ArtsATL: When Brian Clowdus sits down to offer a preview of Titanic: The Musical at Serenbe Playhouse (July 11–August 12), his body language mirrors the action measure for measure. Demonstrative by nature, his eyes widen and narrow at turns. The pitch and volume of his voice fluctuate to either heighten the drama or drive home the pain. He will lean in and rear back in his seat for emphasis. His voice breaks on occasion. And he speaks not only with his hands — but with his arms. His shoulders. His entire being.
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I wowed when I clicked on the article and saw the picture of the wonderful set design. I bet anyone will be stunned at the first sight, seeing such a gigantic spectacle on stage. It is nearly immersive in some ways when the set is literally in water. However, even though I am fond of the design, I am not a fan of producing Titanic the Musical in such a literal way. I found Titanic a powerful musical because it focuses on the passengers on the ship rather than the ship itself. When the stage is designed into pieces of locations on the ship, the people are emphasized. The set supports to portray the passengers' thoughts, emotions, and personalities, helping the audience to go deep into their own stories which were eclipsed by the ship and the romance on the big screen. On the contrary, Serenbe Playhouse's set design shifts the attention on the people to the object. This kind of ensemble cast show, like Titanic and Come From Away, the function of the set should be focused more on supporting the characters and the story instead of creating visual spectacle.
After reading this article all I want to do is go see this show. It is absolutely insane how much thought has gone into the set design for this musical and from the looks of it in the article, it is stunning. It took me a while to realize that they were actually performing this on real water and that the boat will eventually sink. The fact that the boat sinks makes me wonder on how deep the pool that they are using is and how do they make the boat sink in a way that it is reusable from show to show, because it would be downright stupid if they had to use a new boat for each show. I also think its great how the director is ok with an actor crying on stage making their singing not quite as good but will make the performance that much more moving.
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