To say the first preview performance of Titan\u00edque<\/em> was a success would be putting it mildly\u2014at least according to costars and cocreators Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli. \u201cLast night it was like people were on meth,\u201d a giddy Rousouli tells me. Between bites of a protein bar, Mindelle doubles down on the electricity that coursed through the theater during their first Broadway preview, which received a whopping five standing ovations. \u201cMy friend was like, \u2018You should have given everyone cocaine,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018No one needed cocaine. They were already completely on drugs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The best friends are recounting the unforgettable evening to me as we sit in Mindelle\u2019s teal dressing room backstage at the 1,700-seat St. James Theatre, where Titan\u00edque<\/em> has recently docked for a 16-week limited run. The pair\u2019s cult-hit musical, which they cowrote and cocreated with director Tye Blue, has made a magnificent voyage over the last decade, one that has seen Mindelle, Rousouli, and company perform their gonzo musical comedy at a dinner theater in Los Angeles, in the bowels of a former Upright Citizens Brigade basement theater, and on the West End in London. But unlike the show\u2019s namesake ship, Titan\u00edque<\/em> has managed to make it to its final destination: Broadway.<\/p>\n Constantine Rousouli and Melissa Barrera<\/span>Photographer Emilio Madrid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A word-of-mouth downtown hit, Titan\u00edque<\/em> bears more than a passing resemblance to another buzzy show that made it to Broadway, the Tony-winning Oh, Mary!<\/em> Both projects take a particularly tragic moment in the nation\u2019s history\u2014in this case, the sinking of the Titanic<\/em>\u2014and tell the story from a different, kookier perspective. But unlike its Broadway predecessor, Titan\u00edque<\/em> has more than just American history to mine for comedy\u2014it also lampoons James Cameron\u2019s 1997 Oscar-winning blockbuster, Titanic,<\/em> starring a young Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as star-crossed lovers Rose and Jack. As if that weren\u2019t enough, Titan\u00edque<\/em> also dares to ask this question: What if C\u00e9line Dion, the iconic French Canadian chanteuse who sang the movie\u2019s timeless anthem, \u201cMy Heart Will Go On,\u201d were actually aboard<\/em> the Titanic<\/em> in 1912? And, what\u2019s more, what if Jack and Rose\u2019s fictional love story were set to Dion\u2019s inimitable catalogue, which includes but is not limited to certified adult-contemporary bops like \u201cTaking Chances,\u201d \u201cI Surrender,\u201d and \u201cAll by Myself\u201d? With that hyperspecific, insanely stupid premise, Titan\u00edque<\/em> set sail.<\/p>\n Of course, an idea this profoundly dumb (which, in this case, is a compliment) could only be conceived under the influence of alcohol. \u201cWhen this idea came to be, we were drunk at a bar,\u201d says Mindelle, who plays Dion as an omniscient diva narrator. \u201cMaking each other laugh. We were miserable in 2016,\u201d adds Rousouli, who stars as Jack, iconically played by a young DiCaprio. Tried-and-true theater kids, Mindelle and Rousouli had already ascended to theater\u2019s highest echelon by 2016. Mindelle had tread the Broadway boards in a revival of South Pacific<\/em> and had originated plum roles in Cinderella<\/em> and the Sister Act<\/em> musical, while Rousouli had taken his turn playing pretty boy Broadway roles like Link Larkin in Hairspray<\/em> and Fiyero in Wicked.<\/em> Still, like many hyperambitious, multihyphenate performers, Broadway wasn\u2019t enough. \u201cI got on Broadway, but then I was still always craving, like, God, I really want authority over my life and my career,\u201d shares Mindelle.<\/p>\n So, independently of each other, Mindelle and Rousouli moved to Los Angeles, where they both were convinced a fresh start in Hollywood would turn them into stars overnight. Hollywood had other plans. \u201cThat\u2019s where your dreams go to die,\u201d says Rousouli, referring to Los Angeles. Mindelle puts it another way: \u201cLA slapped me on the face so fucking hard. They were like, \u2018Sorry, diva girl!<\/em>\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While working at an LA dinner theater, the two struggling actors met Tye Blue, who was also living out his own Hollywood nightmare. \u201cI was casting reality TV shows and making okay money, but it was still very toxic and not making me feel good about my life,\u201d Blue tells me.<\/p>\n \u201cYou wake up and you\u2019re like, Hmm, I\u2019ve been here for five years and nothing\u2019s happened. I guess I should listen to somebody that says, \u2018You should create your own stuff,\u2019\u201d says Rousouli. \u201cAnd I was like, Fuck you.