Titanic

Harland & Wolff, Shipbuilders Belfast, Ireland

ACT ONE

Overture/prologue: In Every Age

Thomas Andrews, Designer
& Builder of R.M.S. Titanic

To fabricate great works
at once magnificent
and impossible...

On great desert sands, from Mountains
of Stone
A Pyramid!
From Flying Buttresses alone
A Wall of light
A chapel ceiling
screaming one man's ecstacy!
One man's ecstacy...

Miracles them all!
China's endless wall...
Stonehenge, the parthenon, the duomo
the aqueducts of Rome

We did not attempt to make
with mammoth blocks of stone
a giant pyramid...
nor gothic walls that radiate light...

Our task was to dream upon
and then create
a floating city!...
Floating city!...

A human metropolis...
A complete civilization!
Sleek!
and Fast!
At once a poem
and the perfection
of physical engineering...

at once a dream
and the perfection of physical engineering...

Southampton: "The Ocean Dock"

The Launching

Wednesday, April 10, 1912; 6:00am

How did they build Titanic?

Stoker Frederick Barrett:
How did they build Titanic?
Near a thousand feet in length.
Huge beyond past endeavor
Strong beyond mortal strength

Forty-six thousand tons of Steel
Eleven Stories high!
She's a great floating palace, Floating...
Quiet as a lullaby

There She Is

Barrett: (to his girl on the dock)
Fare-thee-well my darlin'
I'll be back before a fortnight has
passed...

Radioman Harold Bride:
Fare-thee-well my darlin'
I'll be back before a fortnight has
passed...

Barrett& Lookout Frederick Fleet: Fare-thee-well, my darlin'

All three:
I'll be back before a fortnight has
passed!
(they turn and introduce themselves)

Barrett:
Barrett - stoker off the Baltic-

Fleet:
Fleet -lookout off the Majestic-

Bride:
Harold Bride - wireless operator with
the Marconi Telegraph Company.

Barrett, Bride & Fleet:
(looking at the ship, overwhelmed)
There she is...
Towering high...
Broad and grand...
Ship of dreams!

Barrett, Bride, Fleet & Crewman:
Sailing Day!
Morning Bright!
Take your flight!
Ship of dreams!...

She strains at her lines,
The smoke from her funnels trailing.
Her prow like a knife.,
She'll cut through the waves unfailing.

Soon to be
Underway,
Size and speed unexplored..
And I'll be aboard
That ship of dreams!

Same scene: 8:00am

Loading Inventory

Stevedore:
7000 Heads of fresh lettuce, Titanic!

3rd Officer Herbert Pitman:
Morning, Mr. Lightholler

2nd Officer Charles Lightholler:
Morning, Mr. Pitman

Pitman:
Morning Mr. Boxhall
Morning, Captain Smith!

Lightholler:
Morning Captain!

4th Officer & Navigator Joseph
Boxhall:
Morning Captain!

Stevedore:
36,000 oranges Titanic!

Pitman:
Morning, Mr. Hitchens

Quartermaster Robert Hitchens:
Morning Mr. Pitman

Pitman:
Morning Mr. Murdoch

Hitchens:
Morning, Captain Smith

Capt. Edward J. Smith:
Morning Murdoch...

1st Officer William Murdoch:
Morning, Captain!

Capt Smith:
Mr. Pitman, Please
Complete the loading of the freight

Capt Smith:
And prepare for the boarding of the
serving staff and crew!

Pitman:
Aye Captain!

Crew & Staff:
There she is...

Towering High!

Broad and Grand!
Ship of Dreams!

Bellboy:
Morning Mr. Andrews
Hello Mr. Ismay
Morning Mr. Etches
Hello Mr. Pitman
Morning Mr. Whitely

Stevedore:
42,000 fresh eggs Titanic!

Crew & Staff:
Sailing Day!

Morning Bright!

Take your flight..
.
ship of dreams!

Bellboy:
Morning Mr. Crawford
Hello Mrs. Hutchinson

Morning, Mrs. Robinson
Hello, Mrs. Beecham

Morning, Mr. Weikman!

Pitman:
122,000 pounds of meat, poultry and
fish Titanic!

Stevedore:
40 tons of potatoes, 1100 pounds of
marmalade, 37,000 bottles of wine,
beer and spirits, Titanic!

Pitman:
55,000 china dishes and 20,000
crystal drinking glasses, Titanic!

Stevedore:
One Renault town carriage motorcar,
Titanic!

Crew and Staff:
Soon to be...

underway..

Size and speed

unexplored...

Bellboy:

Morning Mr. Widgery
Hello Mr. Oliver

Morning Mr. Hartley
Hello Mr. Joughin
Cheers! Mr. Weikman

All:
And I'll be aboard that ship of dreams!

10:00 AM

The Largest Moving Object

J. Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the
White Star Line:
Captain Smith has there ever been
A finer morning to sail!

