I Think TITANIQUE is Perfect.

There are a few things to know about me before you read on:

1. I am a child of the 90s.

2. I was raised on the iconic music catalog of Celine Dion.

3. I very recently began watching Ru Paul's Drag Race.

4. I just saw TITANIQUE off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

5. I loved TITANIQUE off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

I genuinely don't know where to begin when talking about TITANIQUE, but I feel we must go for it!

In doing so, we must start with Marla Mindelle. The singing comedienne tour de force de French Quebec is the beating 'Heart of the Ocean' of this show. As the co-conceiver, co-writer, and star, her joy and spirit radiate in every beat and every punchline.

In a production where every factor of the 1997 James Cameron film is riffed upon (from the characters to the plot points to the physical iceberg itself), it is necessary that the audience is in on the joke from the jump. Entering the theatre in a menacing cloak and dramatically removing it to reveal herself as the iconique Celine Dion, we learn that not only is Ms. Mindelle/Ms. Dion our narrator for the evening, but that she was ON the Titanique all those years ago (making her over 100 years old). That's the level of absurd and suspension-of-disbelief that you need to fully take in TITANIQUE and enjoy it properly. If you want a retelling of the movie that you love? I think the film is back in theatres for the 25th Anniversary in 3D. Go see that and enjoy your movie. Then go see TITANIQUE anyway, but know that it won't be the movie. Either way? Go see TITANIQUE.

Using the hits of the Dion discography, we meet the characters we know - the lovers Jack and Rose, Rose's mother Ruth and fiance Cal, the unsinkable Molly Brown, and the Captain of Titanic, Victor Garber.

I wish that I could write about every joke, every gag, and every performance in this show, but I don't want to spoil the pure chaotic joy of seeing this show for the first time. I went into this show completely blind, knowing only that it was a musical parody of the Titanic film narrated by Marla Mindelle impersonating Celine Dion.

But it is so much more than that.

Titanique is so fun, and mindless, and entertaining, and dumb, and chaotic, and JOYFUL. I was crying tears of laughter, with those belly laughs that are rare and only come when you truly aren't thinking about how loud or boisterously you're laughing. When you don't even care that a little snort comes out, or that your neighbor in the seat next to you might be irritating by the SHAKING in your chair. It is escapism in the truest sense, and I can't remember the last time that I had that much carefree FUN in a theatre. There is a reason why this piece continues to transfer and extend off-Broadway, and remains a HIT through each extension. I already have plans to go back twice with two separate sets of friends that I KNOW will love it.

I suggest you imbibe in your vice of choice and get thee to TITANIQUE for a night of pure fun. You deserve it.

Here's the link for tickets. I did the work for you.

PS.

As an aside, Celine Dion's music is so inherently theatrical and dramatic in nature, I wonder how it has not been the catalog of a jukebox musical yet. "I Drove All Night" is arguably a perfect pop song and it should have been the biggest smash hit ever.