By ROGER SMITH
Star Beacon
July 16, 2008 06:39 pm
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MADISON — Without a doubt, Rabbit Run’s current production of “Titanic, the Musical” can stand up to any “Titanic” production anywhere. Simply put, it is one of the finest musicals in northeast Ohio this summer.
Directed by Brint Learned, this show boasts voices that blend well or stand alone, choreography that is well designed and well executed, and costumes that bespeak April 1912. The orchestra of nine musicians, under the direction of Joseph Hollings, is outstanding.
Usually in the printed program that accompanies a musical production, there is a listing of songs and their singers. Because “Titanic” is presented much like an opera, and because there is much back and forth between/among actors, a prepared order of songs is virtually impossible.
I remember the days of Rabbit Run Theater when there were 40 or so people on stage just standing around because of limited space. The staging of this production causes every character to have a purpose for being there, and the choreography lends itself to realism.
The costumes in “Titanic” were well researched and well constructed; it was like stepping into a time machine and being whisked back 100 years.
Wonderfully staged on a ship whose designers wanted it to be a floating city, the atmosphere and ambiance are enhanced by the overhead electronic display of photographs of real life passengers and crew of the Titanic.
There was no time in the evening that I saw any actor out of character; each one was professional in his presentation. A cursory reading of cast/crew biographies in the program explains why this is such an outstanding production: diversity of acting/singing experience.
Tickets for this show should be at a premium. “Titanic, the Musical” runs tonight, Saturday and Sunday and Thursday through July27 at the old barn theater on Chapel Road in Madison. Curtain time is 8 p.m. The box office phone number at RRT is 440-428-7092.
All who wander are not lost.
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Photos
Without a doubt, Rabbit Run’s current production of “Titanic, the Musical” can stand up to any “Titanic” production anywhere. Simply put, it is one of the finest musicals in northeast Ohio this summer.