What I liked
The audience was INTO this show. To the point where when a beautiful and intricately drawn out Titanic ship on the back wall is progressively pulverized, you would think from the audiences’ reaction that they were on the real thing, and I was right there with them. How dare you tear down such a beautiful piece!
Honestly, this show has an incredible array of set pieces, props and costumes that keep you engaged during the show and leave you marveling after the show at the amount of production coordination that is required and very well pulled off by such a small team!
What I didn't like
In the spirit of creative collaboration, I would suggest finding ways to trim the run time to perhaps a cool 75 – 80 mins. Maybe removing some of the Titanic re-enactment scenes, or trimming them down, could help and allow the show to focus a little more on those personal story beats.
My overall impression
There’s a wonderful joke in this show that I was my absolute favorite. Now, I dare not spoil it for you, you’re just gonna have to see the show for that, but let’s just say it’s a reference to a certain “length of time” which acts as a funny, and sobering, reminder of just how much ground there is to cover for one person re-enacting James Cameron’s Titanic.
In Oh, Fuck! An Iceberg, powerhouse of energy Mallie McCown commands the stage and does exactly that. She re-enacts Titantic by herself. For the most part. It’s absolutely worth pointing out that there is an extremely memorable assist from Dylan George as the titular, crass and sassy Iceberg. George is also wonderfully charismatic at warming the crowd up with an entertaining display of magic at the top of the show, even calling up some audience volunteers for a few tricks. But if you don’t get called up for the magic, don’t worry, there are plenty of opportunities for audience participation. If you want to. I had an especially great time dancing around the stage as a member of 3rd class – REPRESENT!
Of course, your conduit for this chaos is McCown, who, in between the zanily recreated highlights of Titanic we all know and love, is not afraid to take the story to a more sincere and vulnerable place. Intertwined throughout the story are authentic, adolescent McCown diary entries that are shared with the audience. It’s this juxtaposition that leaves me impressed. End of the show, as much as there were laughs there were some hardcore sob moments (of joy!)
So, be warned, if you board “Oh, Fuck! An Iceberg” you may get wet.
