A Farewell to 'Grand Hotel'

'Grand Hotel's run at Southwark Playhouse ends tonigh but I managed to squeeze in a final viewing last night and I'm very pleased I did. I hoped the Baron would finally win through and present his roses to Grushinskaya at the station - could he make it at last? Would last night be the night it happened?

They would kiss and board the train to Vienna in a first class carriage, Grushinskaya clutching the roses to her breast and the Baron watching her every movement as she settles for the journey. Raffaela would fuss around her mistress and be pleased for her, look on lovingly and silently swear vengeance if the Baron mistreats her.

Kringelein would still go to Paris and take Flaemmchen with him to celebrate new life for as long as he can, before daring to go to America as shadows lengthen over Europe. Preysing would leave the hotel in shame and live a life as a bankrupt, Erik would be promoted to manager and the Two Jimmys would become international jazz stars. O yes, everything would be different if the Baron made it to the station.

Sadly, he didn't make it and the rose petals fell.

The Baron's theme is 'dangerous games and a carefree existence' and that's the problem he faces, his innate nobility and confidence that there's a solution to everything - except a bullet. He brings joy to his ballerina lover, he gets Kringelein a room at the hotel, he protects Flaemmschen - he's a nice person who happens to steal for a living until he's faced with real love and friendship. He puts Gushinskay's necklace back and returns Otto's pocket book. And, of course, saves Fleammchen.

There are some lovely characters in this musical, mostly flawed, but that makes them even more attractive. And they were brought to life by a great cast and it was love;y to be able to see them grow into their roles in the short six weeks run of the musical.

The Baron (Baron Felix Von Gaigern) was gallantly played by Scott Garnham (who's shaved off his beard)
Elizaveta Grushinskaya was played by Christine Grimandi
Flaemmchen was coquettishly played by Victoria Serra
Otto Kringelein was played by George Rae
Raffaela the loyal was played by Valerie Cutko
Erik was played by Jonathan Stewart
The Doctor was played by David Delve
Preysing was played by Jacob Chapman
The Manager was played by James Gant
The Two Jimmys were energetically played by Jammy Kasongo and Durone Stokes
Other roles and dancing were Charles Hagerty, Rhiannon Howys, Paul Iveson, Ceili O'Connor, Samuel J Weir and Leah West

Thank you everyone for some great performances that made me smile and made my eyes moist.

There are, of course, others to thank who made this wonderful show possible:

Thom Southerland directed
Lee Proud choreographed
Michael Bradley directed and led the wonderful music
Lee Newby designed the set and costumes
Derek Anderson designed the excellent lighting

... and lots of others. I wonder which one of you came up with the idea of the rose petals at the end? Thank you, it was a memorable experience!

If the show was on for a longer run - or transferred to the West End - then I'd definitely go back and see it again. I saw the Donmar produection twice 10 years ago and more recently went back to see 'Hair' and 'The Harder They Come' multiple times. I'm like that. When I find something I like then I like to go back and experience it again, ususally seeing something new in it each time. Good shows do that, they take you to a deeper level. You find more joy.

Some memorable moments from last night was when Scott's voice cracked at the start of his long final note in 'Love Can't Happen' (and it's a looooong note to sustain) but he powered through it and kept it going and when he buried his head into Christine's neck at the end for the final embrace and  she subtley patted his head as if to say 'you done good, don't worry'. That says so much about her and about them. Victoria was also on top form as Flaemmchen and I really warmed to George as Kringelein, particularly in the final scenes with his joy at Flaemmchen's pregnancy and Erik's new born son. Very touching moments. I hated seeing Flaemmchen on the ground in the final scene looking forward to the Holocaust - I hadn't noticed that before. And then the chandeleir fell.

I hoped the Baron would make it last night and take his roses (for passion) to his beloved. But he didn't. And the rose petals fell.

I think I'll remember this production for a long time...

