"Titanic - The Musical" 10th Anniversary Tour.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

This should really be titled "Titanic The Opera" due to the incredible vocal talents of everyone involved in this show. But more about that later.

This story isn't quite the same as the 1997 movie, which by the way is one of my guilty pleasure movies, just in case you were expecting a re-run of the film. There's no focus on a Jack and Rose romance steaming up the portholes and the band didn't go down playing "My Heart Will Go On". This stage production is however full of drama with plenty of emotion.

The date is 14 April 1912, the Titanic was on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York when it struck an iceberg and sank and 1517 people lost their lives. This is the story of the most iconic ship that never sailed the seas.

The story is based on real people who boarded the ship and focuses on their hopes, individual dreams and aspirations of the new life they were heading for. This is their story.

I'd seen this musical in 2018 so knew what an emotional piece of theatre this was and what an incredible soundtrack accompanied this story. The music and lyrics are by Maury Yeston with the book by Peter Stone.

The original Broadway production of "Titanic The Musical" won five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. This new production celebrates the 10th anniversary of its London premiere where it won sweeping critical acclaim across the board.

The first act is in complete contrast to the second Act. The first being full of hope, singing, dancing and making merry, but a big chunk of ice puts stop to all that merry making. The second act is packed with emotion, sadness and despair.

This really is one show that is an ensemble theatre piece. Absolutely every member on that stage gave everything, physically and emotionally.

The cast is: Martin Allanson (J. Bruce Ismay), Valda Akiks (Ida Straus), Graham Bickley (Captain Edward Smith), Sam Brown (Frederick Fleet), James Darch (Edgar Beane), David Delve (Isidor Straus), Catherine Digges (Head Maid), Adam Filipe (Frederick Barrett), Emily George (Kate Murphy), Luke Harley (Andrew Latimer), Emma Harrold (Lady Caroline Neville), Alastair Hill (Harold Bride), Abi Hudson (Maid), Barnaby Hughes (Herbert Pitman/Henry Etches), Paul Kemble (Joseph Boxhall), Niamh Long (Kate Mullins), Matthew McDonald (Charles Clarke), Ian McLarnon (Thomas Andrews), Danny Michaels (Joseph Bell), Chris Nevin (Jim Farrell), Jack North (Charles Lightoller), Joseph Peacock (Bellboy/Wallace Hartley), Billy Roberts (William McMaster Murdoch), Bree Smith (Alice Beane) and Lucie-Mae Summer (Kate McGowan).

The Director is Thom Southerland, who made this musical seem like an epic award-winning movie, capturing the hope, joy, terror and despair and when the lurch came from the ship, it seemed as if they'd all be heading for the stalls. I am sure that at some point I must have been sitting there with my jaw open; and I've seen this musical before!

The set and costume designer is David Woodhead. You could imagine being in the first-class dining salon with these guests with the fancy table on stage, which swiftly became the third-class dining quarters for the Irish contingency. The costumes are so good, with that distinct period style, and a distinct division between the ones with money and those that had not. You also got a sense of the height of the ship with the staging which helped when the ship started to lurch and sink into the cold, icy sea.

Lighting Designer is Howard Hudson and the sound designer is Andrew Johnson, both coming into their own with the collision of the iceberg.

The musical staging is by Cressida Carré, and I think my words pay testament to the quality of the staging.

The musical supervision is by Mark Aspinall and new musical arrangements are by Ian Weinberger. This really was more like watching a dramatic operatic piece. All the cast merged vocally to create a wall of sound that at times felt like a physical impact on your chest.

You can really tell when a Musical Director, Ben Papworth has worked as close as this with other musical creatives as above, because the overall sound of the vocals and music melt into each other beautifully and powerfully. And to think there were only six musicians involved to create such a lush backing.

Andrew Johnson, the Sound Designer brought out the balance between both music and vocalists in one of the best balances I've heard for a theatrical production of these proportions.

This is one story that will bring out the emotional side of you. The facts that are provided throughout the musical will also shock. To think that the Bellboys were just 14 and 15 years old, and all of them lost their life in this tragedy. The guilt felt by one high up staff member resulted in his suicide and the arguments over where the blame should lie, the devotion of the staff to their passengers, especially to the elder couple as they decided that neither wanted to leave each other is such a difficult watch, emotionally. There were several audience members sobbing, such was the impact of this story.

Not all musicals have the "happy clappy" endings you expect with musical theatre; this one certainly doesn't, but it's possibly one of the best, emotive pieces of theatre touring, and that soundtrack hits you right where it should do, in the heart, and the vocalists are top class in their professional field.

This is one musical that you will want to see again, I can promise you that!

"Titanic The Musical" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 20 May.