Marla Mindell was working on three hours of sleep Tuesday morning after her performance Titanic Monday night then waking up early to perform Show of the day. That’s when news of the Tony nomination came.
“About 10 seconds before the show, I found out I’d been nominated. Then they’d say, ‘You’re five, four…'” Mindell said. “It’s once in a lifetime. I was like, ‘This may never happen again.’
Mendel received a Tony nomination for her role as Celine Dion in the film Titanic musical parody, as well as a nomination for Best Book of a Musical, after writing the book for the show alongside star Constantin Rosuli and Ty Blue. The show was also nominated for Best Musical.
While some of the musical follows the plot of the 1997 film, Mindel and her team reimagined it as Dionne as a passenger on the ship and now describes what she can remember of the experience, while singing Dionne’s greatest hits, from “Taking Chances” to “Beauty and the Beast.” She’s aided in this endeavor by characters from the film including Jack (Rossoli), Rose (Melissa Barrera), and Victor Garber (Frankie Grande), as well as some newly imagined characters like Iceberg, a Tina Turner-style villain played by Leighton Williams, who was also nominated for a Tony on Tuesday.
These are the first Tony nominations for Mindell, who dreamed up the concept with her fellow writers about 10 years ago, before presenting the show off-Broadway, which began in the basement of a Gristides grocery store, before moving to larger off-Broadway theatres, the West End and now Broadway.
I talked to Hollywood Reporton Tuesday about playing Dion for a decade, having to come up with nightly improv on the show and what it feels like to interact with fans as a voice star.
What do you think of this Titanic voyage?
It’s been a 10-year journey. We started it with a credit card, with Ty’s credit card. I would buy my wig on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles for $75 and rent my dress from Rent the Runway. To then go Off-Broadway to The Basement of Gristydis and then go all over the world, now on Broadway, I can’t tell you how happy I feel, because I never thought this would happen, not in my wildest dreams, and to finally do it, and not only that, but to be recognized for multiple accomplishments at the theatrical level and by the Tony Nominating Committee. I am beyond humbled, proud and grateful. In the words of Celine Dion, “It’s freakin’ madness.”
Having played Celine Dion for so long, how inhabited is this point? Where do you end and begin?
I can transform into it so fast that it scares people. It’s a second language to me, and it’s like I never learned French, but I learned Céline at this point. It is my second language. But I love that this 10-year process has made me study it more and more and fall in love with it more. I was already in love with her. I’m one of her biggest fans. I grew up listening to her, but to get to know her on a human level, and everything that she was going through in her personal life and her health and everything like that, to be able to channel even one iota of what she does, you know, I feel honored that I was able to do that.
And Celine still hasn’t watched the show, right?
She didn’t do it, but everyone in her camp saw it. Her makeup artist, her backup dancers, her doctor, her music lawyer, and her sister, Claudette, all say the same thing: She’s going to love it. But if you watch the show, you can never tell, because I’ll probably pass out on stage.
Do you know when these people and other celebrities will be coming to the show?
No, I’m such a nervous mess that even if my second cousin, first removed, says, I’m coming to see the show. I don’t want to know. I don’t even want to know when my father is in the audience. So, if Celine Dion was in the audience, I would have died. She would bury me in the ground, then walk past me and say, “Okay, let’s do the show, my friend!” And in some ways it will be exactly the same [show]I’m convinced.
Maybe this is the way Titanic He ends his career.
How creative would that be? Honestly, this is great, because I’m already so exhausted from the Broadway schedule. I need a break. Celine, come in
You have a much-lauded improv segment in the middle of the show each night, where you, as Celine, say you’ve forgotten what happens next and instead make up a story that Jack and Rose have to re-enact via pantomime. It is often related to something happening in popular culture or current events. How do you prepare for that moment?
I used to design it, and now that it’s a mainstay of the show and something people come back for, I have to think about it, but I don’t think about it for long. Maybe I should think more about it. But again, with the show schedule, I spend 20 minutes thinking about it while I’m walking to the subway and traveling, and then when I get on stage, it’s show time, and it’s really a live show. Sometimes it slaps and sometimes it falls like a lead balloon.
In recent weeks, I’ve also heard some improvisations that reimagine the plots of other new Broadway musicals. Was that a secret part of your Tony campaign?
It’s so funny, when I was downstairs at the Gristedes, I could get away with saying anything. But now that we’re playing in front of 1,200-1,300 people, I’ve realized that a lot of the more subversive, niche things that I love, like reality TV, middle America is completely unfamiliar with. So I started doing these other musicals, because I was like, at least if they’re watching theater, they should know the other shows, too. But I’m at a show, so I can’t see any of the other candidates, so what will the scene be? This was really fun, clever and creative. Also, you can get two tickets for the price of one coming to see Titanic.
Did you have any weird interactions with the audience or special moments?
Everyone comes in as if they’ve got some sort of top and so people will buy fans, they’ll click on their fans. I mean we call it the Gay Super Bowl because I’ve never heard screaming like I’ve heard before Titanic. I think what’s really special is that by the end of the show, when I’m interacting with the audience, people are reaching out to me, touching me as if I were Celine Dion. I am literally treated as if I were myself. And I feel like, how special is it that they come to see a show on Broadway, and that they get to have a concert and interact with the audience as well.
Someone literally saw me [outside the theater the other day]And he, like, threw his phone. I think he was trying to get an image like, “Oh my God, that’s Celine Dion.” He accidentally threw his phone six feet into the air because he was so terrified. Maybe it’s scary and creepy when you see me come out in a gold dress and ride a giant truck. But I wasn’t going to Vegas, my friend. I was going to [the theater event] mistake.