Capt. Smith:
Never quite like this, Mr. Ismay!
Never quite like this, Sir!

Ismay:
Mr. Andrews, has the line ever had
a faster ship for the mail?

Andrews:
Not as fast as this, Mr. Ismay!
Never quite like this one, Sir!

Ismay:
The pride

Captain & Andrews:
The pride

All Three:
Of mankind...
Dominion over the sea!

Ismay:
The Dream

Captain and Andrews:
The Dream

All Three:
Of progress!
It brings great honor to me!

Capt Smith:
To be the master...

Andrews:
And the builder!

Ismay:
And the owner!

All Three:
Of the largest moving object in the
world!

I Must Get On That Ship

Pitman:
3rd class passengers
proceed at once to the gangway!
Please bring your boarding documents
and await further instruction!..

Kate Murphey:
Holy Mother of God!
Is that a ship or a mountain?

Kate McGowan:
It looks long enough so a body could
walk to America!
I'm Katherine McGowan, but
everyone calls me Kate.

Kate Mullins:
I'm Kate, too. Kate Mullins.

Kate Murphey:
And I'm Kate, three! Kate Murphey!

Kate Mullins:
It must be fate!

Kate McGowan:
It's not fate. It's Irish.

Kate Mullins:
You travelin' alone?

Kate McGowan:
Not me. I've got a feller. See that one
over there? (indicating Jim Farrell)
I'm plannin' to marry him.

Kate Murphey:
When that's gonna be?

Kate McGowan:
Soon as I meet him.
Get me aboard

Three Kates:
Call out my name

3rd class passengers:
It's to america we aim
to find a better life.
We prayed to make this trip!
Let all our children's children know
That this day long ago
We dreamt of them
and came aboard this ship!

ALL:
For the maiden voyage!
For the maiden voyage!
Get us all aboard!

Pitman:
Second class passengers
proceed to "C", "D" and "E" decks!
Please contact the ships purser
to arrange dining assignments!...

Charles Clarke:
No account in the national press
has quite done justice to this!

Edgar Beane:
It's a sight for once in a lifetime!

Edgar & Alice Beane,
Charles Clarke & Caroline Neville:
Yes, a sight for once in a lifetime!

Charles Clarke:
And the chance to marry now
we two daren't miss!

Caroline Neville:
It's a chance for once in a lifetime!

2nd Class passengers:
Yes, a chance for once in a lifetime!
Can't wait to board that ship today,
Be with her when she pulls away
And takes her maiden sail,
I must get on that ship!
The largest grandest on the earth
And I've reserved a birth
to be aboard,now point me toward
that ship!

Alice Beane:
The finest people will attend.
The best among them we'll befriend
They'll stand right next to us,
Be at my fingertip...

All:
Great heads of state and millionaires
Who run the world's affairs
Will all be there.
I must get on that ship!

For the maiden voyage!
For the maiden voyage!
Get us all aboard!

The First Class Roster

Pitman:
Colonel John Jacob Astor
And Mrs. Astor, too.
Arriving now from that boat train
Direct from Waterloo station
May proceed to their parlour suite
A-62!

Alice Beane:
Her name is Madeline
She's John Jacob Astor's Second Wife,
She's only Nineteen-years-old
And now she's married to a prominent man
Worth over a hundred and fifty million
And twenty-nine years her senior!

They've only been married seven months
She's already seven months pregnant
And the scandel was such
They ran away to the Europe to avoid
The publicity!
Avoid the publicity!

Pitman:
Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus may proceed to
the Parlour Suite - B-55!-

Alice Beane:
Aren't they modest?
You'd never think by looking at them
That he and his brother own Macy's
Department Store...Outright!
And he was close advisor
to President Grover Cleveland
And served in the House of Representatives
Two Full terms!
And that's his wife of forty years, named Ida
Sad! She's hasn't been well
So the two of them have been wintering
On the French Riveria
French Riveria!

Pitman:
Mr. Benjamin Guggenheim and party
will find his customary suite on
A Deck!

Alice Beane:
Made his money smelting gold
spends it like the water
Forty five hundred dollars for
The Louis Quatorze Suite!
So he can live in luxurious sin
With his latest mistress!
And they call that justice!
They call that justice?...

Pitman:
Mr and Mrs. George Widener may
proceed to Promenade Suite B-51!

Alice Beane:
He's the richest man in Philadelphia

Pitman:
Mr. and Mrs. John B Thayer
and family, Promenade Suite B-58!

Alice Beane:
Vice President of the Pennsylvania
Railroad!

Pitman:
Mrs. Charlotte Drake Cardoza Suite B-54!

Alice Beane:
No one really knows who she is but
the newspaper says she's booked
The most expensive suite on the ship
And travels with fourteen steamer trunks
A medicine chest
Her personal pillows and sheets
And four little pekinese dogs...
So she must be somebody...