Grand Hotel: 24 Years Ago Today

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:03am

Hard to believe that it has been 24 years since Grand Hotel opened on Broadway: November 12, 1989. Such an amazing production with Tommy Tune's best staging (I enjoyed it even more than his gorgeous work on Nine) and my four favorite performances that I can remember like they happened yesterday: David Carroll and Michael Jeter (both very much missed), Karen Akers and Jane Krakowski.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:10am

I'm a big fan of the show. I wish they would bring it back with Tune's incredible staging.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:16am

Ditto

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:23am

I'm so grateful that Michael Jeter's performance of "We'll Take a Glass Together" was preserved on the Tony Awards (and the subsequent DVD). Nothing cheers me up more than watching him "Jeter-bug" (as Tune called it) during that song.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:32am

Also love the show.

I have some minor quibbles (those silverware crates were too damn loud) and the score still feels a little disjointed (to be expected given that it had two different composers), but overall it is a great show with some great characters.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:38am

If it had a revival right now, I'd love to see Norbert Leo Butz in Jeter's role.

Sutton Foster (perhaps a little too old now) in Krakowski's part.

And for "star power," Hugh Jackman as the Baron and Cate Blanchett as Grushinskaya!

(I can dream, can't I?)

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:40am

I never saw it but I do remember walking by the Martin Beck on my way to work and always admiring the show's logo on the marquee and the numerous production photos.

I also remember all the buzz about it leading up to it's opening and I also recall Cyd Charisse joining the cast at some point during it's run.

24 years! Damn I feel old...

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:41am

Tune needs to do another show and Jerry Herman needs to do the same as well. Doubt we will see a new show from either one but at least Mame might be coming back.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:56am

I was probably a year or two away from truly appreciating this show. I was in high school and was dazzled by City of Angels. I felt indifferent about Grand Hotel, but wonder what I would think now.

And for star powers, how about Scarlett Johnannson as Flaemmchen?

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:57am

Yep, Carlos! Cyd made her Broadway debut replacing Liliane Montevecchi.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:58am

I honestly think Grand Hotel would make a great film musical, and I would love to see Johannson as Flaemmchen.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:10pm

I saw it a second time when it moved to the Gershwin. It was so far up that Cyd could have been Mike Ditka that is how bad the views are up in nosebleed city.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:15pm

I, too, saw it with Cyd Charisse and a surprisingly effective John Schneider. At that point, Chip Zien had taken over for Jeter. Karen Akers left a huge impression on me. I'm not sure if Krakowski was still in it (I feel like I saw Lynette Perry). And I remember thinking that I wanted to marry Bob Stillman.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:20pm

Agree with everything said here- an amazing show, an amazing production.

24 years... gosh!

[newintown]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:20pm

I, too, was thrilled by this show, so much that I returned to see some replacements, which was a mistake. The team seemed to make no concessions for the replacements' different vocal abilities, and so Zien was trying to sing too high and whoever replaced Krakowski was trying to sing too low.

But the original cast was stellar in every way.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:23pm

Almost a quarter of a century . Yikes I feel older than I really am

Remember how hard it was to get a cast album finally done.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:51pm

One of the things I loved the most about Tommy Tune as a director, a choreographer and a "caster" of talent ... he always made interesting and sometimes unconventional choices with his original casts (Nine, Grand Hotel).

Jeter was decades too young for Kringelein, but it didn't matter. He acted the part and looked the part and played it better than anybody else could have back then.

David Carroll was handsome as hell but had a melancholy to him that was so perfect for the role. Krakowski (not a star then) had these huge doe eyes and a whiskey voice and a heart of gold. Montevecchi was aged, European glamour and stunning to watch. And Karen Akers looked like a six-foot Garbo (which confused some people early on since she was not playing Garbo's role, Montevecchi was).

I love the blend of songs from the original 1950s L.A. production (with Paul Muni as Kringelein) and the added Yeston songs.

SIDE NOTE: I would love to see Sutton Foster as Flaemchen do "Maybe My Baby Loves Me" with the two Jimmys, and expand it into a bigger dance number where they show her how to tap dance to the new music of Le Jazz Hot, and the three of them tear up the floor together.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 12:54pm

Remember how hard it was to get a cast album finally done.

Years later, and sadly too late for David Carroll, who died after attending the first session. (Someone here will have the full story on that, but I remember how tragic it was at the time.) Brent Barrett was a solid replacement, but there was only one David Carroll.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 1:00pm

I didn't realize there had been a production of the Forrest/Wright version. I seem to recall reading that they never finished the score. They had at least four other musical styles they intended to incorporate.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 1:27pm

Yep, it was staged in L.A. I thumbed through a program once. I can only imagine Paul Muni doing "We'll Take a Glass Together" (which he did!).

[newintown]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 1:32pm

Ken Mandelbaum describes At The Grand in entertaining detail in "Not Since Carrie."

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 1:32pm

An interesting tidbit from Wiki:

At the Grand

Davis, Wright, and Forrest first adapted Baum's story in 1958 under the title At the Grand, changing the setting from 1928 Berlin to contemporary Rome and transforming the ballerina into an opera singer closely resembling Maria Callas to accommodate Joan Diener, who was scheduled to star under the direction of her husband Albert Marre. All of them had collaborated on the earlier musical Kismet and anticipated another success, but Davis' book strayed too far from the story familiar to fans of the film. When Paul Muni agreed to portray Kringelein, the role was changed and expanded, with the character becoming a lowly hotel employee whose stay in a hotel suite is kept secret from the management. Flaemmchen became a dancing soubrette, Preysing and his dramatic story line were eliminated completely, and two deported American gangsters were added for comic relief.
At the Grand opened to mixed reviews and good business in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but when an unhappy Muni refused to extend his preliminary contract and left the production, producer Edwin Lester decided to cancel the Broadway opening scheduled for September 25, 1958, and everyone moved on to other projects.


Grand Hotel (background)

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 1:54pm

RobbieJ, you definitely saw Lynette Perry.

I saw the show with most of the original cast (sans David Carroll). I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also went back to see the show shortly before it closed and it just didn't have the same zing to it. Most if not all of the replacements paled in comparison to their original counterparts.

B12B - I love your casting suggestions, especially Sutton Foster and a big tap number.

[ggersten]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 1:59pm

Never saw the show - but never tire of watching this clip.
The Tony Award Clip

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/13 at 2:16pm

For some reason, that clip always brings tears to my eyes. It's so joyful and the build is perfect. I know the subtext about Kringelein as a dying man plays into it, no question. Now I can add that Jeter and Carroll (not in the video) are no longer with us, and it adds yet another level.

I also completely love how Kathleen Turner introduces the number. Her voice and her style are so perfect for setting the tone. And I love the audience roar at the end of it.

One of my favorite numbers ever on a Tony telecast.

Updated On: 11/12/13 at 02:16 PM