Marla Mindelle, Melissa Barrera, Jim Parsons, and more have a blast on the high seas.

Titanique review: Celine Dion gets her due as the campy spoof sets sail on Broadway

Marla Mindelle, Melissa Barrera, Jim Parsons, and more have a blast on the high seas.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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April 12, 2026 10:00 p.m. ET

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Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Melissa Barrera in 'Titanique'. Credit:

What do you say to taking chances on a bizarre new addition to Broadway?

Actually, scratch that — buying a ticket to *Titanique* isn't much of a risk when the celebrated spoof has spent nearly a decade enticing audiences with its cheeky camp. But it's still a tough sell to the uninitiated, given the insanity of the premise.

Anyone who's seen James Cameron's monumental tragedy, *Titanic*, knows how this story goes: Penniless heiress Rose DeWitt Bukater boards a doomed ship while engaged to rich a-hole Cal only to find herself falling for the freedom offered by the charming starving artist, Jack.

The cast of 'Titanique'.

Except this time, Cal is a closeted diva scrambling to hide his Grindr alerts and Jack specializes in stick figure cat paintings. And the entire story is being told by omniscient narrator Celine Dion (portrayed by the inimitable Marla Mindelle) who inexplicably believes that she was aboard the *Titanic* when it set sail in… *checks notes… *1912. Dion recounts the events as they occurred in the movie — but with a little more pizazz, a lot more absurdity, and a French- Canadian accent so hilariously bad that it loops around to being perfect.

If that sounds absolutely bonkers, then that just means you're catching on to the tone.

Marla Mindelle as Celine Dion.

Penned by Mindelle, Tye Blue, and Constantine Rousouli, *Titanique* reimagines the events of *Titanic* through the eyes of Dion and doubles as a jukebox musical featuring some of her biggest hits — from "All By Myself" and "Taking Chances" to the main attraction, "My Heart Will Go On." It's not only a hilarious riff on the Cameron-directed classic, but a love letter to Dion and her music. Most importantly, *Titanique* is an absolute blast.

That's no big shock, really: *Titanique* has already proven itself with an Off-Broadway run that lasted five years, eventually spanning productions in Canada, Chicago, Brazil, Paris, Australia and on the West End. It's also accumulated a massive (and very dedicated) fanbase of TiStaniques, and it's not hard to see how: the gags are aplenty, the actors are clearly having the time of their lives up there, and the vocals are astonishing.

Constantine Rousouli and Melissa Barrera in 'Titanique'.

If you're gonna pay tribute to a five-time Grammy winner and vocal legend like Dion by running through her discography, you best have performers who can do her justice. Melissa Barrera is one such vocalist. She boards the voyage as Rose, playing up her naiveté and passion to hilarious effect, all while making an absolute meal of every song she tackles. The same is true of Mindelle, who is also fearless as our narrator, the heart of the show, and its campiest, most-irreverent player. She's clearly having a blast when it comes to engaging the audience: When she's not making them co-conspirators in the chaos, she's sticking out her tongue and raining the chaos down on them.

Deborah Cox delivers some staggering vocals of her own as Molly Brown, while *Big Brother* star Frankie Grande — playing *Titanic* actor Victor Garber — fully commits to the sheer insanity of the show, giving 100% whether he's tap dancing or ranting about his Fire Island plans. Jim Parsons, too, understands the assignment as Rose's gold-digging mother, as do our adorably charming Jack Dawson (Rousouli) and hilariously uppity Cal (John Riddle).

Layton Williams as The Iceberg.

Someone is stealing the show at any given moment during *Titanique*'s 100-minute runtime, but that honor most frequently goes to Layton Williams, who last year won an Olivier for his dual role. He initially makes for a charming seamen before absolutely exploding on the scene as the riotously hilarious and commanding Iceberg… who happens to be Tina Turner. Trust me, it all makes sense.

Together, they put on one hell of a show, packed to the brim with jokes, double entendres, hilarious visual gags and uber specific references. At my performance, I had the pleasure of witnessing an extended improved bit about Matthew Morrison's limited run in *Just In Time** *that made reference to his 9/11 slam poetry and internet theories about his *Glee* costar Lea Michele being unable to read. Surely not everyone present understood all that they were getting at there, but you'd never know if from the way laughter rumbled the theater. (The improv section at another performance riffed on *Euphoria* and Sydney Sweeney: "Her character is also MAGA.")

The cast of 'Titanique'.

There's no layered agenda here. *Titanique* is very clear in its intention: to give its audience something to laugh and clap about, which it succeeds at again and again.

*Titanique* offers a theatrical experience not unlike that of *The* *Rocky Horror Show* or even *Cats: The Jellicle Ball**,* where screaming your support is welcome and a collective euphoria echoes throughout the theater. Despite the 1700-seat room, a Broadway budget and the big, brassy talent that the show now wields, *Titanique* maintains the scrappy seat-of-your-pants energy that helped it set sail in the first place. It has the heart of an ambitious school production, staying true to its origins: a show put together with spit, glue, and love, for the sole purpose of making people laugh. The size of the audience is a lot bigger, but the work remains the same. **Grade: B+**

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