Review | Titanic The Musical at The Kings Theatre, Southsea

With mighty voices, fabulous costumes, an absorbing set and emotive delivery, I was mesmerised by the performance within the first 10 minutes.

Produced by Paul Woolf and Jack Edwards, this was a show with heart, bringing together more than 100 people from drama societies across the Portsmouth area.

The two hours of musical theatre was an outpouring of talent, no doubt bottled up during two agonising years of the pandemic when live performance was but a dream for most.

Inspired by the real-life stories of passengers and crew on board the ‘unsinkable ship’, the musical beautifully weaved together the very different perspectives of the first, second and third classes. The millionaires keen to show off their wealth, the social climbers wishing for a taste of the high life and young folk in search of a better life in America.

While the first act was merry and frolicsome, the second, understandably, had a darker tone, with the impending disaster never far away.

Passengers saying their last goodbyes on the sinking liner, and a particularly passionate song ‘Still’ shared between an elderly couple who reaffirm that their love is still as strong as ever, were all very moving scenes.

The sorrowful spectacle of the moment the ship went down was beautifully done and kudos to the actors, directors and set-makers for creating such a powerful sequence.

Overall, a captivating watch and listen from start to finish.

The quality of the singing was especially commendable and special mention to Paul Clements and Kim Seagrove who really projected right to the back of the theatre! Well done to the wardrobe department too on transporting us back to 1912.

Amid all the upbeat singing and dancing of musical theatre, one can never forget the terrible human tragedy Titanic was, and still is.

It was very fitting therefore that this special gala night raised well over £10,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

The Kings has done Pompey proud again.

Titanic runs until Sunday, April 24, 2022.