Why Has 'Titanique' Become a Queer Theater Sensation?

The from the scrappy, ground-up, queer theater sensation is nothing new in New York. A generation ago, both Charles Ludlam and Charles Busch worked in small, out-of-the-way venues on works that became sensations. For many gay New Yorkers, Busch's "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom" became a most welcome comedy antidote during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, moving from an art gallery in the far-from-gentrified East Village neighborhood called Alphabet City to a cozy Greenwich Village theater when it ran for five years.

Given the economy of New York theater today, such start-ups appear to be more rare, but one that is settling in for a long run is "Titanique," a parody musical based on the James Cameron film that features both Celine Dion as a character and her songs as its score. "Since opening at Asylum NYC's 150-seat basement theater in Chelsea in June, thanks to strong word of mouth and a passionate social media following, the show has been consistently sold out," writes the New York Times in profiling the show.

Likely due to its campy nature, it has caught on with LGBTQ audiences. "I never thought that we were writing something inherently so queer," one of the show's creators Marla Mindelle, 38, tells the Times.
"It's just intrinsic in our DNA and our sense of humor." Mindelle, a Broadway veteran "Sister Act" and "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella," plays Dion in the show.

"Titanique" came about when Mindelle and actor/writer Constantine Rousouli, 34, were performing in dinner theater musical parodies in Los Angeles in 2016. He had an idea, the Times writes, What if they did a 'Titanic' parody musical – using Dion's songs – and made the Canadian singer herself a character in the show? Rousouli is also a veteran of several Broadway shows, including "Wicked" and "Hairspray," plays the role of Jack in the parody.

He said he thought of including Dion as a character in the show. "She's just going to narrate the show like 'Joseph,'" referring to the 1968 Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." And at that meeting they came up with Dion's entrance, one that has her dressed in a garbage bag that stripped away to reveal her in a shimmering gold gown (a nod to the Witch's entrance in "Into the Woods.")

The pair reached out to Ty Blue, 42, another acquaintance from the LA theater circuit, to work on the script. Six weeks later they had something and brought music supervisor Nicholas Connell, 35, to do the arrangements and orchestrations. They worked the show out in pop-up concerts in Los Angeles in 2017, followed by some in New York the next year. Despite no sets and a sense of a work-in-progress, audiences loved it.

The pandemic delayed a full production, which took place this past June at the Asylum with Frankie Grande in the dual role of the role played in the film by Victor Garber. But it had a slow start. It wasn't until Grande's famous sibling, Ariana, gave the show a shout-out after attending. After that, other celebrities, including Garber and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber came to the show. "He looked at us and he goes, 'You're all mad,'" Rousouli tells the Times, affecting a British accent in imitation of Lloyd Webber. "I said, 'Cool, thanks, we are.'"

In November, the show moved to the larger (by 100 seats) Daryl Roth Theater when it consistently sells out with many return visitors, called "TiStaniques," some of whom have seen the 100-minute show more than a dozen times, adds the Times.

"It's filled with so much joy and heart and just dumb fun," said Ryan Bloomquist, 30, who works in Broadway marketing and has seen the show five times.

One reason why it may never get boring for some is that it is never the same twice with scenes improvised nightly and a script updated often daily to be very in the moment. "On a recent night, a joke featuring a Patti LuPone cardboard cutout drew loud laughs ("You can't even be here, this is a union gig!"), and a line originally uttered by Jennifer Coolidge's character in the Season 2 finale of the HBO satire "The White Lotus" ("These gays, they're trying to murder me."), now spoken by Russell Daniels performing in drag as Rose's mother, received a mid-show standing ovation."

"People feel like they're part of something special every night," Rousouli said.

Bloomquist, who is gay, said the show resonated with his personal experience. "Everything that's coming out of the show's mouth, you're like 'Oh my God, this is just how I speak with my friends,'" he said.

The musical, which announced its fourth extension last week and continues to sell out a majority of its performances, is set to close May 14, but Mindelle said an even longer run may be in the cards. "I think the show has the potential to be much like the song," she said. "We hope it will go on and on and on."