'Grand Hotel' - It's All About The Women

We went back to see 'Grand Hotel' at Southwark Playhouse again this evening - it's such a good show I needed a refresher. And it was excellent, better I think than the first time a few weeks ago, probably because the cast have lived in the characters for longer. The actors gel in the way a tight cast do, more relaxed because they've proved they can do it umpteen times and the complicated stage routines were more fluent and less studied. It all made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening with a great cast, great songs and great music.

But tonight, I thought, it was all about the women. I think of the Baron and Kringelein when I think of 'Grand Hotel' but no longer. The Baron is suave and sophistocated, confident of his place in the universe and playing it to the full. As the Doctor says, 'There is nothing more useless in the world than a nobleman with no money'. But he is brought down by two women, by his love for Grushinskaya and he needs money to go with her to Vienna and by his innate nobility that means he must intervene to save Flaemmschen from rape. And so he dies and the women carry on.

We see the unspoken love of Raffaela for her mistress and for 22 years she has saved every penny against the day that Grushinskaya has no-one to turn to and she can buy a villa on a hill and they can live quietly together. She is brave and strong and has protected her mistress all these years and, in the end, can't bring herself to tell her mistress about the Baron since it would break her heart. Her own stoicism is heartbreaking. And that's due to the performance of Valerie Cutko who brings her elegantly to life, a quiet love never spoken.

Raffaela's mistress is Elizaveta Grushinskaya, a renowned prima ballerina who is now on her 8th farewell tour because she needs the money. A once-great dancer in decline and hating that she is no longer the dancer she was but must continue. She finds the Baron in her room attempting to steal a necklace when he tries to talk his way out if by feigning love for her when suddenly he realises he is in love, a feeling he's never experienced before. The next day after the Baron has left, we get Grushinskaya's great song of love and joy, 'Bonjour Amour', and it was almost as if someone flipped a switch and joy poured around the theatre from Christine Grimandi as Grushinskaya. That was a marvellous performance and I'm pleased we don't see her reaction to the loss of the Baron. That would be desolate indeed.

And, of course, we have our young heroine, Flaemmschen, a typist for hire who wants to go to Hollywood. Victoria Serra has really grown into this role and makes Flaemmschen a lovable character, flawed of course, but I'd like her as a friend. Her hopes and dreams, her honesty, her coquettishness and fatalism are very attractive and it's Victoria that brings those qualities to life. Fearing she is pregnant and needing money for an abortion she agrees to go to America with a crooked businessman and, on their first night together realises she's not that kind of girl and the Baron saves her from being raped at the cost of his life. Her basic decency is clear from the final scene when Kringelein asks her to come to Paris with him and she tells him she's pregnant - she could've just said yes and spent all his money but that's not her at all. What a lovely creation. I liked Victoria in 'Titanic' and I like her even more as my Flaemmschen.

Flaemmschen never meets Raffaela or Grushinskaya but I assume she meets Madame Peepee at some point. Peepee is a member of staff at the hotel and has multiple functions - in other words is part of the supporting cast but I really noticed her tonight. Never one to cower before her 'betters' her facial expressions say it all.I couldn't find a production photo of Rhiannon Howys so here's the photo from the programme. It says she's had an extended career break but is now back in the harness so it'll be interesting to see what she does next. Solidarity with Madame Peepee!

I can't really blog about 'Grand Hotel' and not sing a song of praise to the Baron, one of my favourite theatrical creations even though this is about the women. Just as the other actors have grown into their characters so has Scott Garnham as the Baron and he was in full-on show-off mode tonight with a gloriously extended final note to 'Love Can't Happen' - that was sheer show off territory! But marvellous to hear as he kept the note going on and on and on...

Well done people and well done to Southwark Playhouse for bringing 'Grand Hotel' to life. Can I fit in another viewing...?

'Grand Hotel' at Southwark Playhouse

There's a new production of the mighty 'Grand Hotel' at Southwark Playhouse so I just had to see it. I've said before in the Plastic Bag that 'Grand Hotel' is one of my favourite musicals so I judge productions on a different, higher, level so any production must raise it's game. And. you know what? It did!

