Grand Hotel, the musical, revival?

Have there been any first class revivals by regional theatre companies of GRAND HOTEL, the musical since its' original Broadway run? This one would be a very good one for Roundabout Theatre to try to revive.

As fine as some of the Grand Hotel songs are, I'm not sure it should be attempted without Tommy Tune's staging, which is what made that show memorable.

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Updated On: 2/2/09 at 02:55 AM

That show, for me, was great to watch but hard to love. There were songs that seemed to exist just so some characters would have songs, and I remember not feeling that moved or involved by it. But the staging and the design I still remember. I'm relieved if it works as a show without Tune's work, or without his great design team, but I'm not certain that it's a great piece of writing in and of itself.

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City of Angels and Grand Hotel had opposite problems, I think. City of Angels was brilliantly written, designed and directed, but the numbers had more musical staging than choreography and didn't excite the way a thrilling musical number can. Grand Hotel was brilliantly designed, directed and choreographed, but some of the writing was less effective.

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If GRAND HOTEL was presented in the 60's or 70's, it would be considered on of those "Grade B" musicals like SKYSCRAPER or HOW NOW, DOW JONES. It really wasn't that great a show and wouldn't have run had it not been for Tune's staging.

I saw the show with Cyd Charrise and John Scneider. It was mediocre.

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I first saw the show near the end of its second year. It was a case of seeing a show I knew was very good but giving given a lackluster performance. People who had seen the original cast told me that they were a tight group and as the various cast members changed the show lost some of that spark. Indeed when the tour came to Toronto with Brent Barrett and Lillian Montevecchi it was tight, sharp and extremely well played. That was the performances that lived up to its promise.

So I am not at all surprised as Smaxie's reaction to the 3rd (or 4th) replacement cast near the end of the run.

Copying the original staging would probably seem like a pale imitation now, but a creative new director might be able to bring out different values


EDIT: Sorry I got it mixed up. It was DOlly who saw it late in the run, not Smamxie.

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Updated On: 2/2/09 at 11:48 AM

Michael Jeter was absolutely wonderful in the show. As soon as he made his entrance you knew you were witnessing something very special.

I saw the original cast, and had a dreadful time. Besides Jeter, I cant think of a thing I liked about it. I actually didnt like Tune's direction. I found it gimmicky more than anything else. Krakowski tried way too hard and was cloying instead. Akers was almost as annoying.

Blakemore deserved the tony for directing the far superior "City of Angels".

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I love We'll Take a Glass Together, but other than that, I enjoy listening to the CD more than I do seeing the show on stage.

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It was very good but to soon for a revival - especially in this economy.

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Bent Barrett replaced David Carroll May 8, 1990. (This is why Barrett is seen on that year's Tony Awards) Best Plays says that Rex Smith took over the role May 29 (a week before the Tony telecast.)

David Carroll died in March 1992 just prior to recording the cast album. The recording had been delayed and was done just before the production closed on Broadway. While I am grateful that a recording was done, it is a flawed album with many wrong notes, an awkward fade on "I Waltz Alone" and some needless abridgements in some sections.

I wish Thomas Sheppard had produced the CD. Like he did with SECRET GARDEN and the revival of DAMN YANKEES he could have telescoped the whole show down to one 80 minute CD.

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Thank you to the post from Frontrowcentretwo. I had no idea the album was recorded that late in the original production's run. I have enjoyed the album a great deal and I have always enjoyed that Tony Award segment of the show with Michael Jeeter and Brent Barrett. Unfortunately, I missed the US Tour of the show. Did it play many cities and was it a touring set or the original Broadway set? I have always thought the orchestrations for this show were beautiful. This is one show I wish they would do again as a first class production. I have always heard there were problems with the book of this show and I believe those problems could be solved. I understand part of the score was written many years before it actually opened on Broadway but I never quite got the whole story. The original cast must have been amazing. Thank you for your very informative posting.

The touring set was an exact replica - it is after all a unit set piece with 2 dozen chairs. For the tour, however, the orchestra was in the pit. When I saw the show at the Martin Beck it was on the 2nd level of the set. (I had a tour of the theatre and stage after the performance and believe me that 2nd level was not all THAT secure!!) I have heard that when the moved to the Gershwin, the orchestra was also moved to the pit.

The tour started in Florida in November 1990 and was on the road about a year and half before going to London, where it got good reviews but no audience because the economy at the time was bad. (Sound familiar?)

The orchestrations were by Peter Matz but Wally Harper was the musical supervisor. The summer before GRAND HOTEL opened, Harper was in Toronto (with Barbara Cook) and met with my then program director, Michael, who was a great fan of recordings of the 1930s and gave Harper dubs of many of his recordings to help inspire the sound. When the tour opened here Michael went and was very pleased to hear how ell the show captured that period sound, notably in the scoring for "Who Couldn't Dance with You?"

I posted the story of GRAND HOTEL'S recording while ago. Basically Wright and Forrest were not happy with Yeston's interpolations and some of his reworking of their material. You will note that their songs in their original versions were published in one volume, while the Yeston songs were published separately.

The record labels were not exactly breaking down the door to record the show, and as months passed it began to look as if the show would not be recorded until it opened in London.

Finally after the move to the Gershwin (by this time the show had run nearly 1,000 performances and recouped) the recording was made. RCA released it but I do not believe that they paid for it. Peter Matz produced it and they planned to bring an ailing David Carroll in to the studio early to record. Sadly he died before that could happen, which is why his appearance is as a bonus track from live tape of his Cabaret evening.

The clip from the Tony awards (and Michael Jeeter’s emotional speech) was well played by me because that was al we had of the score until June 1992 when the Cd was released. Unfortunately the show had closed at the end of April that year. A lot of potential sales were missed by not having that CD in the stores throughout the run of the show.

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