One of history's biggest disasters is brought back to life on the stage.

Titanic was first seen on-stage in Broadway in 1997 where it enjoyed a two-year, Tony-winning run including winning the award for Best Musical. Now it returns as a revival by the producers behind Chicago and Pippin, and has set sail for an exclusive pre-Broadway run in Toronto.

ABOUT THE MUSICAL

Not to be confused with the blockbuster film released in the same year as the musical's premiere, the production shows the final hours of a group of the fateful ship's passengers in a brand new story unconnected with the tale of Jack and Rose. Instead, the focus is on the real life characters including White Star Lines director J Bruce Ismay, Capt. Smith, and Thomas Andrews the architect, who in turn caused the tragedy by ignoring the ice warnings, but then tried to avert the disaster, and the fortunes of one man Jim Farrell, and three women in steerage (all ironically named Kate).

Titanic will be directed by Thom Southerland who also directed a smaller scale but well-received chamber production of the musical last year in London. It is set to star opera tenor Ben Heppner who will play Isidor Straus as well as several other smaller roles.

DID YOU KNOW?

The stage show Titanic has been translated into six languages: Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Finnish and Norwegian.