"Titanic - The Musical: First Two Nights

Things are going swimmingly! (ha! ha!)

Considering everything, we are off to an excellent start. The stage issues have been resolved, to the extent that serious difficulties are increasingly remote, and maybe statistically improbable. As Michael McElroy notes, the stage is not loaded when it is moving, and blocks are positioned to carry the weight when the stage is stopped, so any chance of breaking cables is remote. In addition, the strengthening of the rear coupled timber with nails and steel plates went well, so trouble there is now highly unlikely.

Robert Rehmus is the best kind of Stage Manager: paranoid about making everything work right, serious and dedicated, with safety as top priority number one, even above the show itself.

There were some light programming difficulties the first night, some prop problems, and actors were dropping lines (myself included). But not bad - I've certainly seen worse. The biggest set flaw was not getting enough of the right kind of chairs, so we ended up with white plastic chairs in the dining salon. If they had had white plastic chairs in 1912, they would have been very popular marvels on board the Titanic, but they didn't actually have them, to our discomfort.

Interestingly, the Crow's Nest seems to be among the most-popular innovations of the entire show. This is the Mark II version of the Crow's Nest: Mark I, which Michael once described as 'the bane of my existence' was mercifully cannibalized - the 'Dream of Progress' realized.

Second night (tonight), I nearly got into serious trouble, right off the bat. In the opening scene, I apparently was staring directly into a light, so when I turned to make my exit, I was utterly lost, bereft of all bearings in the darkness. I took a step off a platform without knowing where I was. Fortunately, the surface below was flat and even, so no harm.

Some minor problems: Rich Kulmann made a late entrance (places may not have been called at the top of Act II); 'Murdoch' froze, 'Lightoller' scrambled geographic coordinates. Steve believes 'To The Lifeboats' still isn't intense enough. But the cart scene went well!

I've been hearing lots of good reactions to 'Edgar' and 'Alice'. It's a distinct pleasure working opposite Lauren McElroy: her sharp focus contrasts well to my pixellated blur, and helps sustain our couple-at-cross-purposes act. For 'Edgar' and 'Alice', it's good we look at things from different perspectives. Lauren really hams it up in 'The Latest Rag,' shamelessly stealing focus and hearts.

Time to recoup for tomorrow's matinee!