Grand Hotel, a  powerful, entertaining, and explosive performance

by Trina King, Special to dcmdva-arts.org 

I'm late. After finally being able to find the Signature Theatre, I was pretty surprised at
how beautiful the small theatre was despite its old warehoused outside. I was escorted by a
friendly young lady of the staff and guided to my seat (a great seat I might add), and walked
in on a great performance by the cast as well as the orchestra.

'Grand Hotel' is a musical about life of the staff and guests at the Grand Hotel in Berlin.
'Grand Hotel' is a book by Luther Davis, and the musical is based on the novel by Vicki Baum.
'Grand Hotel' opened as a musical in November of 1989 and ran for 1,018 performances at
Broadway's Martin Beck theatre.

Signature Theatre puts on a powerful, entertaining, and explosive performance of this
musical. The choreography was wonderful, the music simply splendid, and the casts'
performances were heartfelt. The stories of life at the Grand Hotel are interwoven--- a typist
with dreams of becoming a Hollywood star, an aging dancer who is slowly giving up on her
career. A Baron who is broke has turned burglar to get by, an accountant dying of a fatal
disease who tries to live life to the fullest, and an industrial big shot who is battling with his
conscience.

The typist is played by Deanna Harris, who has also appeared in Signature Theatre's
'Company'. Harris' confidence and wonderful acting skills shined through throughout the
musical. My personal favorite character was General Director Preysing, the industrial big shot
played by Ty Hreben, who gives off just enough attitude and chauvinism to allow me to hate
him. The Baron is played by Will Gartshore, the accountant by Michael Sharp(whose
performance was very charming), the aging dancer played by Patricia Pearce Gentry, and not
to mention the humorous singing by the two Jimmys played by Kevin Sockwell and Stephawn P.
Stephens. The hotel operators were cute, while the busboys really made you understand why
life for them at the Grand Hotel wasn't all that grand.

Eric Schaeffer does a wonderful tribute to this awesome musical. 'One hell of a show' is
what I got from those in the audience on my way out the door. For my first experience with
the Signature Theatre, I would have to say that I'm truly impressed. Grand Hotel runs through
October 7. For information and tickets check the Signature Theatre web site at
http://www.sig-online.org/


Trina King