Titaníque Reviews at the Criterion Theatre in London [Updated]

"Celine Dion, an iceberg and a demented jukebox musical"

"This show at the Criterion in London raids the Canadian singer’s hits and rises to the challenge of delivering a script that turns the madness up to 11 and beyond"

"Camp can be a treacherous element... For the first ten minutes of this Hollywood spoof, already a cult hit off-Broadway, I thought we might be heading down the same blind alley.... But then, something remarkable happened. The director and co-writer Tye Blue oversees a hyperactive production that gathers pace until it reaches hurricane tempo."

"It’s Airplane! with a musical theatre twist."

"Cameron’s yarn, full of briny bombast, may be an easy target, but the in-jokes are exquisitely delivered. So too are the songs, driven by a trim band led by the musical director Adam Wachter."

"Drew is a quite astonishing mixture of OTT vocalising and girl-next-door folksiness. Without wishing to give away too many plot twists, I’ll add that Layton Williams makes the transition from playing a louche sailor to a stunningly convincing facsimile of a raging Tina Turner."

"Darren Bennett, Jordan Luke Gage and Charlotte Wakefield — who gets a peach of a solo number in All By Myself — all have their moments too."

"Titanic fun...with Celine's doppelganger"

"The siren call of Celine Dion is very great. The queen of power ballads' tooth-loosening vibrato and enamel-melting schmaltz could even pose a danger to shipping. But do not let that stop you from booking your passage on this musical spoof of James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic."

"Astonishing Welsh Celine doppelganger Lauren Drew hijacks a guided tour at the sunken ship's visitor centre to tell the 'true' (as in delusional) story of how she survived the famous wreck. Fuelled by Celine top tunes, what follows is 100 minutes of cast-iron, ocean-going hysteria on the high Cs."

"... Kat Ronney damn-near steals the show from under Celine's flaring nostrils with a glorious turn as Rose. Ronney is a sensational actor, with big believing eyes, a whopping warble in songs like To Love You More, and deliciously lewd instincts in her steamy sex scene number Because You Loved Me (featuring a plastic aubergine)."

"But if you ask me, it has the mass appeal to run for months, even years. Titanique? C'est fantastique!"

"Get on board with this outrageous Celine Dion parody"

"This wilfully schlocky spoof of James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster may be the show we need right now"

"God knows we all need cheering up right now: and this archly camp spoof of James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, repeatedly interrupted by the songs and the presence of an air-punching, faux-modest Celine Dion, might be the show to do it. It comes from the American school of wilfully schlocky, sloppy gay parody, packed with pop culture references, always seemingly on the brink of hysteria and collapse."

"There are countless filthy jokes, sideswipes at other musicals including Sunset Blvd and The Devil Wears Prada, and an extended, digressive pastiche of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The most prominent insertion though is Drew’s hilarious Dion. Dressed in a sparkling, slash-thighed frock and matching pants, she hunkers down to a succession of the singer’s power ballads like a prop entering a scrum."

"Houchen’s Jack is a little insipid and off-key but Ronney has a fine voice and a natural comedian’s knack of playing every scene dead straight."

"... this gorgeous, bijou, inside-out wedding cake of a theatre seems to work best as a home for anarchic parodies, from The 39 Steps to Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of). Let’s hope Titanique floats here."

"You don’t have to be gay to enjoy this but a thorough grounding in musical theatre and an extensive collection of Judy Garland albums would undoubtedly enhance your experience."

"Not so much a musical as an inflated high school revue stuffed with jokes, songs and references to pop culture both ancient and modern, it is a rude, raucous, often hysterically funny and sometimes tiresome pastiche/parody of James Cameron’s movie and Celine Dion’s songs."

"In spite of its relative brevity it does seem to go on and on – a joke done years ago in a French and Saunders sketch. Yet it is played by a sterling cast and a superb band that even the conspicuous absence of plot and the rubbish set fade beneath the tsunami of innuendos, jokes, stonking musical and dance numbers"

"Jordan Luke Gage is an engagingly slick Cal, Charlotte Wakefield an almost unsinkable Molly Brown, and Layton Williams virtually stops the show as The Iceberg aka Tina Turner. The year’s first squeal-a-long-a-musical."

"A deliriously silly musical spoof"

"Mischievous show at London’s Criterion features a 150-year-old Céline Dion and an iceberg in the form of Tina Turner"

"... this delirious musical spoof (which first emerged in 2017 in LA and has since docked around the world, including off-Broadway). Working from the mad premise that the French-Canadian singer was actually aboard the doomed vessel, along with a sack-load of her hits, Titanique sets sail with crazed bravado and, happily, arrives at its destination."

"It’s all outrageous, epically silly and ridiculously over the top, combining jukebox musical logic with Airplane!-style parody and sprinkling oodles of sequins on top."

"It’s nearly sunk in places by its cargo of insistent one-liners and heavyweight double entendres and as satire goes, it sticks firmly to the shallows. But by the end, the cumulative effect is irresistible, especially when delivered by a cast so sharply on their game and possessed of such blazing voices."

"A riotous voyage with Céline Dion"

"The Céline Dion parody jukebox musical is on its maiden London voyage"

"A new year, and a new jukebox musical sails in from New York where it has enjoyed considerable cult success. Far from generating a sinking feeling, however, Titanique is a show with such a warm, giddy heart that it feels mean to offer it anything except the fairest of voyages."

