A note on last week's City Center's Encores! production of Maury Yeston's Grand Hotel. Encores! productions are always a mixed bag for me. There are reasons these shows won't get full, commercials productions, however in recent years, these things seem more like backers auditions, primed for transfer. Grand Hotel seemed like one of these; it was one of the most fully realized Encores' productions I've seen. Is it ready to transfer? No, not necessarily. For one, I don't think Josh Rhodes' direction lets the piece breathe at all. That's not all his fault; the limitations of the set certainly didn't help, and the action of the book happens at such breakneck speed. The book isn't very strong either; the drama and life-or-death stakes of the last third of the show are not developed and come out of nowhere. I hope, if there are commercial (or full production) prospects for Grand Hotel , the book is revised or re-written. I also wasn't c...
Theater reviews and commentary by Alyssa Maher.