Then came the New Year's Eve snowstorm, with howling winds and temperatures hovering near zero. One by one, vocalists with the longest commutes called to express regrets at not being able to attend. Undaunted, a dwindling troupe of six remaining singers joined their accompanist, Caitlin Holland, at Jeremy and Fiona White's Needham home. What originally had been planned as a brush-up prior to that evening's performance turned into a whirlwind 90-minute production session. They totally revamped the program, scrapping a half-dozen songs ("We're missing a tenor -- can we still do this number?" "Anyone able to handle the harmonies in this piece?") while adding five new ones. Their freshly packaged song list in hand, and dressed to kill, they braved the elements and set off for the church.

Although the crowd was smaller than originally hoped (about 45 people), the audience thoroughly enjoyed the show and were blissfully unaware of the chaos that preceded it. Many thanks to our performers --  Caitlin, Jeremy, Fiona, Sharon Kivnik, Jim Pugh, Dan Moore and Kathy Magni -- for representing NCT so well!

The sole negative comment we heard was about how cold it was in the auditorium during two of the performances.  Though some joked we were trying to make the audience feel like they were aboard the Titanic, the problem was beyond our control -- the school ran out of oil. Despite this, the show was still a huge success.

 

None of this would have been possible without the dedicated members of the design team who spent countless hours creating, measuring, building, lighting, sewing, wiring and painting for this production. Thanks to Sarah Roth, Chris Carda, Sharon Kivnik, Kathy Magni, Jane Willshire and Mark Still for bringing "the largest moving object in the world" to life.

 

The technical crew worked tirelessly behind the scenes, building, painting, moving set pieces, applying make-up, organizing props and playing sound effects. Thanks to Jeff, Chris S, Leeta, Annie, Ashley, Vicky, Grace, Sarah, Michael, Everado, Eric, Laura, Padraic, Julie, Carla, Jeremy, Jim, Carolyn and Craig for all they did backstage. Thanks, too, to Kathi Cotton and Jill Owens, my co-producers and Aaron Spence, my co-stage manager, for helping the show run smoothly and making my life SO MUCH easier. 
 
One of the reasons we chose Titanic as our fall musical, was its glorious score. We knew the right person to bring this to life was Chris Roppola. He set a very high standard in the cast's vocal performances and assembled talented musicians to accompany them. Thank you, Chris for all your work in bringing Titanic to fruition.

 

Lastly, thanks to our directing team of Kevin Morin (Assistant Director) and Mark Usher (Director and Choreographer). Kevin volunteered his time to work on this show and, from the beginning, was an integral part of the concept of the show. Thanks to Mark's dedication, vision and creativity, Titanic was the best show NCT had ever produced.  For that, we are forever grateful.

 

Heather