"Written by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and director Tye Blue, it is quite frankly, riotously absurd. But it’s also endearing. And although neither quite as clever or hilarious as it sets out to be, it is so strongly sung and energetically performed under the direction of Blue and the musical direction of Adam Wachter, that it is impossible not to have a good time."

"It’s a hot mess of a show but it’s January and I am feeling generous with my star rating. It wasn’t totally a night to remember, but it’s not one to forget either."

"Camp musical sails into silliness with Céline Dion onboard"

"It goes on and on but this madcap spoof of the blockbuster film has a sparkling cast, including Lauren Drew as Dion and Layton Williams as the iceberg"

"You might come close to preparing yourself for this madcap musical fantasia which has fetched up from off-Broadway to reprise (ruin?) the love story between Rose (Kat Ronney) – who is engaged to rich Cal (Jordan Luke Gage), with Grindr on his phone – and the poor artist Jack (Rob Houchen). Hysterical, knowingly corny and as frothy as sea foam, Tye Blue’s production has a fantastically brash, devil-may-care spirit and sparkling performances. But it comes to feel like an overstretched joke – it is played straight through at 90 minutes."

"Layton Williams sings and dances in various parts with aplomb including best of all the iceberg, reborn as Tina Turner, who later begins to impersonate RuPaul – those onboard the sinking Titanic really do have to lip-sync for their lives."

"This venue has brought shows with a fringe spirit to the West End before and Titanique is very much in that vein: a big queer cabaret with renegade energy. Outre and amped up to 11 in pace and humour, it is billed as “camp chaos.” That’s an understatement."

"An enjoyably bonkers pastiche to beat the winter blues"

"This oddball off-Broadway hit collides a giddy spoof of the 1997 blockbuster Titanic with the discography of Celine Dion"

"Archness is the order of the day, the brisk, interval-free affair (with book by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue, the latter directing) trading on the best-known tropes and scenes, avid for cheap, camp shots."

"Theatre of the absurd, then, one deck above glorified panto. My enthusiasm sank as the disconnect between mirth and tragedy became inescapable; it’s droll to see Ronney bobbing about with a door strapped to her back, but little more than that. Equally, on its own terms, guying epic cinema with a shoestring theatricality, it’s hard to fault. But perhaps the funniest thing about the evening is that it almost leaves you wanting to see a straightforward (non ship-of-fools) musical simply utilising Dion’s discography; it might just work a treat too."

"Relentlessly funny"

"Camp and chaotic musical burlesque of the movie Titanic that hits all the right notes"

"The book affectionately lampoons many aspects of the movie, and the authors present a cheerfully amplified version of Dion, brought to vivid life by a vivacious Lauren Drew. Head to heels in silver sequins, sporting a convincing blonde wig and slightly less convincing French-Canadian accent, Drew is the powerhouse that drives the show."

"The show plays out like an extended Saturday Night Live sketch, and occasionally threatens to outstay its welcome. It is saved, however, by madcap character twists, an improvisational approach to the comedy and some fantastic voices."

"There’s little to disguise the fact that this is essentially a fringe show, from its tinsel-and-sequin Heart of the Ocean motif hanging above the stage to Alejo Vietti’s dressing-up box approach to the costume design. But it’s relentlessly funny, sitting comfortably in a West End dotted with fringe shows that have found and maintained a larger audience."

"Titanique is a camp, chaotic Titanic Parody"

"The infectiously silly musical celebrates and sends up the film - and Céline Dion"

"The panto season is over, oh yes it is, but this doesn’t mean that all frolics and camp chaos need be banished from our theatres in the stark month of January. Just when audiences might require a peppy artistic pick-me-up, in sails this “splash hit” from off-Broadway, a loving musical parody of the film Titanic and its songstress supreme, Céline Dion."

"Let’s be clear: Titaníque is not the most heteronormative show you will ever see. Liberally suffused with references to Ru Paul’s Drag Race – director and co-writer Tye Blue was a longstanding member of that programme’s casting team – in New York it has attracted a boisterous and predominantly gay crowd, many of whom wear sailor hats in tribute to the (naughty) nautical theme. As the New York Times put it, this is a piece of theatre “best enjoyed with a drink in hand”."

"The cast is ebullient and has fun in an improvised section by riffing on the film of Wicked. I was by turns amused and bewildered, but I did not constitute the optimum audience demographic."

"This off-Broadway ‘Titanic’ parody is a night to remember thanks to Lauren Drew’s sensationally ludicrous Celine Dion impersonation"

"While the RMS Titanic proved to be all too sinkable, this titanically camp musical spoof of the James Cameron film should sail on for quite some time."

"... Titanique is basically a cabaret-style parody that marries the considerable kitsch appeal of the 1997 film with that of its true star – Quebecois singing icon Celine Dion, forever associated with the movie thanks to ubiquitous power ballad My Heart Will Go On."

"The show’s undoubted masterstroke is making Dion the main character. Although clearly standing on the shoulders of previous US performers, Lauren Drew is sublime as the Canadian chanteuse."

"Take Drew out of the equation and you have a decent cabaret show with a few extremely fun performances, notably Layton Williams as the iceberg, who is also Tina Turner (don’t ask), and US performer Stephen Guarino, entertaining as Rose’s embittered mother Ruth. Conceptually, however, nothing else is in the league of the Dion character, though, and while Kat Ronney and Rob Houchen as Titanic protagonists Rose and Jack have impressive voices, they don’t have a lot to get their teeth into, comically speaking."