Talking Titanic with Susan Baer Collins

By Mary Carrick

We’re putting a big bow on our 2024/25 season, which has been a historic one at the Omaha Community Playhouse, our 100th. That’s thousands of performances, hundreds upon hundreds of actors, and hundreds of thousands in the audience during this span of time. And here we are, about to raise the curtain on our final regular season production of these first 100 years, jumping back in time to 1912, just a dozen years before OCP was founded, and the voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic.

We know the story (maybe roughly), at least how it ends. But the beauty of Titanic The Musical is we learn stories of real passengers on the ship and are pulled in by a swirling, fantastical score.

It’s a mammoth of a show, steered expertly and meticulously by director Susan Baer Collins (known to most all as “Susie”), and what will be her last in her role as Co-Artistic Director of OCP, as she enters much-deserved retirement.

I wanted to dig-in to all things Titanic with Susie and get her take. What a treat.

Titanic is an epic story, epic production and the finale of OCP’s centennial season. It seems so fitting for the moment, yet it’s a true story with a tragic ending, and at OCP we’re embarking on our next 100 years with hope and promise. Can you speak to this dichotomy? 

The Omaha Community Playhouse is presenting Titanic the Musical because it’s an exceptional piece of musical theatre and because the true story of Titanic continues to fascinate us after 115 years! In addition, this Tony-Award winning musical has not been seen in Omaha. True, the story of Titanic has a tragic ending but there is hope and promise as well as great lessons in hubris to be found in its conclusion.  As Mr. Rogers so famously advised his young audience, in the midst of the horrific tragedy of 9/11, “Look for the helpers.”  Many heroes and helpers exist in this tragedy as well, such as those courageous engineers who sacrificed their lives, continuing to shovel coal in order to keep the lights on till just before the ship submerged. In my opinion, closing out our 100^th Season with a tragic story has no reflection on the viability and future of our precious theatre.  We’re closing OCP’s 100^th Season with a production whose aim is to illuminate mankind’s achievements, ambition, love, and pride as well as to reveal his hubris, selfishness, and vanity, all within the confines of an incredibly dynamic musical score and story.

Many are familiar with the movie – Rose, Jack and Celine Dion – but this isn’t the movie. How is it different and why will audiences find this retelling so compelling?

The film may have Celine Dion, but the musical has Maury Yeston’s thrilling score!  I don’t believe anyone has yet to recreate the Titanic and the sinking more faithfully than in the James Cameron film.  So much of the ship was meticulously recreated for the movie, down to the most minor detail. In the musical, however, we’re given visual clues via scenery and costumes through which we fill in the details of the Titanic in our minds. Both the film and the musical lend a lot of importance to the strict separation between the first, second, and third class passengers. However, the story of Jack and Rose is a fictional one while most all the characters in the musical are based on real individuals who populated the ship. Also differing from the film, the musical features no traditional “leading roles” but presents instead several story lines that revolve around class dynamics, relationships, decision-making, and human foibles.

Susie on set prior to a rehearsal for Titanic The Musical at the Omaha Community Playhouse. The show runs May 30 – June 29, 2025. It marks her final show in the role of Co-Artistic Director at OCP.

The show won the Tony Award for Best Musical. What is it about the show that brought home the big prize?

I would say Maury Yeston’s majestic, epic score contributed greatly to Titanic’s Best Musical award. In addition, the 1997 Broadway production of Titanic featured one of the most technologically ambitious scenic designs ever seen onstage at the time, involving hydraulic stages that elevated up and down, revealing the various decks of the ship and, eventually, tilting the entire stage full of actors in the sinking sequence!  Although it had a history of technical problems in the beginning, it ran for two years and there was nothing else on Broadway at the time that could match it!

The thing with true stories is we know the ending. What do you hope the audience hooks into with this story that goes beyond the iceberg?

I’m hoping that the audience gets hooked in the same way we all did, by recognizing parts of ourselves in the characters and becoming invested in the story lines and the outcome.  The thrilling, approximately 16-minute opening sequence in the show introduces us to a great many of the characters comprising of ship’s officers, crew members, and passengers, each filled with an arsenal of hopes and dreams. Soon all are on board and finally pull away from the dock to set sail. I’d say if you’re not with us after that, I suggest you check your phone for any movies in the area.

How are YOU telling this story and personalizing it with your vision? 

We’re presenting this story with great attention to clarity of text in both lyrics and dialogue. That’s terribly important to me. Often, when I attend the theatre, I may only understand as little as two-thirds of the dialogue. I can miss a lot and it’s not because I’m old or because the microphones aren’t doing their job! I realize that sounds extremely technical but, if the story is getting hung up because an actor is failing to communicate, then game over. I’m also working with an exceptional choreographer who never abandons the story for the sake of an impressive dance move. Michelle Garrity is extremely skilled and works beautifully with actors from all levels of dance ability. Her magic bullet is to sometimes create movement that you might not categorize as dance, but that visually evokes feeling and thought with great success. She’s also a fantastic collaborator – a choreographer who thinks like a director.

What are some moments the audience should look forward to? 

I do put my money behind that Opening Sequence – I brings you right into the excitement of Titanic’s maiden voyage and brings you right on board with us!  We want the audience to make up their own minds as to who’s responsible for the sinking of the ship.  No one in this story is a villain, but several errors in judgement are made throughout. As we rehearsed the show, we kept saying, “If only.” If only they hadn’t left the one set of binoculars on shore. If only they hadn’t insisted on going faster. If only they hadn’t sacrificed lifeboats in order for the first class to have more promenade space. It’s hard to pinpoint any one scene, but the scene in the 3^rd Class Dining Saloon, in which the immigrants express their hope and belief in America, where “the streets are paved with gold,” is a moving and memorable one.

This is a big undertaking for any theatre. What have been some of the creative “opportunities” in mounting such a biggie of a show?

One very special creative opportunity for me is to work with Jim Othuse as Scenic and Lighting Designer for Titanic.  Jim and I have a huge history working together at OCP and I’m always blown away by his artfulness, his expertise, and his insistence on “getting it right.” Another creative opportunity for me has been to work with the 28-member cast, chock full of extremely accomplished vocalists and musicians. Remember that photo ad for an audio system where the guy sits in front of a speaker and his hair is blown back by the sound? I get to have that experience nightly in the rehearsal hall!

Susie. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but Titanic is in a lot of ways your swan song at OCP, though you’ll be back for A Christmas Carol and its 50th Anniversary production. Is that weighing on you? Do you think about it in that way? A grand finale for a grand career at OCP? 

Mary, I think there was a time, two or three retirements ago, when perhaps the end of a long career at the Playhouse did weigh on me.  But now, stepping down for the fourth time, I think a quiet, loving and sincere, “thanks for the memories,” will totally fill my cup!

Anything else you’d like to share with readers? 

• Please come to the show.
• Please don’t be disappointed when you look at the program if Rose and Jack aren’t listed as characters.
• Get ready to hear some remarkable music.
• I dare you to not want to look up some of the names of these characters and learn more about them. Did they survive the sinking, or not?

Thank you, dear Susie, for taking the time while in production, and for the many stories you’ve told on stage at OCP.  This is truly one for the ages. Curtain up!