History YMMV / TITANIC

* GeniusBonus: At the end of "Still" and the last time we see Isidor and Ida, he wraps his champagne glass in his handkerchief and smashes it underfoot. This is the traditional final rite of a Jewish wedding - Isidor was a Bavarian-born American Jewish man. There are many interpretations of this rite, but a popular one is that it's a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, because even in moments of great joy, tragedy and loss must not be forgotten. Isidor and Ida may have just joyfully affirmed their eternal love by staying TogetherInDeath with two glasses of champagne, but many other couples and families will be parted by the death of the Ship of Dreams.

* TearJerker: This is a musical about one of the most well-known maritime tragedies, making tear-jerkers inevitable.
** The tears may start flowing as early as ''the opening number'', if you've already seen the show, the movie, or know of the real events. The hope of it all, the sheer scale of the ship, the characters talking in adoration about how Titanic is the Ship of Dreams, unaware that she would take them to such a heartrending place of ruin instead of towards beautiful new lives in the New World.
** The various scenes of passengers saying goodbye and white-lying to each other about meeting again. The libretto is vague on how to stage the crowd, so takes on this may vary from production to production, from actor to actor. Many productions add background and foreground characters being dragged apart screaming and crying (Caroline Neville and Alice Beane, for example), some after running back to give their loved one the last hug or kiss (Jack Thayer, for example). On Broadway, Kate [=McGowan=] has to be yanked away, lifted off her feet, and bodily thrown into a lifeboat to separate her from Jim Farrell as she screams.
** At least one production's Wallace Hartley has his bow hand visibly tremble as he continues trying to calm the passengers with his violin even as everything descends into chaos around him. The music still doesn't waver at all. (Out of universe, this is because Hartley's actor isn't playing the violin himself, but Hartley and the Titanic band's brave decision to remain with the ship is commendable regardless.)
** "Still", Isidor and Ida Straus' FinalLoveDuet to reaffirm their love and devotion to each other, ends with Isidor smashing his champagne glass underfoot - essentially re-enacting their marriage ceremony.
** Even as the ship sinks, Andrews frantically looks over the plans for Titanic and brainstorms how to save it. Once he is startled out of this reverie by the bellboy, he narrates a vision of their immediate future that is both tearjerking and prime nightmare fuel: unbridled chaos, doom, and death, as class and morals will cease to matter in the struggle for life.
*** The 2023 theatrically-released live-capture of the musical (streaming on BroadwayHD) features a scene where there ghost of Andrews looks solemnly upon the drowned spirits of the Titanic, including the fallen sailors and the waltzing Straus.
** The shell-shocked survivors on the Carpathia musing about what happened and what could have been.
*** One of the hardest parts in this scene is when the death of the bellboys is mentioned. All fifty bellboys are dead, apparently 'without a whimper', and the eldest of the bunch were only fifteen years old. In some productions this is told to the audience by the butler, who got lucky and survived, and thus is left to lament the dead boys, whom he probably worked with.

* GeniusBonus: At the end of "Still" and the last time we see Isidor and Ida, he wraps his champagne glass in his handkerchief and smashes it underfoot. This is the traditional final rite of a Jewish wedding - Isidor was a Bavarian-born American Jewish man. There are many interpretations of this rite, but a popular one is that it's a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, because even in moments of great joy, tragedy and loss must not be forgotten. Isidor and Isa may have just joyfully affirmed their eternal love by staying TogetherInDeath with two glasses of champagne, but many other couples and families will be parted by the death of the Ship of Dreams.

** At least one production's Wallace Hartley has his bow hand visibly tremble as he continues trying to calm the passengers with his violin even as everything descends into chaos around him. The music is unwavering regardless. (Out of universe, this is because Hartley's actor isn't playing the violin himself, but Hartley and the Titanic band's brave decision to remain with the ship is commendable regardless.)

** The various scenes of passengers saying goodbye and white-lying to each other about meeting again. The libretto is vague on how to stage the crowd, so takes on this may vary from production to production, from actor to actor. Many productions add background and foreground characters being dragged apart screaming and crying (Caroline Neville and Alice Beane, for example), some after running back to give their loved one the last hug or kiss (Jack Thayer, for example). On Broadway, Kate [=McGowan=] has to be yanked away and lifted off her feet to separate her from Jim Farrell as she screams.

