Still thinking about the Titanic exhibit. During my last year at college, I was asked to play in the pit orchestra of Titanic -The Musical, which, I admit, sounds ridiculous, but as become one of my favourite soundtracks. It's an impressive book, with a large cast (lots of passengers on that ship), huge set (it's the Titanic, for Pete's sake), and a wonderful score by Maury Yeston.
The musical opened on Broadway in 1997, and due to its large, complicated (and expensive) set, it wasn't "tried out" in out-of-town audiences. Initially, it got some lousy reviews, but eventually won over audiences with its endearing treatment of a tragic situation (that everyone already knows the ending to.) Yeston tried to stay true to the facts, including the details of the ships cargo, construction, passengers, and that fateful night in April, 1912. One song describes how the absence of a moon and perfectly calm waters made it difficult for the lookout men to see the iceberg before it was too late. Other details, like how the ship was pressed to nearly full-speed, and how iceberg warnings were ignored are also included. In another song, Mr. Andrews Vision,sung by Thomas Andrews (the Titanic's designer), gives a detailed description of how the ship should have been built, with Andrews redesigning the ship in his mind so that the accident would be survivable.
So, as I walked through the artifact exhibit, snippets of song lyrics came chirping through my mind. The dialogue between Mrs. and Mr. Straus, and how she refused to board a lifeboat, choosing instead to stay aboard with her husband, was echoed in the exhibit. "Where you go, I go."
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