Titanic (musical)

Titanic: The Musical won the Tony Award for Best Musical of the 1997 season.

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Book by Peter Stone with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston.

Related Topics:
Peter Stone - Maury Yeston

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The show began previews with major technical troubles, but became a surprise hit. Many credit at least part of the show's success to former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell who championed the show, playing excerpts from the original cast album on her show and giving away tickets to members of her studio audience. Broadway pundits and theatre wags began dissing the show from the moment it was announced, considering the story to be impossible to musicalize and impossible to stage in a live theater.

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The lobby of the Lunt-Fontanne theatre in New York, where the show premiered, was redecorated for the production: the complete passenger list of the Titanic was painted on the walls, noting those who ultimately survived the disaster.

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The book took many historical liberties, including changing who lived and died, but audiences found the show and the score to be both moving and enjoyable. The original cast included Victoria Clark, Brian D'Arcy James, Michael Cerveris, David Garrison, John Cunningham, and Jennifer Piech. Surprisingly, the production toured the United States after closing on Broadway, followed by several other tours with non-Equity performers. A Dutch production (European premiere) was also highly successfull, and produced an original cast recording (sung in Dutch) as a companion to the original Broadway cast recording on RCA Records.

Related Topics:
Victoria Clark - Brian D'Arcy James - Michael Cerveris - David Garrison - John Cunningham - Jennifer Piech - Broadway - RCA Records

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Orchestrator Jonathan Tunick won the first-ever Tony Award for Best Orchestration for his work on Maury Yeston's score.

Related Topics:
Jonathan Tunick - Tony Award

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