** The shell-shocked survivors on the Carpathia musing about what happened and what could have been.

* HeartwarmingMoment:

* HeartwarmingMoments:

** The various scenes of passengers saying goodbye and white-lying to each other about meeting again. The libretto is vague on how to stage the crowd, so takes on this may vary from production to production, from actor to actor. Many productions add background and foreground characters being dragged apart screaming and crying (Caroline Neville and Alice Beane, for example), some after running back to give their loved one the last hug or kiss (Jack Thayer, for example). On Broadway, Kate McGowan has to be yanked away and lifted off her feet to separate her from Jack Farrell as she screams.

** The final part of "Autumn/Finale" is a nightmarish, eerie overlapping foreshadowing of doom. The passengers echo "No moon, no wind", Bride speaks of how "the night was alive with a thousand voices", Barrett repeats that the ship's speed has now been increased to 81 from 75, and Andrews brag about Titanic being a "perfection of physical engineering". As the music comes to a dissonant climax, there's a {{Beat}}, before Fleet spots an "Iceberg, straight ahead!" The passengers would die on a moonless, windless night in a still black sea, because Andrews' design was imperfect and the ship was going too fast. The "thousand voices" would be Bride's own frantic messages trying to get distress signals out to whoever could hear, as well as the passengers' dying screams and wails.

* TearJerker: This is a musical about one of the most well-known maritime tragedies, making tearjerkers inevitable.
** The various scenes of passengers saying goodbye and white-lying to each other about meeting again. The libretto is vague on how to stage the crowd, so takes on this may vary from production to production, from actor to actor. Many productions add background and foreground characters being dragged apart screaming and crying (Caroline Neville and Alice Beane, for example), some after running back to give their loved one the last hug or kiss (Jack Thayer, for example).

** The various scenes of passengers saying goodbye and white-lying to each other about meeting again.

** The final part of "Autumn/Finale" is a nightmarish, eerie overlapping foreshadowing of doom. The passengers echo "No moon, no wind", Bride speaks of how "the night was alive with a thousand voices", Barrett repeats that the ship's speed has now been increased to 81 from 75, and Andrews brag about Titanic being a "perfection of physical engineering". As the music comes to a dissonant climax, there's a Beat, before Fleet spots an "Iceberg, straight ahead!" The passengers would die on a moonless, windless night in a still black sea, because Andrews' design was imperfect and the ship was going too fast. The "thousand voices" would be Bride's own frantic messages trying to get distress signals out to whoever could hear, as well as the passengers' dying screams and wails.

* NightmareFuel: As the lights on the Titanic flash and the music rises to a crescendo, there's a quick drone that sounds like countless humans crying out at once and then cut short (coincidentally similar to the technique employed by James Horner in his track "Death of Titanic" for ''Film/Titanic1997''). Then, [[NothingIsScarier dead silence.]] It brings to mind survivors' accounts of the screaming dying out after only half an hour, leaving only an unforgettable eerie silence.

* NightmareFuel: As the lights on the Titanic flash and the music rises to a crescendo, there's a quick drone that sounds like countless humans crying out at once and then cut short (coincidentally similar to the technique employed by James Horner in his track "Death of Titanic" for ''Film/Titanic1997''). Then, [[NothingIsScarier dead silence.]]

** "Still", Isidor and Ida Straus' FinalLoveDuet to reaffirm their love and devotion to each other, ends with Isador smashing his champagne glass underfoot - essentially re-enacting their marriage ceremony.

** "Still", Isador and Ida Strauss' FinalLoveDuet to reaffirm their love and devotion to each other, ends with Isador smashing his champagne glass underfoot - essentially re-enacting their marriage ceremony.

* TearJerker: This is a musical about one of the most well-known maritime tragedies, making tearjerker inevitable.

** Even as the ship sinks, Andrews frantically looks over the plans for Titanic and brainstorms how to save it. Once he is startled out of this reverie by the bellboy, he narrates a vision of their immediate future that is both tearjerking and prime nightmare fuel: unbridled chaos, doom, and death, as class and morals will cease to matter in the struggle for life.