Customer Reviews

Grand Hotel: The Musical - Broadway Cast Recording

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

GRAND HOTEL is still one of the most ambitious Broadway musicals ever written. The lovely score by Maury Yeston (NINE, TITANIC) as well as Robert Wright and George Forrest is simply sublime. One of the best 'ensemble' musicals ever written.

The story concerns the various guests and employees at a well-to-do hotel in Berlin: the ageing ballerine Elizaveta (Liliane Montevecchi - NINE) and her lesbian companion Raffaela (Karen Akers - NINE); the dashing Baron Felix (Brent Barrett); the ambitious hotel typist Miss Flaemmchen (Jane Krakowski); Mr Kringelein (Michael Jeter), the dying clerk looking for one last fling; and the Doctor (John Wylie) who guides us through these various stories and relationships.

Standout numbers include the manic "Fire and Ice", the Baron's beautiful ballad "Love Can't Happen", Flaemmchen's jaunty-yet bittersweet "I Want to Go to Hollywood", "Who Couldn't Dance with You" and "Bonjour Amour".

David Carroll originated the role of Baron Felix in the Broadway production, though he was very ill, suffering from the ravages of AIDS. Carroll left the production before the cast album was recorded and died shortly after. Brent Barrett from the national tour was brought in to record the role for the cast album. Added as a bonus here is David Carroll's rendition of "Love Can't Happen", recorded live at Steve McGraw's with Wally Harper at the piano.

Highly-recommended. [RCA 09026-61327-2]

I saw the London production of this show, starring Brent Barrett and Liliane Montevecchi from the Broadway cast. It was an excellent evening's entertainment.

I went and bought the Broadway cast recording, and it became one of the first cast recordings that I found myself listening to a) lots and lots, and b) the whole way through.

It begins with a typical Maury Yeston opening, introducing all the characters (he does this too, in Titanic.) The tension created between the anger of the boiler workers and the tenderness of the rich guests begins to shape the show. Music ranges from dance numbers such as "Maybe My Baby Loves Me" to ballads such as "Bonjour Amour."

Of an excellent cast, I select Karen Akers to comment upon first, for the heartbreaking portrayal of Liliane Montevecchi's indispensable and devoted confidante and assistant.

Ally McBeal fans may be interested in Jane Krakowski's stenographer desperate to get to Hollywood, to be Berlin's first big star. The central portion of I Want To Go To Hollywood, in which she tells the mirror of her lifestyle is pretty moving.

Brent Barrett brings just the right amount of grandeur and good looks to the role of the Baron. Liliane Montevecchi is suitably delicate as the fading ballerina the Baron "befriends."

This is a good value CD, with little comments from the cynical Doctor that keep one abreast of the storyline. At the end of the show, you learn just enough of most of the characters to enable you to imagine what the future has in store for them.

This show is very good live, but of course its kind of hard to see it live right now becuase it isnt playing anywhere, but oh well. The music is mostly wonderful. I get bored with bits of it, but i'm rarely happy with everthing. I love "roses at the station" and "The Grand Parade" most of all. You can listen to Grand Parade on this site but they didnt put on Roses, which annoys me, so you will just have to trust me that its good. For the Allie McBeal fans, "Elane" is on this CD as the second lead female (and she is wonderful). If you can imagine Les Miserables and Little Shop of Horrors combining to make a musical, you would have Grand Hotel. It's very dark and depressing, but its also funny in bits and it has a really small cast.

It is hard to sumerise exactly what Grand Hotel is about. It concerns the lives of the guests who stay at this famous Berlin hotel during the 1930's. While this is fascinating, it does mean that the score often has a tendancy to drift from character to character without much focus on them. This is undoubtedly not helped by the fact that it was written by a number of people and does feel as though it has been cobbled together in parts.

However, despite this, there is something quite compelling about the recording. The music fits with the period when it has to, but also takes a Broadway approach to ballads and chorus numbers. All of the performers are faultless from the biting cynical doctor, the hopelessly in love couple, and the fading actress.

