By Marilyn Lester***Thirty five years ago, the grand production of the Tony-winning musical Grand Hotel (book by Luther Davis, music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, and Maury Yeston) opened to a long run at the Martin Beck Theater. 
Now, following on a 25th anniversary presentation at 54 Below, this epic extravaganza, Grand Hotel: The 35th Anniversary Original Broadway Cast Reunion Concert, Honoring Tommy Tune’s 85th Birthday—was a breathtaking evening in “New York’s Supper Club.”
Conceived, adapted, directed and hosted by original cast member, Tony nominee, Walter Willison, this tribute featured original Broadway cast members and special guest stars who brought alive the essence of the musical in thrilling fashion. Plus, at the first of the four shows, there was director-choreographer, Tommy Tune, on hand to receive well wishes for his artistry and for attaining his 85th birthday.
Grand Hotel was based on a book, Menschen im Hotel (People in a Hotel), the plot is about the events taking place over a weekend in 1928 Berlin. Among those staying in the elegant hotel are a destitute and desperate 
Baron, a fading ballerina, a businessman gone bad, a dying Jewish bookkeeper, a world-weary doctor, a typist dreaming of Hollywood and many more. Grand Hotel is essentially a high-class soap opera; and the brilliance of Tune’s staging, neatly replicated by Willison, was in creating non-stop action that intertwined the stories to heighten the drama.
The large cast moved and glided through the full space of 54 Below, utilizing every inch it seemed, artfully directed by Willison (who was also narrated and played Dr. Otternschlang), with smart connective narrative between some dialog and musical numbers. Music director-pianist Alex Rybeck was beyond superb playing the score and sounding like an orchestra to boot. He was aided by bassist Ray Kilday, who played the original show.
Here’s the cast: from the original Broadway cast: Tony nominee Karen Akers as Rafaella Ortannio, Keith 
Crowningshield as Erik Litnauer, David Jackson and David White as the Jimmys, Ken Jennings as Otto Kringelein, Tony nominee Timothy Jerome as Preysing, Charles Mandracchia as The Chauffeur, Hal Robinson as Zinnowitz and Tony nominee Bob Stillman as Baron Felix von Gaigern.
With: Jennifer Bassey Davis as Grushinskaya, Susan Wood Duncan as Flaemmchen, Diane J. Findlay as Madam Peepee and Sheila Wormer as the Courtesan. Michael Choi and Vanda Polakova danced as the Countess and the Gigolo. The ensemble members were Harper Lee Andrews, John Drinkwater, Susie McCollum and Michael Notardonato.
The tone of this achievement was set with the entire cast singing the “Grand Parade” and “Some Have, Some Have Not/As It Should Be,” before powering on through 15 more numbers. Among the highlights was an energetic infusion of “Le Jazz Hot” by the two Jimmys—a reminder that in 1928 the excesses of the Weimar Republic were in full swing and in the US, as well as Europe,
this was the Roaring Twenties, The Jazz Age. Karen Akers, with characteristic total immersion in character, wrenchingly sang “Twenty Two Years,” while Duncan’s “I Want To Go To Hollywood” and Jenning’s “Table With a View” expressed the aching desires of those two characters, Flaemmchen and Kringelein. The morphine-addicted World War I veteran and doctor gave Willison’s “I Waltz Alone” further poignancy to the sad characters of the Grand Hotel. To his drug-induced reverie, Choi and Polakova glided through the room as if on a cloud.
With Tony winner Liliane Montevecchi no longer with us, Bassey Davis made an elegant 
Grushinskaya. Her duet with Stillman, “Love Can’t Happen,” was compelling and dramatic, as was her following solo, “Bonjour Amour.” After a weekend in the Grand Hotel it seemed every human emotion and life circumstance had been explored. Love, loss, death and happy endings were covered with stunning compactness. And thus as the company sang “We’ll Take a Glass Together,” all that was left to do was to offer a rousing all-hands sing-a-long of “Happy Birthday to Tommy.” In sum, Grand Hotel: The 35th Anniversary Original Broadway Cast Reunion Concert was an evening that all can be proud of.
Also well-deserving of recognition are master sound designer, Stuart J. Allyn, costume coordinator Mitchell Bloom, assistant director Joanna Rush and associate director-choreographer Michael Notardonato.
Photos by Jeff Harnar
