Titanique Sails into the West End with Camp, Chaos and Celine

Titanique | Criterion Theatre | Booking until 4th January 2026

There’s camp, and then there’s Titanique. If this show were any camper, it would be hosting Eurovision. It’s currently docked at the Criterion Theatre in London, and the fact that it’s booking until January 2026 suggests it’s found its audience. I suspect many of them are Celine Dion fans. Or RuPaul fans. Or both.

Let’s start at the beginning, which in this case is a Titanic museum tour. However, not for long. In comes a woman who looks like she’s wandered in from the opening of Beauty and the Beast. Turns out, it’s Celine. Not the Celine, obviously, but a version of her played at the performance I saw by understudy Kristina Walz. Another example of the understudies who keep shows running – there was not the slightest hint of her standby status, and she was a brilliant Celine in a version that could only exist in a fever dream after too much sugar and not enough sleep. She grabs the mic and retells Titanic the film, not the historical event, from her own viewpoint.

The show started life off-Broadway, late-night and loud, in one of those smaller New York venues where it built up a cult following, a show that would be best enjoyed after a few glasses of wine. That energy has been shipped wholesale into the West End. The Criterion has become a bit of a hub for these quirky fringe imports, it has welcomed Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York, for example. The difference is that show was a brilliant book musical with a new score that was egregiously overlooked in this year’s Olivier Awards.

The tone here is full-on panto/jukebox musical. There are innuendos (and out-uendos), swearing, pop references, and some gags I did two years ago in panto, e.g. “Cal’s gone!” The score is primarily Celine Dion, with a few exceptions. An example of the high-energy lunacy is that the iceberg is played by Leighton Williams as Tina Turner and he won an Olivier for it. The only known instance of a major theatre award going to someone pretending to be a frozen lump of ice – and he’s great.

It’s also loud, set to 11, musically, emotionally, and comedically. It never pauses for breath, going full steam ahead through its 90-minute, no-interval running time. One section did genuinely make me laugh, when Rose’s mother, played by Stephen Guarino in full panto dame mode, loses the plot, snatches the sheet music from the band and yells, “Learn it – we had to learn our line!” That had the chaos of good comedy, and he very funnily reacted to an ill-timed cough from the audience. However, others such as the Claire’s Accessories gag about the blue diamond, which is repeated more than once, wear thin quickly.

This just avoids becoming offensive in view of the tragedy at the core by not being a retelling of the Titanic story, rather a parody of the film. Told through the songs of Celine Dion and aimed firmly at her fanbase and those fluent in Drag Race, there’s a lot of loving mockery. You will need to know your cultural and West End references to keep up – a very funny gag at the expense of The Devil Wears Prada, as well as RuPaul catchphrases. It clearly knows its audience though, with its referencing of J.K. Rowling, for example, and with on-the-nose comments such as “You are all gay so you will get this!”

And while the vocals are incredibly strong, with some powerhouse performances, and the choreography is sharp, I did feel like I was in a different show to the rest of the audience. Remember Frasier? When Marsha Mason’s character says, “Laughter is the best medicine,” and Niles replies, “I think I’m in the placebo group”? That was me. Placebo group, dress circle row B.

It won Best Entertainment at the Oliviers, which still surprises me. Not because it’s awful. It’s not. However, when Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright was also in the running, a clever, chilling, sharply written show, it does make you wonder what the judges were thinking. I don’t begrudge Leighton Williams his award, he’s genuinely fab. We all need a laugh in these troubled times, but this is light, inconsequential, and camp.

If you’re a die-hard Celine fan or love your shows with the subtlety of a glitter cannon, this is likely to float your boat. For me? It hit the iceberg a little too early.

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