Show Synopsis:
The maiden voyage of the doomed ship Titanic carries many stories with it as the crew keeps accelerating the ship's speed, hoping to gain a good reputation. Alice and Edgar Beane argue over their lifestyle preferences in their middle class standing, Irish working class girl becomes engaged to Jim Farrell, and other passengers dream of the life they have in front of them as the ship hits an iceberg. As the crew establishes that it will in fact sink, the First Class passengers begin to realize their peril and Third Class passengers struggle to make it to the upper regions of the ship. Couples and families are separated as women and children board the lifeboats and the ship finally sinks. The survivors are rescued by the Carpathia and hope for better days and reunions with their lost loved ones.
Character:
Frederick Barrett, a stoker who helps run the steam engines on the Titanic and is used to taking orders; selfless and kind.
Song Context:
Barrett believes that a new ship should be going more slowly than Captain Smith has ordered, but also know that that it is not his place to be disputing what the captain wants. Meanwhile, he is also preparing to propose to his girlfriend via telegram from the ship.
Fun Facts:
1. Although Barrett dies in the musical, he actually survived the real-life Titanic shipwreck.
2. Titanic was a surprise hit that won all five Tony Awards it was nominated for, including Best Musical.
"She's sparkling clean, this new-born ship,
But one old thing is clear.
The orders they propose above
We execute down here.
We'll watch from here as up above
They'll catch a whiff of glory.
This wonder ship may be brand new,
But it's the same old story.
Stoke the fire in the hold
As the men draw back,
Feed the heat in the hold
As the men draw back,
And the dust of the coal in the air is black
And a trickle of sweat runs down your back.
And what are the boys from the midlands doing here?
Coal it is that makes the steam
That runs the machines that run the world,
That sends the men below the ground
To mine the coal
Each day.
From Leicestershire and Nottingham,
Us lads who worked down in the pit
Knew if you got above the ground,
You'd save your soul
Some way.
Get out of the pit
And westward I knew I could run
And ship out to sea and there my new life was begun
And the screws are turning at seventy-one.
It became my dream to go out to sea -
Further out from the mine you couldn't be.
But, born to the coal, there's no place for you elsewhere.
You trade a life of dank and gloom
To shovel in the boiler room
But now your seven decks below
A lady's dainty feet.
And nothing has changed,
There's nothing a miner can do.
The pit and your mates
Turned into the hold and the crew
And the screws are turnin at seventy-two.
Faster and faster we watch as we gain ever more
Seventy-three, and too soon it is seventy-four.
For a record speed I belive we strive!
For the maiden ship that's too hard to drive
If you push her faster than seventy-five.
That is the truth
I swear!"