a smartly eccentric musical
It is a strange company of individuals that makes up the world of a luxury hotel in Berlin in 1928: An aging prima ballerina who’s on her last tour, dreading failure with the public and unexpectedly falling in love with a younger man; a handsome but lonely baron who is desperately staving off personal bankruptcy; a seriously ill Jewish accountant that wishes to spend the last days of his life in luxury; a good-looking secretary dreaming of a career in Hollywood; a sleep-deprived receptionist waiting impatiently for the birth of his son; and a sceptical doctor with a serious injury from World War I who observes all the hustle and bustle with a narrator´s insight.
An Oscar-winning film appeared based on the novel by Vicki Baum, Grand Hotel, as early as in the 1930s. The eponymous hotel is a snapshot of a world in which love and hopelessness, birth and death, laughter and tears all come together. It is a place where life stories intersect, where strangers experience their joys and sorrows in close proximity, and it is an impressive metaphor for our existence in this world. Everything is enhanced by exquisite retro melodies that take us back to the world of 1920s Berlin. This work by a quartet of authors (our patrons are already familiar with Maury Yeston as the author of the music for the musical TITANIC) was one of the highlights of the 1980s Broadway musical scene. Grand Hotel was performed on Broadway every day for almost three years, exceeding the magical limit of 1000 performances and being nominated for as many as twelve prestigious Tony Awards, out of which it received five. And now this excellent piece will premiere in the Czech Republic at Brno City Theatre.
