Margo Skinner Played the Role of Mme Charlotte Cardoza in Titanic and I was flattered to be one of her “covers”. To be honest, she was so great in the role that I actually hoped I would never have to “go on.” (though I finally did).

Margo Skinner

Margo was a warm and loving person who virtually wanted to be everyone’s friend. Margo had a long career in plays, and Titanic was her first musical. She was humble and extremely self-effacing, and at times during rehearsals expressed fears that she wouldn’t be able to rise to the occasion. But she did- fabulously. In fact I don’t think she even knew how wonderful she was at the part.

Margo was a joy to work with and we will all miss her. Tragically, she passed away in May 2005.

Below is an article which appeared about Margo while we were on tour.

Eventure! Southwest Ohio’s Premier Entertainment Magazine

Friday Nov 5th 1999

Local Actress takes stage in ‘Titanic’ productionTheater preview

By Richard O. Jones

Even if you didn’t know Margo Skinner when she was growing up in Middletown, you may know her voice. As a struggling young actress, Skinner would do commercial work to help pay the bills.

“Everyone in the audience has heard my voice,” she said “ I had the Always account for a long time. It’s hard to get that kind of work now that the stars are all doing it, selling normal things that used to be done by normal people.”

Fortunately, Skinner has an acting career to fall back on and has been featured in major theaters around the country, including a role in the world premiere of “Scotland Road,” the Jeffrey Hatcher play that won the 1993 Rosenthal New Play Prize at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

That play was a drama about a woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic, but was found on an iceberg 80 years later, the same age as she was when the luxury liner went down.

Now, coming full circle, Skinner is touring the country in quite a different kind of Titanic play, “Titanic: A New Musical,” opening next week at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati.

“I think this means I was on the Titanic in a previous life,” she said. I look at the menus on the stage and think, ‘I know about this.’”

This time when she boards the Titanic it’s as Madame Charlotte Cardoza, who was a survivor from Germantown, Penn.
“She married a Portuguese count and was known as one of the best markswomen I the world,” Skinner said. “She also sued for the most money.”

As a wealthy woman of the world, Skinner wears 40-pound hats with lots of feathers and Oriental accents and a beaded dress that cost $20,000 to make.

In this version, the producers decided that the Molly Brown story was already too familiar, so they chose Madame Cardoza to be that kind of character, Skinner said.

“Titanic” is Skinner’s first appearance in a musical.

“I’m not what you’d call a singer, but I did it for the auditions, so I guess I am now,” she said.

As a child growing up on Central Avenue in Middletown, Skinner said that she was shy about her ambition to be an actress. But her parents took her to plays and she remembers that after spending a night with a friend, she would come home and act out their family dramas with her dolls.

“I loved watching people and creating characters,” she said, “but I never had the show-off thing, however I did start doing plays in high school.”