\u201d<\/p>\n Marla Mindelle<\/span>Photographer Emilio Madrid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Thankfully, Mindelle was already well-versed in creating her own stuff. For a certain type of gay boy with a musical-theater addiction and who had unfettered access to the internet as a teenager (a.k.a. me), Mindelle has been a household name for decades. In the aughts, Mindelle was musical-theater-YouTube-famous thanks to videos like \u201cMarla Mindelle – Colors of the Wind<\/a>\u201d and a performance of a cabaret<\/a> she wrote and starred in, showcasing her sharp wit, comedic fearlessness, and powerful and flexible mix belt. But while thousands of musical-theater fans online could see\u2014instantly, clearly\u2014that she was a star, Mindelle wasn\u2019t treated as such at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she studied in a prestigious BFA program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhen I was in college, that senior year, I was never cast in a role,\u201d says Mindelle. \u201cSo I was like, Well, then I\u2019m just gonna write my own thing. And the second I wrote something for myself, I was like, I don\u2019t think that I\u2019ll ever be handed opportunities. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever be that kind of person. I might have to do it for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n This time, she wasn\u2019t totally alone. Over meals of truffle fries and what they guess was imitation crab (\u201cIt was disgusting,\u201d Mindelle admits in hindsight), and with the aid of $75 and some drink tickets\u2014their payment for their work at the dinner theater\u2014Mindelle, Rousouli, and Blue got to work on making their own shows. \u201cI just needed something that I could focus on, that I could control in a way, that I could bring into existence,\u201d says Blue. \u201cI just carved out space in my free time on the weekends and on my nights off to bring this show to life.\u201d As they got to work, Mindelle, Rousouli, and Blue discovered that silly musical parodies of beloved films worked well in Los Angeles\u2014famously a movie town\u2014and crafted a number of shows based on the concept: musical spoofs of films like The<\/em> Devil Wears Prada, Cruel Intentions,<\/em> and Troop Beverly Hills.<\/em> (\u201cTroop<\/em> is ready [for Broadway],\u201d says Rousouli.) But it was their Titanic<\/em> parody musical, which was first officially performed at LA\u2019s Sorting Room theater as a one-night-only concert in December of 2017, that stuck.<\/p>\n Ironically, Titan\u00edque<\/em>\u2019s success in LA brought the trio right back to New York. In 2018 they put up a concert version of the show at The Green Room 42. Four years later, with the help of producer Eva Price, they put up an Off Broadway production of the show at\u2014where else?\u2014Asylum NYC, a theater located in the basement of a Gristedes, a New York City\u2013based supermarket.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the pandemic, we started off Broadway in the basement of a Gristedes with masks on the audience,\u201d Mindelle recalls. \u201cIt was grungy and dirty, and we\u2019re in a basement with rats and under Gristedes, and trash juice is on my face and there\u2019s 199 seats. It just felt like this intimate, incredible cult experience.\u201d After a couple of weeks in the basement, word of mouth exploded. Titan\u00edque<\/em> would go on to win the Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding musical, and Mindelle would win outstanding lead performer in a musical. In November 2022, the show moved to the 300-seat Daryl Roth Theatre, near Union Square, where it would run for nearly three years.<\/p>\n Soon, productions were popping up all over the world\u2014in Canada, Australia, Paris, you name it. Most notably, Titan\u00edque<\/em> made a reverse voyage across the Atlantic, finding harbor on London\u2019s West End, where it was nominated for three Olivier Awards, winning for best entertainment or comedy play and best actor in a supporting role in a musical.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mindelle is framed by her awards as we chat about the long and winding road of their little basement musical. The fact that Titan\u00edque<\/em> has now led Mindelle, Rousouli, and Blue back to Broadway is perhaps the funniest joke yet. \u201cI literally left New York in 2009, maybe, or maybe earlier. I just walked away from it because of some bad experiences that I had had. And I went to LA, and it was the same,\u201d says Blue. \u201cI\u2019m really glad to be back at my old stomping grounds and making magic on this scale, which is a very surreal thing to do every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Rousouli adds, \u201cI remember telling myself when I left in 2012\u2014I said, The only way I\u2019ll come back to New York City [is] if it\u2019s on my terms in this business.\u201d<\/p>\n Barrera and Rousouli<\/span>Photographer Emilio Madrid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Of course, Mindelle and Rousouli are only part of the equation that makes Titan\u00edque<\/em> sing. The glitzy Broadway cast is a mix of old and new actors, with Titan\u00edque<\/em> veterans Frankie Grande, John Riddle, and the Olivier Award\u2013winning Layton Williams starring opposite fresh faces like Grammy nominee Deborah Cox, four-time Emmy winner Jim Parsons, and Scream<\/em> star Melissa Barrera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt truly has been a fever dream,\u201d says Grande, who\u2019s been with the show since the Green Room 42 concert. The Broadway vet and reality TV star plays Victor Garber\u2014no, not Thomas Andrews, the Titanic<\/em> builder whom Garber plays in the movie, but literally the actor Victor Garber. Despite having been involved with the show for almost eight years, he\u2019s still adjusting to the new production. The two-week rehearsal period\u2014half the amount of time that a typical Broadway production gets\u2014was, for Grande, \u201cdisastrous.