“This is the biggest challenge of my career,” says Véronique Claveau, who stars in the Segal Centre show. “What I’m doing here is not just a Céline sketch for five minutes.”
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Céline Dion returns to the local stage — sort of — in the uproarious, off-the-deck musical parody Titanique, moored at the Segal Centre through Nov. 24.
Making her English-language stage debut, Québécois vedette Véronique Claveau virtually morphs into Dion, from her voice down to her facial expressions to her inimitable charm offensive. Claveau should do the real Dion proud.
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This is not entirely an accident: In franco circles, Claveau has become as well known for her Dion impressions as for her singing and acting chops. Guaranteed, she will win new hearts at the Segal crooning Dion classics, as she will when Titanique sets sail for Toronto in December.
An off-Broadway hit, Titanique is a stage cocktail unlike most, with all manner of intoxicating ingredients and wildly offbeat souls tossed in for surreal good measure. A love letter to Dion on one level, it is quite the camp delight on another: fevered, frenetic, funny and surprisingly moving at times. (Original director and co-writer Tye Blue is also at the helm for the Segal shows.)
Set in a contemporary Titanic museum, Dion (Claveau) shows up much to the surprise of tour visitors and proceeds to miraculously bring back to life the ocean liner’s doomed 1912 maiden voyage, with a focus on the burgeoning love story of Rose and Jack, as outlined in James Cameron’s blockbuster film.
In the midst of this romance, however, there emerges a cavalcade of performers who have absolutely no connection to the plot of the movie. Characters like Tina Turner, Kathy Bates, Peabo Bryson and — really — Canadian actor Victor Garber.
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Best to check your cerebrum at the door and simply embark on this raucous ride. Titanique is quite the trip, but much more of the magic-mushroom sort than the seafaring sort.
At its core, though, this is a jukebox musical, with all 11 cast members giving their larynxes arduous workouts on 18 tunes over the course of a 90-minute spectacle. In addition to Claveau, kudos must go to the acting and the pipes of Mariah Campos (Rose), Seth Zosky (Jack), Christopher Ning (Bryson, Turner, Iceberg Bitch), Mike Melino (Garber) and Erica Peck as the truly unsinkable Molly Brown.
Not surprisingly, Claveau is both anxious and euphoric making her anglo debut by taking on her singing idol Dion. They met only once, 32 years ago, when Quebec City native Claveau was just 11.
“This is the biggest challenge of my career,” Claveau says backstage at the Segal. “What I’m doing here is not just a Céline sketch for five minutes, as I have done so often in the past. This is an entire show, and this time it’s in English. I worked so hard over the summer with an English coach to learn pronunciations, and I’m proud of what I’ve done. But now the test has come.”
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Claveau is not aware if Dion has ever heard or seen her impersonation.
“I wish she would come to the show. But mostly, I really wish Céline would get back performing again. The good news is that I hear she has been getting better of late,” says Claveau, referring to Dion’s devastating stiff person syndrome, which curtailed her career the last few years.
“Because of her condition, I didn’t want my performance to be seen as making fun, but rather as an homage to her. I really see what we’re doing here as sending a love letter to Céline. I learned to sing through her music.”
Claveau gets a little emotional talking about Dion.
“Her music has been with me my whole life. I don’t want to cry, but she has been so important to me. I want to have fun doing this, because this is such a wild show, but I would also want her to like it.
“I feel so lucky to be able to do this. It’s like my career has come full circle. Maybe that’s why I’m so emotional.”
Claveau will have another challenge performing for the first time in Toronto.
“One step at a time,” she says. “But at least I will have my new stage family there for support.”
Forget Toronto audiences — most anglo audiences in Montreal aren’t very aware of Claveau either, unless they’ve caught her in Radio-Canada’s year-end Bye Bye revues or in the franco stage productions of Hairspray and Annie.
Listening to Claveau belt a few verses of My Heart Will Go On should forever change that, both at the Segal Centre and in Toronto.
What about doing Titanique in New York?
“My boyfriend would really like that, but that’s beyond anything I could possibly dream about now. Just one step at a time.”
AT A GLANCE
Titanique continues through Nov. 24 at the Segal Centre, 5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd. For tickets and more information, call 514-739-7944 or visit segalcentre.org.
bbrownstein@postmedia.com
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