Grande is returning to Broadway in a zany musical parody about the 1997 film ‘Titanic’
Credit: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Bruce Glikas/WireImage
NEED TO KNOW
- Frankie Grande is returning to his role as Victor Garber in Titanique, which starts Broadway performances on March 26
- Grande opened up about bonding with his Titanique costars, including Jim Parsons, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE
- Grande said of Parsons, “Even bigger fan of him now, now that I’ve been in rehearsal with him. What a genius”
Frankie Grande has nothing but love for his Titanique castmates.
Ahead of reprising his role as Victor Garber in the musical parody of the 1997 film Titanic on Broadway, Grande, 43, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about Titanique and his costars at the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 5.
Grande also discussed his admiration for The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons, who plays Rose's mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, in the musical.
"Big fan of Jim Parsons," Grande said. "Even bigger fan of him now, now that I've been in rehearsal with him. What a genius."
Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty
Meanwhile, Melissa Barrera will be playing Rose DeWitt Bukater, and Constantine Rousouli will play Jack Dawson.
He also praised Deborah Cox, who plays Unsinkable Molly Brown.
"What a star," Grande said. "I've known Deborah for 20 years, but like, wow, is she working in a way I've never seen her work before. She's so funny. And so this is our first comedic role, and I'm really excited."
He added, "And of course, being back on stage with my friends that have done previous iterations of the show with me is so exciting.”
Titanique, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2017 and opened off-Broadway in New York City in 2022, is a quirky parody of Céline Dion telling what she believes happened to the characters of the famous movie. The real Dion, 57, famously soundtracked the 1997 film with her hit song "My Heart Will Go On."
Grande told PEOPLE that the cast has been using Dion's career to grow closer together. "We're singing Céline Dion music very loud and very high all the time," he said. "So I would say no karaoke nights, but we're going to watch a lot of Céline documentaries together. It's going to be fun. We're really trying to do our queen justice. So we want to know every mannerism."
Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty
Grande performed in Titanique in its off-Broadway iteration.
"The fact that we're on such a big stage, and I'm used to such an intimate show," he said of this Broadway iteration. "So I'm going to be feeling out what it's going to be like with the audiences in real time on Broadway, which is crazy."
"I'm up for the task and up for the challenge," the actor added. "But yeah, making micro adjustments to a show that I've known, been doing for eight years, is a little bit of a mind f—."
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At the GLAAD Media Awards, Grande was nominated for Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist, which the girl group KATSEYE ultimately won. The event aims to highlight queer voices across various forms of media.
Titanique starts preview performances at the St. James Theatre on Thursday, March 26.
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