Titanic opens week of disaster’s anniversary

8:43am Friday 28th March 2008

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AN AWARD-winning musical about the fate of RMS Titanic is being staged by Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society (WODS).

WODS will perform the show, based on the story of the luxury liner that sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York, at the Swan Theatre next month and the am-dram group is confident it has a winner on its hands.

Titanic picked up five Tony awards, including those for best musical and best score, when it opened on Broadway in 1997.

This production, which opens the day after the 96th anniversary of the disaster, is being directed by Philip Beeson from Evesham.

He said: Being voted best musical is the ultimate accolade, so that must say something about how good it is. You can't get better than that. It is the score that sets it aside as being a great piece of theatre. It is very atmospheric and moving. But don't go along thinking that it will be just like the film, which is based on a made-up story featuring Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio. The musical takes a different storyline and is truer to the facts. It features the lives of real people involved in the disaster. Each actor takes the name of a person who was on the Titanic and who either died when it sank or lived to tell the tale.

We have a cast of about 45 and a 12-strong orchestra. There is no overall central character. It centres on the relationship between the captain, the liner's owner and its designer.

It's not all doom and gloom. It is moving and uplifting. We are not going to be sending the audience out in tears."

Titanic is at the Swan from Wednesday, April 16, to Saturday, April 26. For tickets call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611427.