My first 'Grand Hotel' was in 2004 at the Donmar Warehouse and I saw that production twice. That production featured Daniel Evans as Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina Grushinskaya and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. My second was 10 years later in 2014, the graduation show by the students from the Guildhall at the Silk Street theatre and they put on a smashing show and the stand-out performance for me was Rebecca Collingwood as Flaemmchen, the typist. So this was my third production.

So, what's it about? Do I really have to tell you? It's set in the Grand Hotel in Berlin in the early 1930s with all sorts of people visiting and staying, and all sorts of people working there. We see the life of the hotel over a few days and snatches of the lives of the people there, from Erik who works at the reception desk to Grushinskaya, famous ballerina on her eighth farewell tour, the young Baron who lives there but can't pay the rent, Flaemmchen the jobbing typist for hire who wants to go to Hollywood, Otto Kringelein who has just left hospital and wants to experience life before he dies and Herr Preysing the businessman. All life is here and the characters wander through, interacting now and then as well as pursuing their own stories. Another character is the magnificent chandeleir that floats over the middle of the stage, glimmering and shimmering for all it's worth.

Of course, there's more to it than that and we have the Baron and Grushunskaya finding their love only to lose it, Flaemmchen being 'bought' by Preysing who wants to take her to America and the Baron saving her from rape and Kringelein finding life. We see the characters grow and change, we learn of their pasts in snatches of song and we can only wonder at their futures. But not the Baron, our hero, who dies in the struggle to save Flaemmchen but his love, the ballerina, never knows. O how cruel fate can be, enough to bring a tear to the eye.

All of the characters have a song (or more) to their credit, a chance to shine and to immortalise their stories. The Baron - as our hero - is featured throughout but his main songs are 'Love Can't Happen' when he realises he's in love with Grushinskaya and 'Roses At The Station' when his spirit visits the railway station at which he'd promised to meet her and he can't fail at that after waiting so long for his love. Grushinskaya celebrates her new-found love with 'Bonjour Amour' the morning after her night with the Baron, finally she has found love. What can be more important and life-affirming?

Flaemmchen's big song is 'I Want To Go To Hollywood' in which we hear about her ambitions as well as the squalid life on Friedrich Strasse she wants to escape. But she fears she's pregnant so what's a girl to do? It's a great song and was very well delivered but I wasn't keen on adding the dancers to it - it's a solo song of desolation and hope and adding dancers to make it more Hollywood didn't really work for me. Rafaella, Grushinskaya's maid, has a touching song at the end when she decides that she can't tell her mistress about the Baron's death. Even Erik the receptionist has a song when he sings to his new born son over the phone telling him that he'll have everything and this nicely mirrors the song of the Baron - the Baron dies as young Erik is born. Life continues.

As does the future and the guests are fleeced by the hotel and then it becomes more vicious as suitcases are piled beneath the chandelier and the guests lose their jewelry, their clothes, their shoes and the spectre of the Holocasut looms and the chandeleir comes down.

The cast were all really good. I particularly liked Valerie Cutko as Raffaela, the maid (who I saw in 'Carousel' a couple of years ago), Victoria Serra as Flaemmchen (who I saw in 'Titanic'), Christine Gimandi as Grushinskaya (and this is her UK debut, a great show to debut in), Jonathan Stewart as Erik (who has a lovely voice) and Scott Garnham as the Baron. Sorry Scott, but Julian Ovenden remains my Baron.

I loved the penultimate scene with the Baron being showered in rose petals - a lovely touch that picks up on his song, 'Roses at the Station' (roses for passion). It's quite spectacular with the cast on chairs throwing handfuls of petals and then they fall like snow from the ceiling.

 

Well done Southwark on a great production. It sometimes felt a bit over the top with so much action taking place on such a narrow stage, all the dance routines and set pieces but overall it worked. Maybe your ushers need to remind the audience not to strecth their legs out onto the stage? The Doctor nearly stumbled by someone stretching out his legs at the wrong time. Not good. And how about that new-fangled invention of numbered seats? Go on, I dare you...

