![\""Cats:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewrap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cats-Broadway.jpeg?fit=300%2C169&quality=89&ssl=1\")
\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' Broadway Review: Andrew Lloyd Webber Finally Discovers Drag<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Whew! Despite a slow start, \u201cTitan\u00edque\u201d retains its status as the \u201cOh, Mary!\u201d of musicals. Director Tye Blue keeps most of the best bits, as well as the tackiest of props. When Jake (Constantine Rousouli) and Rose (Melissa Barrera) make love in a limo, they steam up a little piece of Plexiglas. When it\u2019s revealed that there are only two \u2013 count \u2019em two — lifeboats, a contest is waged to decide who\u2019s being saved and who\u2019s drowning. Alejo Vietti\u2019s costumes define \u201cAuf Wiedersehen\u201d as spoken on \u201cProject Runway.\u201d As for the iceberg itself, that villain is portrayed by the furious Layton Williams, who convincingly mimics a guest star whose identity will not be revealed here. This extended showstopper, choreographed by Ellenore Scott, is far wilder, funnier and gender-bending than anything in \u201cCats: The Jellicle Ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTitan\u00edque,\u201d like \u201cOh, Mary!,\u201d is an equal-opportunity offender. In the world of camp, heterosexuality has always been the biggest joke of all. These two new shows eschew that rule to ridicule their LGBTQ characters with equal relish. In recent musical theater, lavender characters too often serve as objects to be beatified (think \u201cJagged Little Pill,\u201d \u201cSome Like It Hot\u201d and \u201c& Juliet\u201d). \u201cTitan\u00edque\u201d takes no such pathetic prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best running joke in this “Titanic” parody is how everyone tries to save Rose from ending up with her rich in-the-closet fianc\u00e9, Cal (John Riddle in great singing voice). In fact, it is Rousouli\u2019s hot stud Jack who, from the get-go, unloads far more helium into his loafers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The show\u2019s book by Mindelle, Rousouli and Blue delivers lots of great skits. Many of the one-liners, however, are merely smile-worthy. What makes them laugh-out-loud funny is the cast’s gifted delivery. When Barrera’s Rose says her favorite color is “burnt sienna,” Rousouli’s silent reaction deserves a Tony. In fact, that award’s nominators for best featured actor in a musical can round out that entire category with not only Rousouli but Riddle, Williams and Frankie Grande, who delivers a devastating impersonation of Victor Garber that I wouldn\u2019t wish on the Orange President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which leaves one more Tony slot open. Jim Parsons joins this distinctly downtown cast, and his drag take on Rose\u2019s money-grubbing mother sets back transvestites to a pre-Dame Edna era. Parsons makes no attempt to appear female, scoring major comic points with his baritone and often butch delivery. He’s so awesomely ugly, complete with two white doves above his receding hairline, that his character screams for a big solo entrance. It\u2019s a major missed comic opportunity that Parsons enters the stage as simply part of the ensemble.<\/p>\n\n\n
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