Interview: 'As Soon As I've Got That Accent In My Mouth, I Am Céline!': Actor Astrid Harris on The Joy and Chaos of Joining TITANIQUE

What happens when you combine the music of Céline Dion with the James Cameron movie, Titanic? You get the iconic Titanique, the two-time Olivier Award-winning comedy musical, which is making a splash at the Criterion Theatre on the West End.

Recently, we had the chance to talk with Astrid Harris, who has just taken over the iconic role of Céline Dion in Titanique. We discussed how she went from singing opera as a child to musical theatre, what it was like to perform in Titanique in Paris and what she hopes audiences take away from the show. 

How did you first get started in the world of theatre? 

Well, my whole family have been musicians and singers and stuff my whole life, so I've always kind of been surrounded by performing and things like that. I did my first school show when I was four, and then I started training as an opera singer when I was eleven. So I did opera for about eight years, and I used to do that semi-professionally. I was at school, but then I would do shows outside of school, UK-wide festivals and travel around, compete and do things like that. So I was originally an opera singer for a while, and then, as I got a bit older, I did a year at Guildford School of Acting in musical theatre. Since then, I've just been working!

What made you want to be a part of Titanique?

Why wouldn't you want to be a part of Titanique? [Laughs] I'm a human being with ears, so I enjoy Céline Dion a lot. She's always been an inspiration to me. My style of singing lends itself quite well to her music. Not that I would ever compare myself to Celine Dion! But that style of music is my thing -  big power ballads, things like that. I love it. I'd been told by friends before, “Have you seen Titanique? You need to go and see Titanique, you'd be obsessed with it!” When it opened off-Broadway, I had friends go to New York and be like, “This is you!”  So when the audition came through, I went to see it in London, and I was obsessed!

It's a laugh a minute, but in such a clever way that it doesn't feel too much. It’s been so cleverly written - every single thing that's in it has been well thought out and is really funny. And I was really surprised, because I am not a laugh out loud at the theatre person - I sit quite quietly and just enjoy. But I was covering my mouth at all times, shrieking! I just thought, this is something I would love to be a part of, and couldn't believe that there was an opportunity that I might be in it. And now I will have been a part of two different productions, which is so exciting!

So what was it like to be performing Titanique in Paris?

Very exciting! Paris is such a cool place for this kind of show. When I first found out that I was doing it in Paris, I said it to a few French friends, and they were like, “I don't think you understand. Céline Dion is like an international star, but in France, she is like God - she is number one.” And I was like, “Well, okay, no pressure!” And it was so interesting seeing the reaction.

We'd done the show in English with French surtitles, so sometimes the audience are reading the surtitles, but a lot of the comedy in the show is quite physical in itself, so it doesn't really need translating. One thing I did notice was that the reaction in France is very emotional - they are in awe the whole time. By the end of “My Heart Will Go On,” they're all crying! It's a very emotional experience, even though it's slapstick and it's absolutely ridiculous and insane things are happening in front of them. It was so nice. You could feel that love coming from the audience the whole time. 

And something that we talked about a lot in rehearsals was how sincere Céline is, how humble she is with her fans, how much she loves that. It really felt like that experience! It's these people coming, almost like a pilgrimage, to see her. Obviously, she's not performing much right now, and I felt incredibly honoured to be able to bring that experience to Paris and to have the French audience enjoy it as much as they did. I got a lot of beautiful messages from people. There were also a lot of children brought to the show! It being France, they're a little bit more relaxed about nudity and things like that, but the kids loved it as well. You'd have kids crying because they love Céline Dion! It's so ingrained within their society to almost worship her that it was such a huge job to fill. 

It's been a really interesting experience, and I absolutely loved it. Also, the Lido is an iconic venue and utterly massive, so filling that stage was quite a lot of running. Hopefully, there'll be a little less running around! [Laughs]

What is the process like to become Céline Dion? 

For me, it's been re-watching all these old videos of her, and also her documentary and things like that - seeing a real insight into who she is and that humbleness, but also that complete eccentricity that she has about her. There's no rules in Céline Dion’s world. Whatever is on her mind, she just says! She'll sing in the middle of an interview when no one's asked her to and things like that. For me, that's fairly similar to who I am as a person. My friends take the mick out of me a lot for just randomly singing things. But I found as soon as I've got that accent in my mouth, I am Céline. Everything else comes with it. That voice is the first thing that comes with it. The voice is quite grounded in me, and I did try really hard to make the accent as naturally Québécois as possible. I do have family in Canada, not in French Canada, but in Toronto and Vancouver, so I've used bits of their accent, as well as obviously a little bit of French! 

And then just studied the way her mouth moves to try and get it exactly right. Obviously, it's not gonna be perfect, and I'm not doing an impression, but I wanted to make sure that accent was as accurate as possible. Hopefully, they'll come out with a little bit of understanding that I'm treating their accent, their people and their queen with respect. I'd hope so. 

Did you have a favourite or interesting fact you learned about Céline while you were doing research?

I learned that she's one of fourteen children! She's got this huge family and all of these siblings, yet her parents had enough capacity to nurture every single one of them, and her being the youngest, they still had enough to launch a career when she was about twelve. So I always thought that was really cool, that she came from that, because I do not come from a giant family. I can't imagine having to flip the plates over just to eat like dessert. That's wild!

Do you have a favourite Céline Dion song?

I do! I have a favourite Céline Dion song to sing and a different favourite song to listen to. I love singing “I Surrender” - that is my favourite of her songs to sing. It's an absolute powerhouse moment. I love it - I'm also terrified of it! I think that's why I love it so much, because it gives me anxiety, and I'm like, “Alright, this is adrenaline. This is fine.”

And then my favourite one actually changed since I've been in the show! I still love “The Power of Love,” but now I'm obsessed with “I Drove All Night.” What an iconic song, and hilarious! 

What do you hope audiences take away from Titanique?

There's a number of things, but I think the main thing that I would want, and I do think that audiences take from Titanique, is unfiltered, unadulterated joy and laughter. You could say this about any time, but we are living in a time where there's a lot of negative things happening politically around the world.

If you watch Titanique, you come out and the world feels slightly brighter. I would hope that you've laughed for nearly two hours straight, because there's only about a minute that goes by every now and then where you're not doing a full belly laugh! Just unfiltered, unbridled joy. 

And I think that's the reason people keep coming back as well, because they want to feel that joy, and they want that complete escapism, because it's a nonsense story. The entire story is absolutely ridiculous. So hopefully, they come in and leave feeling lighter and brighter and more positive.

And finally, how would you describe Titanique in one word?

If you’ve seen the show, you'll know it's pretty indescribable! But if I had to do one word, it would have to be hyphenated, “kooky-crazy!” [Laughs]

Titanique is currently booking until 4 January 2026 at the Criterion Theatre.