It's only on for another four weeks so enjoy it while you can!

'Grand Hotel' at the Silk Street Theatre, Barbican

Every year the final year students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama put on a summer show and this year they've chosen to revive 'Grand Hotel'. I saw 'Grand Hotel' in its last production at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004 and fell in love with it. It's a very literate and intelligent show, quite densely packed with half a dozen lead characters all with their own inter-twining lives and plots. There are no real goodies or baddies in this show, it depicts the consequences of choices. It's a very clever show but I engage with it at an emotional rather than an intellectual level.

I generally have the memory of a butterfly flittering here and there but this musical has stayed with me over the years. I saw it twice in 2004 at the Donmar, one a programmed performance and the other a midnight HIV/AIDs benefit show. The Donmar production featured Daniel Evans as the dying Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. The show made the tears well and roll down my cheeks at various places.

Right. So that's my history with the show and I've started off with the personal history to signal that it's an important show for me and I won't tolerate any laziness or mistakes in a production. So, Guildhall students, you have a high legacy to live up to and you certainly won't get an easy ride from me. Did the production work? Damn right it did!

As soon as I walked in to take my seat my expectations were raised by the art deco set of black and white marble floor and gilt trimmings, a versatile set that turns from the foyer, to a bedroom to the hotel bar. Then the music starts and the grand parade as people start milling in th foyer and we meet the lead characters: the Baron ('dangerous games and a carefree existence'), the Prima Ballerina and her Maid, the Book-keeper, the Typist ('I want to got to Hollywood') and the Businessman. We meet the front of house staff at the reception desk and the back room staff ('some have, some have not'), the gangsters who want money from the Baron and the impresarios who need to make money out of the Ballerina. There are a lot of intertwined relationships and themes in this musical.

It's quite fast-paced and we learn a lot about the characters in very short time, like the basic decency of the Baron by helping Mr Kringelein get a room in the hotel when he was about to be thrown out for being jewish and the Typist Flaemmchen being happy to dance with him as soon as she hears he's dying. So, yes, the Baron might be a thief (in the last resort as he says) and the Typist might want money to escape her dreary life but they're basically nice people.

The Baron tries to steal a diamond necklace from Grushinskaya, the Ballerina, but falls in love with her and she with him and this leads to two great songs, the Baron's 'Love Can't Happen' and Grushinskaya's 'Bonjour Amour' the following morning. Finally they have found love and all will be well, she will dance again and he will be her inspiration. On the other hand, we have Flaemmchen selling herself to the Businessman for one thousand marks to take her to America and it is when the Businessman attempts to rape her that the Baron appears in the room to save her. He was in the Businessman's room next door to steal his wallet and he gets shot in the struggle.

The Baron then appears singing 'Roses At The Station' with his last moments of life when he sings about being at the station with roses for his beloved Ballerina as he promised. We learn more about his life in this song, that he has been waiting for love,  "All my life I wanted to be here, all my life I waited to appear at the station with these roses..." and his privileged life,

"I spent my childhood in the fields

My boyhood on horseback

I was a soldier in the war

The bullets whizzed past my ear

And not one came near me till now..."

That's a big show-stopper of a song and the only way the song can be followed is by a couple of dancers coming on to dance a bolero as the Baron lies dead.

We then skip to the next day with police coming to investigate the murder and the Businessman is arrested, Flaemmchen leaving and Mr Kringelein checking out to go to Paris. Who will tell Grushinskaya that her lover is dead? No-one, they'll let her think he's deserted her like all the others, even her faithful Maid Rafaela who loves her mistress. Life goes on however, when Eric the receptionist becomes a father at last (singing a song that echoes one of the Baron's vocal themes) and Mr Kringelein and Flaemmchen leave together to head for Paris to raise her baby. One man dies and lives are wrecked but life goes on. It's a marvellous play with marvellous songs.