It's not a CD that I listen to over and over again because it is quite hard to get in to, and very easy to turn off. However, with some concentration, it is possible to understand what is going on, and only then does the full scope of the score become apparent.

On stage GRAND HOTEL was a beautiful, seamless, enlessly entertaining show. For some reason, however, the cast album was not made until near the end of its 2 1/2 year broadway run. Many of the cast members had departed and were called back to make the recording. Sadly David Carroll (who created the role of The Baron) collapsed and died (of AIDS) in the studio before his numbers could be taped. The rest of the original cast is here with Brent Barrett filling in for Mr Carroll (as he did on Broadway and on tour.)

The score was pieced together with some songs by Robert Wright and Chet Forrest, and others by Maury Yeston. Yeston also reworked some of the Wright/Forrest songs (without their complete approval - which may explain why the recording took so long to get made.) However Wally Harper was on hand to orchestrate everything so it does tend to sould all of one piece. The more you listen to this fascinating show the more you like it.

The recording has some flaws..wrong notes here and there and maybe they should have used a bit more dialogue and created a condensed version of the show. But the performances are great. And the pulsating score keeps with the musical's theme "Time is running out."

It really is too bad that Tommy Tune's staging was not video-taped because this is one show we'll probably never see again.

As a student of musical theatre, at least *I* have the ability to appreciate the message of such "inane" songs as "Some Have, Some Have Not." This score is, perhaps, a little uneven, if only because three different people had a hand in its creation over a 30 year period of time. Nonetheless, the most lasting impressions are the creations of Maury Yeston, who is regarded as having saved the show. "The Grand Parade" is an insightful introduction and leaves a lasting impression, as do the glorious tunes "How Can I tell Her?" and "Roses At the Station." I agree with other reviews that question the relevance of "Bonjour Amour" but it's a delightful little tune anyway. Make no bones about it, this is a dark score, with piercing and pounding rhythms, particularly in the songs featuring the scullery workers. I've seen this production mounted only a few times (and I was not fortunate enough to see it on Broadway), but I easily put it in my TOP 5 favorite musicals of all time (along with a few Sondheim shows, and a show from William Finn). In a word, Grand Hotel is...brilliant.

The original cast recording of Grand Hotel is grand indeed. Exellent orchestrations and as excellent cast. The emotion of the piece is conveye d thoroughly on this recording.

IF you like a good Charelston you will love Grand Hotel.
The cast is fine, the music moving and the Bounus cut of the
late David Carrol singing Love Can't Happen makes it well worth
the price!

I performed in the orchestra for a production of this musical recently. In my 30-odd years of playing shows, I've learned that if I'm doing a show I don't know, it takes a while for me to warm up to the music.

Not so with Grand Hotel! The first time I listened to the CD, I was hooked. I thought, wait a minute, it can't be this good. But it is. The music, the orchestrations, the singing all add up to a fabulous CD. Kudos to the entire creative team, orchestra, and cast.

Just hearing the bonus track of David Carroll singing "Love Can't Happen" makes me wonder how BETTER the original cast recording could have been. Brent Barrett vocally sounds shrill and tense in his upper range, marring the official recordings of "Roses at the Station" and "Love Can't Happen". What a tragedy!!! And Carroll's other recording--the Broadway version of Chess--is no longer in print (according to Amazon). This is a double tragedy, because David played Anatoly in the show and gets to sing the powerful "Anthem" at the end of Act 1.

Generally, the score sounds cobbled together with no memorable melodies (other than "Love Can't Happen", which burrows its way into your psyche at the first or second hearing). Perhaps Yeston should have written the whole score and find some legal way to discard the derivative songs provided by Forrest and Wright. Perhaps a revival (and major rewrite) is in order...

This is not a good representation of this show, vocally and compositionally speaking. Unfortunately, there are currently no other representation. My two cents.