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Health & Fitness

Don't Miss Seeing Titanic, On Stage at Westchester Broadway Theatre

Titanic, a revival of a Broadway musical that ran for nearly two years, is playing at the Westchester Broadway Theatre (dinner-theater) in Elmsford. 

Don't miss it. It's that good. The show closes on February 24, 2014.

Watching Titanic is not the same as reading a suspenseful novel. For one thing, you know how the story will conclude. But don't let that discourage you from seeing this 2014 season-opener. 

The original 1997 show won five Tony's including one for Best Book (awarded in the case of this show for having dialog and lyrics that work so beautifully together). The recipient was the late Peter Stone.

In the show, what is sung is as much an integral part of the plot as is what is said. 

Lyrics and dialog are locked in sync as the story telling moves from a boiler-room stoker singing "How Did They Build Titanic" at the dock to the final number sung by blanket-clad survivors united on the deck of the rescue ship S.S. Carpathia. 

The action is brisk. Something compelling is always happening as crew and passengers begin to realize their unsinkable ship has been mortally wounded. 

In disbelief, J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star Line chairman, utters, "Not even God could sink the Titanic." 

The play recalls a great tragedy on the seas that took place more than one hundred years ago which makes for an absorbing history lesson.

But It also takes us to another time when class distinctions were so all-important and escape from third (working) class was more of a dream than a reality.

For a synopsis of the play, see "Titanic Musical Conveys a History Lesson: The Telegraph Might have Saved More Passengers,"   Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch, January 29, 2014.

Coverage of the show by Patch also appears in the following articles:

"Titanic, Revival of 1997 Broadway Musical, Will Open on January 16 at Westchester Broadway Theatre," Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch, January 6, 2014.
 
"Titanic, the Next Play to be staged at the Westchester Broadway Theatre, Brings Back Memories," Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow Patch, December 31, 2013.

Original cast member Don Stephenson, who played Charles Clarke in the 1997 New York City Broadway production of Titanic, is the director; the choreographer is Liza Gennaro, and Ian Weinberger is the musical director and conductor.

Drew McVety plays Henry Etches, Kate Walbye is Ida Strauss. Adam Heller plays J. Bruce Ismay, the closest the show has to a villain, who repeatedly pressures the captain to increase speed.
 
The cast also includes Donna English as Alice Beane, Phillip Hoffman as Edgar Beane, William Parry as Captain Smith, Tom Hewitt as Thomas Andrews and Jeremy Ellison Gladstone as Marconi wireless operator Harold Bride.
"Ragtime The Musical' will debut on February 27 and run on Thursdays through Sundays until May 4.

Westchester Broadway Theatre, 1 Broadway Plaza (175 Clearbrook Road), Elmsford. Box office: (914) 592-2222

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