When the RMS Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912, it became instantly one of the deadliest peacetime disasters in history. Over 1,500 passengers were lost, and more than a century later, the fate of the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic continues to captivate the world, not least in James Cameron’s multi-Academy Award winning blockbuster that swept the Oscars in 1998. So epic was the film’s success that it (almost) eclipsed an adaptation that premiered on Broadway mere months before: Titanic The Musical, which docks at Cardiff for its 10th anniversary.

With music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning Maury Yeston (Nine, Phantom) and book by Emmy- and Oscar-winner Peter Stone (1776, Woman of the Year), Titanic The Musical follows the passengers of the White Star Line’s fateful ship. Unlike its big-budget younger brother, most of the musical’s characters are based on the real-life people who experienced the tragedy first-hand, from the three working-class Irish ‘Kates’ dreaming of a better life in the new world to the old-money couple who founded Macy’s department store.

It’s an unusual premise for a musical: how could any theatrical show convey the scale of such a disaster on the stage? Titanic achieves it and then some. The original Broadway production won five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book – and its easy to see why. David Woodhead’s set is a mechanical marvel while Yeston’s songs are sprawling and lush – when performed by the 25-strong ensemble, the music positively soars. The ship might be the star, but these actors are titans.

Their skill is showcased in the epic opening number, ‘Godspeed Titanic’, in which the passengers board the grand ocean liner for the first time. In doing so, it begins with the same exhilaration with which most shows end – more impressive still, it maintains that momentum. There are exuberant moments like the song ‘Lady’s Maid’, in which the third class passengers dream of new horizons, led by the luminous Lucie-Mae Summer. There are moments of connection, as between Alastair Hill as cheery wireless officer Harold Bride and Adam Filipe as crewman Barrett, where they marvel at how technology can bridge hearts a thousand miles apart. Valda Aviks and David Delve are funny, warm and affecting as the stately older couple who refuse to part. And Barnaby Hughes is fabulous as the haughty head butler while Joseph Peacock adds a cheeky charm as the spirited bellboy.

You might not expect a show about the Titanic to have much happiness, but Director Thom Southerland brings a lovely breeziness to moments of whimsy, like when busybody Alice Beane (a charming Bree Smith) gossips about the blue bloods on board to her loving, beleaguered husband (James Darch, on fine form). Southerland moves elegantly between these moments of delight and the encroaching drama: when the iceberg looms, it does so to the eerie melody of ‘No Moon’ – it’s as unsettling a moment as approach of the shark in Jaws. All credit to musical director Ben Papworth and the fantastic orchestra.

What the show does exceptionally well is prepare you for the coming tragedy without sliding either into maudlin doom and gloom or into ‘nudge nudge wink wink’ clue-dropping. The characters’ moments of joy, love and hope are given real poignancy, especially when you realise that they are based on real-life people and their stories. So when class-defying couple Charles and Lady Caroline (Mathew McDonald and Emma Harrold) sing of getting married as soon as they reach New York, we ache for them. And when Captain Edward Smith (Graham Bickley, masterful in the role) speaks of this being his last voyage before he retires – it gains a greater resonance. So, too, does the Ozymandian epic of ‘Mr Andrews’ Vision’ in which the Titanic’s architect (Ian McLarnon, breathtaking) watches his dreams – quite literally – sink before his eyes.

It also brings new insights into a story you might think you already know. Here, the relentless greed of White Star Chairman J. Bruce Ismay (a delectably pompous Martin Allanson), who scrimped on lifeboats to make room for more higher-paying passengers, may sound horribly familiar to us in our own time. Those who have the most – money, wealth, privilege – will always be the first on the lifeboats. Titanic The Musical gives voice to those left behind.

An unsinkable cast, an unbeatable score, and an unforgettable experience, Titanic the Musical is an emotional triumph of epic proportions – and, like the fabled ship, it must be seen to be believed.

Titanic The Musical is playing at New Theatre Cardiff from 9 – 13 May

The Golden Age of Musicals was an era unlike any other. From the 1940s through to the 60s, the movies were the place to go for opulent Hollywood spectacle, presided over by Messrs Rodgers & Hammerstein, the inimitable duo behind such classic musicals as Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music – and the multi-award-winning The King and I.

The King and I is based on the 1870 memoirs of Anna Leonowens, a widowed governess who was invited to the court of Siam (now Thailand) to teach the children of King Mongkut. The story was turned into a novel, a Tony Award-winning stage play, and a number of films and tv series – but its most beloved incarnation is the glossy movie musical of 1956, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner (Kerr was famously dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also provided the singing voices for Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady). Following a hugely successful revival across the pond, director Bartlett Sher has brought his revitalised Lincoln Center production on a UK tour, starring Call the Midwife’s Helen George as Anna Leonowens.

On press night, Anna was played by cover Maria Coyne, who portrayed the character in the show’s sold-out run at the London Palladium. Coyne brings power and poise to the part, and pitch-perfect vocals that lend a gorgeous crystalline quality to songs like ‘Hello Young Lovers’ and ‘I Whistle a Happy Tune’. She shares a wonderful chemistry with Darren Lee, fabulously mercurial as the King of Siam, brimming with energy and elan in every ‘et cetera, et cetera’.

Their scenes together are the highlight of a glittering production, not least the iconic ‘Shall We Dance?’ sequence which sees the pair twirling around the room in a moment of pure romantic revelry. It distils the magic of the show in a triumph of athleticism, acting and aesthetics – and Coyne and Lee outdo themselves here. They simply couldn’t have been better. The audience practically gave them a standing ovation then and there!

