After a successful three-year run Off-Broadway, Titanique — the musical send-up of Titanic powered by the hits of Celine Dion — has dropped anchor at Broadway’s St. James Theatre. Created over the span of a decade by friends and co-writers Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue, the show recently earned four Tony nominations, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. All three creators also hold dual roles within the production: Mindelle earned a Tony nomination for her leading performance as the show’s narrator, Celine Dion; Rousouli stars as Jack, made famous onscreen by Leonardo DiCaprio; and Blue serves as the musical’s director. Spectrum News NY1 entertainment journalist Frank DiLella caught up with the trio following the announcement of the Tony nominations.
Congratulations on all the Tony love! Talk about a whirlwind few weeks. Take me back to finding out about the nominations.
Marla Mindelle: We were performing on [The Today Show], and our PR team was off to the side holding a computer and watching the nominations livestream. We had performed one number, and before the second number, we found out that we were nominated for Best Musical and that I was nominated for Best Actress! Suddenly there was a camera on us, and they were like, “Okay, you’re going to start singing in 10, 9, 8, 7…” so I had to hold it together for the whole day, because then we had to perform the show that night! So, I felt like I couldn’t cry until Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang came out to do a curtain call speech at the theatre that night, because they’re co-producing the show. They gave this wonderful speech, and I walked offstage and sobbed in their arms while apologizing for it. (laughs)
What was that first performance like after getting the news that you’re now part of a four-time Tony-nominated musical?
Constantine Rousouli: The house was wild. I felt like they were going to throw themselves off the balcony every time we entered the stage.
MM: It was an incredible show. Like a Gay Super Bowl! So many of the show’s fans have been with us since the very beginning, and we could really feel that embrace from the audience that night. Every night, really. These audiences are unlike anything I’ve experienced on any other show.
This has been a wild ride. What goes through your mind when you think about the start of this journey 10 years ago, when you were performing this in a bar in Los Angeles?
MM: The first thing that comes to mind is that I have to thank these two gentlemen, because I was so stubborn — I was originally like, “I’m not going to do this. It’s going to be a waste of my time.” So I want to apologize to Connie and Tye. (laughs) Thankfully I listened to them, and to my inner Celine — whatta ya say to taking chances, girlfriend? — and look where it’s taken us.
Tye Blue: I was thinking about this the other day… We were really struggling to make ends meet in Los Angeles, and not that we’ve risen to Lin-Manuel Miranda status or anything, but we’re enjoying a little more comfort now. We were different people 10 years ago. It was an entirely different chapter of our lives, and we were just doing it for fun. Now, it’s a business! That’s a big shift, but thankfully we know how to still keep it fun, because that’s the core of the show’s DNA.
CR: What I will say is, trust your gut in everything that you do. If we really did not believe in this thing, it would not have gone anywhere. The three of us were stubborn in the best way — we were like, this is going to work, this is going to be really fun. The lesson here is, if it feels good, dive in headfirst. I simultaneously can’t believe that we’re here, but also always knew we would get here, because I believed in this so hard.
Aside from all the Tony love, what’s been the most meaningful part of this journey for you so far?
MM: There are so many highlights because it’s been a 10-year process. For me, one of them was finally getting the show on its feet Off-Broadway, because we had come out of the pandemic thinking, will anyone want to see this silly farce when we had gone through this global reckoning? That’s when I realized for the first time how incredibly special and magical it was. Then, when we won the Olivier, that was another huge milestone. Yet still, in my heart of hearts, I had almost given up on the Broadway dream, because we were a long-running Off-Broadway show for so long. So, the pinnacle for me was hearing that we were finally going to Broadway.
CR: All of it has been so wonderful, especially living with Marla for 4 years. (laughs) For me, the first big moment was when David Foster came to see the pop-up concert, because that’s when it became so real. I had met his manager in Greece. He came to see us at the Green Room 42 with this woman Shannon, David’s producer, and they said, “For years, we’ve been looking at material featuring David’s music, and this is the first thing that we’ve loved. You’ve done all the hard work already, so what’s the next step?” And I was like, “Okayyy!”
TB: I also remember driving down the road in my Chrysler Sebring after getting off the phone with David Foster’s team and crying immediately, because all of the pieces were moving into a place in our favor. I just had this sense that somebody somewhere beyond this realm was pulling strings for the three of us to make this thing really special.
The Olivier Awards were also an out-of-body experience that we never saw coming, even when the show was doing well in London. That was really incredible, to be honored by the London theater community. But this entire Broadway adventure has really been the most amazing icing on the cake.
With the Broadway transfer, a lot of star producers have signed on to be part of this production.
CR: It’s insane! I was like, “Okay, Joey Fatone and JC Chasez!” I was gagged when I saw them at the opening night party, because I was like, “You guys were my dream as a 12-year-old homosexual.” All I wanted to do was be *NSYNC, so it’s beyond cool to now count them as collaborators. Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang coming on board was a dream, because they helped get the word out when we were performing in the basement Off-Broadway.
MM: And Mark and Scott Hoying, from Pentatonix! Also, people like Lauren Kennedy, an icon to me from my CCM glory days! One of the things I’m most proud of is that the three of us are producers on the show as well. We’ve come from not knowing anything — we didn’t even have contracts in the early days, we did it all on handshakes — to really educating ourselves on the administrative side of the business and raising money for the show. I’m so proud that we have such fans in our circles that we were able to become co-producers ourselves.
This show has proven to be a hit wherever it “drops anchor,” all over the world. What’s the secret to its success?
TB: The social, political, and economic climate that we’re all carrying on a day-to-day basis for the past decade has lowered everyone’s vibration, whether they can speak to it or not. And we’ve been able to harness the power of nostalgia, of taking people back to a time when power ballads and minivans ruled, while also putting a current, fun, queer stamp on it all to make magic that feels of the moment. It’s the alchemy of the worldwide love for Titanic and Celine Dion, but channeled through a modern comedic voice, that has created this joyful blanket that’s been wrapped around audiences, no matter where we are in the world. It makes them forget about all the bullshit they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.
CR: I will also say it works well because the three of us love each other, and it stems from the top. Because we’ve put so much love and joy and extra spice into this show, that has trickled down into every company.
How do we get Celine to attend the show?
MM: I think at this point we’re going to have to pull up a white Sprinter van outside of her Paris concert, put a bag over her head, tie her up, and perform for her. (laughs) No. She’s an international diva — she has a lot going on. Whether she comes or not, it’s been such a blessing to get so much love from the people in her camp who have seen it along the way, including her sister, who saw it in Montreal! Every single person tells us how much Celine would love it. That’s the greatest gift. This show is a love letter to her. We created it for a number of reasons, but the biggest one of all was that we were all such massive fans of hers growing up. This show is a tribute to her.
