Constantine Rousouli is back on Broadway, and he came back by helping create the show that made the trip possible. The actor is co-starring in Titanique, the Céline Dion-infused sendup of Titanic now in a limited run at the St. James Theatre through Sept. 20.
Rousouli told PEOPLE he stepped away from Broadway for nearly a decade because he wanted to break free of the way he had been cast early in his career. He made his Broadway debut at 17 in Hairspray as Link Larkin, later appeared as Fiyero in Wicked and in Ghost: The Musical, then left the industry about 10 years ago for Los Angeles, where he booked roles on Charmed, 9-1-1, The Other Two and an episode of AJ and the Queen.
What brought him back was Titanique, which began as a small Los Angeles dinner theater show before growing into an award-winning sensation and reaching Broadway. Rousouli co-wrote the musical with Tye Blue and Marla Mindelle, and he now plays Jack in the production.
He said he wanted the return to happen on his own terms. “I left the industry 10 years ago and told myself, 'The only way I'm going to come back to New York City is if it's on my own terms,'” he said.
The shift was not just about the role, but about being seen differently. Rousouli said he had been typecast as a traditional leading man and felt boxed in by the industry’s view of him. “I couldn't be anything like myself,” he said. “People have a hard time seeing past their perception,” he added. “I'm an actor. I can play whatever you need me to play. Just let me show you.”
For Rousouli, Titanique became a vehicle for both a comeback and a reset. He said, “I wanted to show everyone what I could really do,” and described the project as a way to use his comedy, storytelling instincts and performance style all at once. “As a writer, it was a chance to show off my sense of humor, my storytelling instincts, my knowledge of what works in the structure of a successful show. And as an actor, it was about bringing my fun, weird, goofy self to this role, while also stay true to what people love the most about it. And I couldn't be prouder by what we've accomplished,” he said.
His return underscores why Titanique has traveled so far from its dinner-theater roots. The show turned into a Broadway hit by leaning into a familiar story and making it stranger, bigger and funnier, with Rousouli now standing at the center of the result. Through Sept. 20, the question is no longer whether he could come back, but whether Broadway will now see him the way he says he always wanted to be seen.
