Sep 15 2007
Grand Hotel - Wilmington, NC
I’m currently on vacation on Topsail Island in NC…last night I drove into Wilmington and saw a performance of Grand Hotel at the Thalian Hall. The musical “focuses on events taking place over the course of a weekend in an elegant hotel in 1928 Berlin and the intersecting stories of the eccentric guests of the hotel”.
The music of Grand Hotel isn’t all that memorable, but it does do a good job telling the story. The costumes are great, the dancing good, but what really drives the show is the characters. The characters are each very unique, rich, and well-developed. In short, the characters are fascinating. The cast was all fantastic, in a word.
The six main characters in the show are:
- Baron Felix Von Gaigern, a young “nobleman with no money”. The Baron was played by Cooper Cerulo who flew down from NYC to join the cast. Cooper’s acting was good, but his vocal performance was outstanding. I would not be surprised to see Cooper on Broadway in the near future. Actually, I think he would make a great Raoul.
- Otto Kringelein, a Jewish bookkeeper dying of a terminal illness. Otto was played very well by Richard Bunting. I must say, I thought Richard’s best scene was the bar scene where he drinks a few too many toasts…
- Flaemmchen, a typist who wants to be a Hollywood actress. Heather Dahlberg was completely charming and funny in the part. Heather shone in the dance numbers - her dancing was infectious.
- Elizaveta Grushinskaya, an aging ballerina. Suellen Yates very ably played the part.
- Colonel Doctor Otternschlag, a WWI veteran doctor. The Doctor was played by Joe Gallison. The doctor plays somewhat of a narrator’s part, and Joe did an excellent job.
- Hermann Preysing, the director of a failing business. John Perkinson played Hermann, and did a good job of portraying the man as he declined from a respectable businessman and family man into the scalawag he became by the end of the show.
In addition to the lead characters, I really enjoyed the performances of Gigolo and the Countess, two ballroom/ballet dancers who never say anything or interact with the other characters, but dance together at several times during the play. Gigolo was played by Rommell Gopez and the Countess was played by Mary Beth Henderson or Brooklyne Williamson. Oh, and I should mention Erik, the young concierge (played by Zack Simcoe) whose wife is in the hospital giving birth to their first son.
All in all, I recommend the show, especially if you can see a performance with as great a cast as the show I saw…
Buy The Grand Hotel Broadway Cast Recording