\u201d \u201cI know the show, but I don\u2019t know this version of the show with these people,\u201d Grande explains.<\/p>\n Having the new cast members \u201cchanges the molecules,\u201d says Riddle. He stars as Cal Hockley, Rose\u2019s wealthy fianc\u00e9, portrayed in the movie by Billy Zane. \u201cNow that we\u2019re performing it, I feel my newness to the situation more than maybe I [thought I would]. I still don\u2019t know it well enough yet,\u201d says Parsons, who stars as Rose\u2019s mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, played by Frances Fisher in the film.<\/p>\n John Riddle and Jim Parsons<\/span>Photographer Emilio Madrid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Others, like Williams, who won the Olivier for playing the dual roles of the Seaman and the Iceberg, are ready to show the world what they\u2019ve been cooking up for years now. \u201cWhen I invite people to see the show that have never seen it before, they\u2019re like, How the hell did he win an award for this? They waited an hour and 20 minutes to see the proof in the pudding.\u201d Let\u2019s just say, the pudding is delicious. \u201cI think Judi Dench has won awards for less,\u201d Parsons says of his costar.<\/p>\n For the golden-voiced Cox, who sang the international hit \u201cNobody\u2019s Supposed to Be Here\u201d and played Whitney Houston\u2019s character in the musical version of The Bodyguard,<\/em> \u201cit was very helpful to have some OGs in the room,\u201d she says. Cox plays the unsinkable Molly Brown, memorably portrayed by Kathy Bates in the movie. \u201cIt was great to feed off of their energy and their specificities, because they\u2019re very deliberate,\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Barrera hopped on a plane from Austin, Texas, where she lives, to audition for Titan\u00edque<\/em> in person, instead of logging on to Zoom for a tryout to play Rose DeWitt Bukater, famously brought to life by a young Kate Winslet. \u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to do theater, and being on Broadway has always been my biggest dream. I went to NYU for musical theater. That\u2019s what I envisioned my life being,\u201d says Barrera, who\u2019s making her Broadway debut in the production. \u201cI left the audition and I was like, This is what I\u2019m supposed to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Deborah Cox<\/span>Photographer Emilio Madrid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n The creators have done their best to tailor the show to the eclectic talent they have amassed. \u201cWe have the best singer on earth, Deborah Cox. We have the best comedian, Jim Parsons,\u201d says Mindelle. \u201cIt\u2019s like, how do we make it special for them? Let\u2019s keep the core of it, but let\u2019s change the jokes.\u201d The beauty of performing blissfully stupid comedy night after night is that no one can afford to take themselves too seriously. At the invite-only dress rehearsal I attend, everyone becomes the butt of the joke at some point\u2014whether that joke pertains to Grande and his pop star little sister, Ariana<\/a>; Parsons\u2019 Big Bang Theory<\/em> run; or Barrera\u2019s exit from the Scream<\/em> franchise<\/a>. In one section of the musical, Mindelle goes on an improv run that sees her, depending on the show, go on a tear about why Wicked: For Good<\/em><\/a> should have been called Wicked: For Gay<\/em> or what Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster<\/a>\u2019s wedding vows would be. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly like stand-up. Sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn\u2019t,\u201d says Mindelle. \u201cBut that\u2019s showbiz.\u201d<\/p>\n While some bits have been added and subtracted, the core of the show remains very much the same, and intentionally so. \u201cWe\u2019ve been nervous this whole time that these jokes are eight years old. Do they hold up?\u201d says Blue. \u201cWe did a revision for Broadway. Then we got into the studio and realized that everything that we had rewritten was shitty. And so rehearsals were literally just like, \u2018All right, revert back to the old version.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Another thing that hasn\u2019t changed is the show\u2019s downtown, put-up-a-play-in-your-mom\u2019s-basement energy. \u201cI know that people love our scrappiness,\u201d says Blue. \u201cThe fact that we were bold enough to do a big musical in a small way, the scrappiness came out of necessity.\u201d To boot, Blue and Rousouli handmade the original props out of materials they bought at Joann, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby. Many of those props, including but not limited to a large eggplant and a cardboard cutout of Patti LuPone, have made it to the current Broadway production. \u201cThat shit traveled in boxes and bags across the country,\u201d says Rousouli.