Special mention must go to Cezarah Bonner as Lady Thiang, mother to the king’s heir, and Kok-Hwa Lie as the Kralahome, Mongkut’s Prime Minister, who each bring far more nuance and gravitas than their film counterparts. (Lie and Caleb Lagayan, who plays Crown Prince Chulalongkorn, also have some particularly artful moments of capework). Meanwhile, Dean John-Wilson and Marienella Phillips captivate as doomed lovers Lun Tha and Tuptim, with an affecting rendition of ‘We Kiss in A Shadow’. Meanwhile, Sam Jenkins-Shaw is chameleonic as Captain Orton/Sir Edward Ramsay, and the young cast shine in the delightful ‘Getting to Know You’ and their characterful introduction at the palace.

The lavish score is brought to life by musical director Christopher Mundy and a sublime orchestra. With original choreography by Jerome Robbins, Christopher Gatelli’s dance numbers seamlessly blend traditional and modern styles, augmented by Michael Yeargan’s striking sets and Catherine Zuber’s sumptuous costumes. All the elements combine in the ‘Small House of Uncle Thomas’ sequence, in which Tuptim stages a pointed retelling of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’. Led by Wang-Hei Lau as Eliza, it showcases the ensemble cast at its finest and, even without its deific cameo, is nothing short of divine.

While The King and I hasn’t completely escaped the shadow of its problematic past, it has certainly taken care to move with the times: like its title character, it’s doing the work to change for the better. Sher, the man behind the acclaimed revivals of My Fair Lady and South Pacific, has nailed the classic formula, capturing the feel of the original while letting his excellent cast improve on the rest. Opulence, passion, pageantry, The King and I might be precisely your cup of tea!

The King and I is playing at the New Theatre from 25 – 29 April. More information and how to book tickets here.

If there’s anyone we should thank for the music, it’s ABBA. One of the best-selling bands of all time, this iconic Swedish quartet made a grand Arrival on the scene in 1974 with the Eurovision-winning Waterloo and went on to dominate pop music for the next decade. Disbanding in ’82 with a smorgasbord of songs (and many millions of dollars) under their belt, their star has never dimmed. (Songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus even went on to write original musical Chess). Forty years on, they embarked on a new Voyage, with a chart-topping comeback album and a virtual arena residency featuring concerts performed by their holographic ‘ABBAtars’.

So, who better to form the basis of a jukebox musical? Produced by Judy Craymer, Mamma Mia! premiered in London in 1999 and went on to become the sixth longest-running show in West End history. Its movie adaptation, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Meryl Streep, smashed box office records and, for a decade, was the highest grossing film to be directed by a woman. Now, this beloved show is taking off on a massive UK and International Tour to remind us all why we should Take a Chance and Have a Dream.

Written by Catherine Johnson, and helmed by Lloyd, Mamma Mia! is set on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. 20-year-old Sophie (Jess Michelmore) is soon to marry fiancée Sky (Christopher Foley). She is determined to have her dad walk her down the aisle, but her fiercely independent mother Donna (Sara Poyzer) has never revealed his identity. So Sophie does some snooping, whittles the potential candidates down to three, and invites them to the island in secret. The players in this particular paternity lottery are Harry Bright (Neal Craig), Bill Austin (Phil Corbitt) and Sam Carmichael (Richard Standing), who each captured Donna’s heart one Last Summer many years before.

The plot is as light and frothy as the waves lapping the island shore, and the lead-ins to each ditty tenuous at best – “I’m old enough to be your mother!” Tanya (Sarah Earnshaw) says to lovestruck Pepper (Jaden Osheneye): cue Does Your Mother Know – but who cares? Benny and Björn’s songs are so iconic that they’re ironclad – and all you need to do is sing along. And I defy you not to start doing just that when the title track’s opening marimba kicks in, and the show really kicks off.

Fun is the Name of the Game here, and there’s more than enough to go round: Rosie (Nicky Swift) and Tanya cheering up bestie Donna with a one-two punch of Chiquitita and Dancing Queen; Sky and his mates’ laddish rendition of Lay All Your Love On Me; a rowdy reception that culminates in a plea to Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight). It also makes time for the smaller moments between characters: Donna singing The Winner Takes It All to Sam, the one that got away (Poyzer and Standing, a couple offstage as well as on, bring a genuine chemistry to their interactions). And rhe way Poyzer performs Slipping Through My Fingers as she tearfully does her daughter’s hair one last time brought a tear to mine.

The show’s celebration of love beyond the heteronormative was progressive for its time – though it would benefit from some updating (it’s 2023, yet Harry’s husband remains resolutely offstage). Even so, the musical is defiantly inclusive and crafts a world for itself that – save for the need to scrape for Money Money Money – is positively utopian. In Mamma Mia!, anything is possible: old flames reignite, new love blooms, and the only obstacles to ever after are just a song away from solving. For all its fluff and fabulousness, its subversive quality is perhaps its most enduring: giving its older women characters focus and agency, and the space to be sexy, messy, and fun.

Mamma Mia – you’ll want to go again! This is a show for every Dancing Queen and Chiquitita who ever had a dream. If you’re thinking ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme a ticket’, you might want to act soon – because they’re selling out faster than you can say Voulez-Vous! It might not be the most polished gem in the West End’s crown – but when it’s good, it’s gold.

Mamma Mia! Is playing at the New Theatre in Cardiff through to Saturday 4 March