the story of “Titanic” through Dion’s perspective and her music, “Titanic” is partially improvised and best enjoyed with a drink in hand. Act” and “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella”), and Rousouli (“Wicked”, “Hairspray”), 34, at a bar in Los Angeles, 2016.
Fellow “Titanic” fans, Ruzuri and Mindel became friends while performing dinner theater and pop parody musicals in Los Angeles. And now Rousouli had an idea: What if Dion’s song was used to make a “Titanic” parody of her musical, and the Canadian singer herself was a character in the show?
He thought, referring to the 1968 Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” that “she’s going to narrate the show like Joseph.” (It was during this same conversation, he said, that the idea for the trash bag entrance in the first scene was realized.)
Convinced they were onto something, Mindell and Luzuri teamed up with Blue, 42, an acquaintance from the Los Angeles dinner theater circuit, to write the script. ) was in charge of the arrangement and orchestration.)
“I never thought of myself as a writer,” Rousouli said earlier this month in a lively conversation with Mindel, Blue and Connell in the theater’s basement bar space. What was it like?’ and they kind of closed their eyes and suddenly there was a draft and they wrote this whole musical.’ They wrote their first book in a month and a half. , he said.
They kicked off their ongoing show with pop-up concerts at smaller venues around Los Angeles. 2017 and New York the following year. The first performances were bare bones, with no sets or costumes, and, according to Mindel, a “really bad” Dion accent in the opening recitation, but the audience loved them and many people liked him. or his third time.
After pandemic delays, they began the first fully staged production of “Titanic” at Asylum in June. It says. But by July, the show was sold out, thanks to social media buzz. Frankie Grande, who recently doubled as Jack’s friend Luigi and Canadian actor Victor Garber, also helped that she has a famous half-sister, Ariana. Shout out to the show After attending.
“Social media and word of mouth have been wildfire for us,” Mindell says.
Soon, celebrities came to see it, including Garber and Lloyd Webber, who played shipbuilder Thomas Andrews in the film.
“He looked at us and said, ‘You guys are all mad,'” said Rozulli, imitating Lloyd Webber and affecting a British accent. “I said, ‘Cool, thank you, we are.'”
When it moved to the massive Daryl Ross Theater in November, the production’s sleazy spirit remained. The show now features richer sound and about 100 additional seats.
“I was afraid I would lose my sense of intimacy and attraction,” Mindell said. “But we’re running in the audience all the time now. I can still make eye contact with people and I can touch everyone.”
Part of the appeal is that the 29-year-old musical actor said he had been to musical theater 13 times. He’s looking forward to seeing what Mindell does in his five-minute scene between Rose and Jack, which he improvises every night (some of his favorites: Falling toenails and , about riffing on Spam, a canned pork product).
“You can see that they’re changing things up a little bit each night and they’re having a blast,” he said.
“Sometimes it works really well and sometimes it doesn’t,” Mindel said.
“No, it is,” said Rousouli. “It always lands.”
Unlike Broadway musicals like “Wicked,” where the script doesn’t change after the show starts, Rousouli tweaks the show weekly, even daily, to capture pop culture moments and TikTok trends. I try to keep it up to date.A recent night featuring jokes Patti LuPone cardboard cutout caused a lot of laughter (“You can’t even be here, this is a union gig!”), and was first uttered by Jennifer Coolidge’s character in the season 2 finale of the HBO satirical film The White Lotus. Line (“These gays, they’re trying to kill me.”)
“People feel like they’re part of something special every night,” says Rousouli.
According to Mindel, one aspect of the show’s popularity that has been rewarding, if unintentional, is how LGBTQ audiences have embraced it. I had no idea I was writing,” said Mindell, who identifies as queer like Rousouli, Blue, and Connell. “It’s in our DNA and our sense of humor.”
Bloomquist, who is gay, said the show resonated with his personal experience. It’s like,’ he said.
The musical, which announced a fourth extension last week and continues to sell out most of its performances, is scheduled to close on May 14, but Mindell said it could be on the horizon for longer runs. said.
“I think the show could be like this song,” she said.