The cast were great and so was the music. The acting was good throughout and so was the dancing, it was the voices that drew a line between some of the actors. Best voices belonged to Rebecca Collingwood as Flaemmchen, Ceri-lyn Cissone as Grushinskaya and Emily Laing as Rafaela, all with nice, clear and strong singing voices. Kudos to Ceri-lyn for sustaining the believable Russian accent throughout. Sadly there are no photos of the production available but here's one of Rebecca as Flaemmchen.

The lads were good too, particularly Jay Saighal as the Baron, Joey Phillips as Kringelein, Ben Hall as Businessman Preysing and Jordan Renzo as Eric at the reception desk. Jay has a good voice but the ideal Baron remains with Julian Ovenden with his more powerful and versatile voice. I liked Ben's slowly corrupted Business man who starts off with honour and ends in shame and Jordan had a lovely voice when he sang of his new baby.

All in all it was a great production. It did, however, point to a few drawbacks. Age for one thing. The actors were all in their early 20s and sometimes it's just a relief to see actors of different ages and shapes on stage, not uniformly young and slim. Some of the lads seemed just too skinny for their clothes since they haven't bulked up yet. And where were the black actors? The two Jimmy's song is meant to be sung by black lads but where were they? A note for Simon Haines as the Doctor - great limp but, if you really do have a gammy-leg and a limp then most people learn to compensate for it in different ways - learn to do that and your future limps will be so much more realistic.

But, who am I to be churlish? You were all great and gave me a great night's entertainment seeing one of my favourite and rare musicals and I thank you. You made me cry as well, damn you! I hope to see some of you in the West End in the near future - well done people and good luck for the future!

Grand Hotel at The Donmar Warehouse, 2004

I watched 'The Story of the Musical' this evening and out of the ashes of it's predictability flew the marvellous 'Grand Hotel'. It wasn't featured in the programme but all the glitz and special effects on display reminded that I saw a very simple musical, 'Grand Hotel' twice at The Donmar, in 2004 and the memory has stayed with me. It's the musical that taught me it was ok to shed a few tears and I did.

'Grand Hotel' is based on the 1932 film with Greta Garbo and the original book of a cast of disparate characters meeting in a Berlin hotel over a a weekend. Businessmen, a dying middle aged man, a typist with ambitions for Hollywood, a fading ballerina and her dresser and a young baron down on his luck. The Donmar production featured Daniel Evans as the dying Mr Kringelein, Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina and Julian Ovenden as the Baron. The ballerina and the Baron fall in love when the Baron tries to steal her jewels. No, they don't fall in love, they find the love in each other they've waited their whole lives for. It's a quick and clean love, and all encompassing over one night and, at last, they're together. And then the Baron is killed while trying to rob the room of a businessman and all is lost.

Of course, that's not the end, it can't be. The Baron had promised to meet his beloved at the train station the next morning to see her off on her farewell tour and there he is. His love is so strong that his spirit is there, waiting at the station with roses for his beloved and she, of course, doesn't know he has been shot and thinks his was a false love like so many she's endured before. He can't speak and she can't see and they miss each other...

The Baron has two show-stopper songs, 'Love Can't Happen' which he sings when he realises he's in love with his ballerina heroine, and 'Roses At The Station' when he is dead. He sings,

I'm here Elizaveta at the station//Here with the roses at the station//I'm here Elizaveta at the station//Here with the roses at the station

All my life I have wanted to be here//All my life I have waited to appear//At the station//With these roses...

He tells us that he survived the First World War with bullets flying past him, he's had everything he's wanted in life only to finally find love and to lose it so quickly and so suddenly. So beautiful and so sad and a great platform for Julian Ovenden's great voice. He has a powerful voice and should do more singing. I saw him in the one-off concert version of 'Merrily We Roll Along' in 2010 and his voice is, if anything, getting better.

I was delighted to find the Broadway cast recording in a shop in Toronto in 2005 and it features Brent Barrett as the Baron and Jane Krakowski (from 'Ally McBeal') as the typist with ambitions. It's a great recording but I'd love to have my cast on the record.


I'd love to see this show again.