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A<\/span>ccording to its creators, the idea for Titan\u00edque, the extremely campy C\u00e9line Dion<\/a> jukebox musical now open on Broadway<\/a>, originated as a drunken riff between friends \u2013 what if the Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Queen of Feelings not only sang the theme song of the movie Titanic<\/a>, but sincerely believed she survived the disaster? A C\u00e9line-ified Titanic is an appropriately silly concept \u2013 possibly no one has provided the world as much camp sincerity as the 90s power ballad pioneer, and the beloved movie could use some unserious updates. Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue, the co-authors, made the show extra zany, extra gay, extra \u201ckooky crazy\u201d (to quote the truly inimitable Dion) and set sail in the theatrical equivalent of a rowboat; the first staging of Titan\u00edque took place in the basement of a shuttered Manhattan grocery store. Adaptable and very meta, the show upgraded to a series of ever-larger craft: a buzzy, post-pandemic Off-Broadway run, a world tour, then an acclaimed West End stint<\/a>.<\/p>\n Though, to my deep regret, I missed out on the original Off-Broadway run, I found myself nostalgic for those humble beginnings while attending the new-and-improved Titan\u00edque at the too-cavernous St James Theater, where the jazzed-up show now has the budget and scale befitting an ocean liner. Or, more accurately, a corporate reality TV show; the tiered risers, on-stage band (who, it should be noted, sound great) and, most evocatively, neon-red stage lights look less like Titanic, even a very loosely interpreted one, and more like The X Factor<\/a>, as Mindelle joked in one of her many asides as the singer. Why? Who\u2019s to say. Self-awareness counts for a lot in the very funny Titan\u00edque, though not an explanation.<\/p>\n