Titaníque's Opening Night Red Carpet Was a Who's Who of Queer Pop Culture

Carson Kressley, Peppermint, Harvey Guillén, and lots more turned out to toast the cult-favorite musical's Broadway debut.

April 14, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

Carson Kressley, Peppermint, and Harvey Guillén

Titanic may have headed "straight" for that iceberg, but Titaníque was queer as hell on the opening night red carpet, rolled out April 12 at the St. James. The invite list was a who's who of queer icons, with Salina Estitties, Jay Manuel, Nathan Lee Graham, Miss J Alexander, Carson Kressley, Ross McCorkell (Drag Race's Rosé), Peppermint, Tituss Burgess, Matt Bernstein, Cheyenne Jackson, Evan Ross Katz, Harvey Guillén, Giovanni Lucca Palandrani (Drag Race's Aquaria), and Tonatiuh turning out to toast the musical's Broadway debut, along with Joan Grande, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Rosanna Scotto, Sherri Shepherd, Orfeh, Kevin McHale, Gina Gershon, Ana Gasteyer, Chris Perfetti, and more.

Take a look at the festivities in the photo gallery below.

The musical, a campy send-up of the blockbuster 1997 film Titanic set to the songs of Céline Dion, arrived on the Main Stem after becoming a cult favorite Off-Broadway. The work features a book by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue, and music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by Nicholas James Connell. Tye Blue is at the helm. See what critics had to say about the musical here.

Reprising their work on Broadway in the cast are Mindelle as Céline Dion, Frankie Grande (Rock of Ages) as Victor Garber, Rousouli (Wicked) as Jack Dawson, and John Riddle (Frozen) as Cal Hockley, now joined by Jim Parsons (Mother Play) as Ruth Dewitt Bukater, Deborah Cox (The Wiz) as Unsinkable Molly Brown, Melissa Barrera (In the Heights) as Rose Dewitt Bukater, and Layton Williams (Everybody's Talking About Jamie) as The Iceberg. Williams is reprising his Olivier-winning work from the musical's recent London premiere. Background vocalists Sara Gallo (1776), Polanco Jones (The Wiz), and Kristina Leopod (SIX) as well as understudies Tess Marshall (Titaníque), Brad Greer (Titaníque), and Kyle Ramar Freeman (The Wiz) round out the company. Casting is by The Telsey Company's Rachel Hoffman.

The musical began as a one-night-only concert in Los Angeles in 2017, coming to New York's Green Room 42 the following year before becoming a fully staged Off-Broadway musical in 2022. Originally intended to be a limited run, the production became a surprise smash hit, transferring to the Daryl Roth Theatre for a three-year run that ended last year. Since its premiere, the musical has spawned stagings in Australia, Canada, London's West End, Chicago, and Paris.

READ: Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue Look Back on the Decade-Long, Worldwide Voyage of Titaníque

The original creative team has also largely reassembled for the Broadway bow, including director Blue; choreographer Ellenore Scott; music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator Connell; scenic designer Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher for Iron Bloom Creative Production; costume designer Alejo Vietti; lighting designer Paige Seber; sound designer Lawrence Schober; and hair and wig designer Charles G. LaPointe. Rick Steiger is the production stage manager, and ShowTown Theatricals serves as general managers. Geoffrey Ko is the music director.

Eva Price leads the producing team.

Visit TitaniqueMusical.com.