Titanique – Criterion Theatre

Rob Houchen, Lauren Drew and Kat Ronney in Titanique at the Criterion Theatre, London. Picture: Mark Senior

Titanique continues at the Criterion Theatre, London until 8 June 2025.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

If you’re looking for a quick burst of bonkers, crazily camp musical theatre (packed with songs associated with one of pop music’s most beloved divas) to blow the winter blues away you could do worse than book a ticket for Titanique at London’s Criterion Theatre.

Tye Blue (who also directs), Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli’s ‘hysterical musical fantasia’, which has been a huge, award-winning hit Off-Broadway since it premiered in 2022, somehow manages to merge a zany spoof of the 11-time Oscar-winning blockbuster film Titanic with the back catalogue of Canadian superstar Céline Dion.

The premise of the show is an indication of how silly and random events will become. Céline surprises tourists during a Titanic museum tour to announce that she survived the sinking of the luxury passenger ship and wants to share her story of what really happened to Jack and Rose (as portrayed in the movie).

Other figures from the film – Molly Brown, Rose’s fiancé Cal and her mother Ruth – join in the adventures, although any distinctions between fact, fiction and farce soon evaporate, especially when Darren Bennett pops up as actor Victor Garber (rather than his big screen character, the ship’s architect, Thomas Andrews).

Darren Bennett, playing Garber, also portrays Jack’s Italian best friend who bears a close resemblance to Luigi from Mario Kart. See what I mean?

While there are probably a fair number of laughs to be had for audiences in general, it will be big fans/devotees of the Titanic movie, Céline, queer culture and musical theatre trivia who will enjoy it the most. And the references come thick and fast: from Newsies to Chicago, from Patti LuPone to Cynthia Erivo, from Taylor Swift to Dua Lipa. A RuPaul-style lip sync battle helps to decide who gets a place on the lifeboat.

There are nice nods to the change of location across the pond too, whether that be to EastEnders, or the famous ‘Heart of the Ocean’ necklace being purchased from Claire’s.

While the concept is clever, and the audience was in fits of laughter on the night I attended, the joke does begin to wear thin after a while and both the writing and direction are not really of the quality to sustain the whole one hour and 40 minutes (the length of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show might suit it more). Yes, it’s a piece that never takes itself too seriously, and revels in being silly, but to work effectively, the comic material must still resonate.

However, what does make an impression is the palpable chemistry that exists between the performers in this dream cast, every member of which gets full marks for perfect comic timing and first-class vocals.

Rob Houchen and Kat Ronney pull off all kinds of antics as Jack and Rose while still holding on to their characterisations amidst the chaos – and they sing up a storm. Jordan Luke Gage is, as usual, in good voice as Cal, although his talents are a little under-used on this occasion.

Charlotte Wakefield has great fun with the role of Molly and the number in which she harmonises with Rose and Céline is a standout. American actor and comedian Stephen Guarino, making his West End debut, squeezes every bit of comic potential out of Rose’s Gypsy-style mad, manipulative mother Ruth (the meltdown scene is quite something to behold) and Layton Williams almost stops the show in Tina Turner ‘Acid Queen’ mode as The Iceberg (Ellenore Scott’s choreography is worth a mention here too).

Best of all is Lauren Drew as Céline, capturing the essence of the Canadian pop queen while putting her own stamp on the role. She can switch between being the hostess, narrator, stand-up comic and pop icon, and when she’s not onstage, you can’t wait for her to return.

When Drew is given the freedom to mess with Houchen and Ronney, making them lip sync the words to an adlibbed scene, it is very funny. And her renditions of a whole string of pop classics, including the infamous ‘My Heart Will Go On’ (“I started to sing very well”), aren’t too shabby either.

Credit should also to the onstage band led by musical director Adam Wachter and the three vivacious backing singers: Adrianne Langley, Madison Swan and Rodney Vubya.

Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher’s design is quite basic – imagine the Six set but with a background reminiscent of a disco dance floor – but Paige Seber’s lighting design gives it a lift. Plus, scenes like the one when Jack and Rose get steamy in a car can’t help but make you giggle.

It’s an evening that doesn’t quite live up the hype but is likely to raise the spirits of many a theatregoer ready to embrace the manic musical mayhem of it all.

Lisa Martland