<\/p>\n That can-do spirit is still at the center of Broadway\u2019s Titan\u00edque<\/em>. \u201cPeople loved it,\u201d says Blue. \u201cPeople, I think, see in those scrappy props, for example, an independent spirit and just a natural creative drive that found a way to make a show happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Layton Williams and Frankie Grande<\/span>Photographer Emilio Madrid<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n As much as Titan\u00edque<\/em> is about the film Titanic,<\/em> it\u2019s really about C\u00e9line Dion. Mindelle has been playing the legendary singer on and off for the better part of 10 years, and Dion is an almost godlike figure to her. While Dion hasn\u2019t made it to a Titan\u00edque<\/em> performance yet, her manager and publicist have. What would happen if the queen herself attended a Broadway performance of Titan\u00edque<\/em>?<\/p>\n \u201cMarla will shit and gag,\u201d says Rousouli.<\/p>\n \u201cOh my God. If she ever comes, I always say that I\u2019ll faint,\u201d says Mindelle. \u201cShe\u2019ll walk onstage, over my dead body, and the show will be exactly the same.\u201d She corrects herself. \u201cIt\u2019ll be even better.\u201d Rousouli laughs. \u201cShe won\u2019t even pick up the script,\u201d he says. Mindelle can\u2019t help but break into her Dion impression, now second nature for her. \u201cShe\u2019ll be like, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s go for a walk.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n They joke, but their devotion to Dion is very serious. Mindelle credits Dion with being one of the three pop divas who taught her how to sing, alongside Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. \u201cThat was my holy trinity,\u201d she says. The team is well aware that Dion hasn\u2019t had the easiest past decade. In January of 2016, her beloved husband, Ren\u00e9 Ang\u00e9lil, died at the age of 73. In 2022, Dion was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease, stiff-person syndrome, which led to her canceling shows and retreating from the public eye for a spell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know her, I\u2019ve never met her, but so many people in her orbit have come to see the show, and they say she would absolutely love this,\u201d says Mindelle. \u201cSo it is our goal to really, really let her legacy live on\u2014whether she\u2019s sick, whether she\u2019s healthy, it doesn\u2019t matter. For us, she is the greatest gift to this whole experience. She is what makes the show so good, because she has so much heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Titan\u00edque<\/em> is nothing if not a celebration of Dion\u2014her quirks, her eccentricities, and her massive talent. Despite her setbacks, Dion, much like Titan\u00edque,<\/em> has persevered due to her indomitable spirit, performing on the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony in 2024 and recently announcing a comeback concert series in the same city this September and October. \u201cThat\u2019s what we try to instill every night. We want you to feel love and joy,\u201d says Mindelle. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to take the piss out of her in any way, shape, or form, you know what I mean? She is an icon, she\u2019s a diva, she is the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether or not Dion makes it to the show, it\u2019s clear that Titan\u00edque<\/em> has struck a nerve with audiences. If it wasn\u2019t clear, that audience is primarily gay as hell. That isn\u2019t by accident: The show is largely composed of queer individuals both onstage and behind the scenes. \u201cQueer-produced, queer-designed, queer fucking primarily acted, queer-directed, queer-written show,\u201d says Grande proudly. \u201cAll the fucking way down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe did not set out to make a hyper-queer-inclusive musical,\u201d says Blue. \u201cWe were just a group of friends who have a similar voice, and that\u2019s just how it grew to be.\u201d Parsons puts it a different way. \u201cI always thought Broadway was one of the gayest places on earth,\u201d he says. But Titan\u00edque<\/em> taught him an important lesson: \u201cIt could level up.\u201d<\/p>\n Leveling up is something that Titan\u00edque<\/em> is used to\u2014going from its humble basement beginning to now playing on Broadway. Mindelle admits that she started crying after singing \u201cMy Heart Will Go On\u201d during the first preview. \u201cIt\u2019s been 10 years,\u201d Mindelle says, almost in disbelief. \u201cTo finally be standing in a Broadway house after all the highs and lows of being like, I don\u2019t think this will ever go to Broadway\u2026\u201d She takes a look around her dressing room. \u201cAnd now here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Titan\u00edque opens at the St. James Theatre on Sunday, April 12.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Don Lemon<\/a> Sure Sounds Like He Wants to Run for President<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Billionaire Clara Wu Tsai<\/a> Talks the WNBA\u2019s Next Chapter<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Forget Palm Beach. Wellington<\/a> Has Plenty of Wealth\u2014and All The Horses<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Prada Heir Lorenzo Bertelli<\/a> Hops Back Into His Racecar Seat to Give VF<\/em> a Spin<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Roger Goodell<\/a>\u2019s Hollywood Blitz: Why All the Other Moguls Have to Kiss the Ring<\/p>\n<\/li>\n![\"music](\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/69d7af2f70812a082dcc6c16\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Titanique-Exclusive-Images-Embed05.jpg\" "\\"music\\"")
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