Wyoming Seminary Players to Present “Grand Hotel: The Musical” on November 2-4

From left: Christina Insalaco, Pittston, as Elizaveta Grushinskaya; Hugh Gilmore, West Pittston, as Baron Felix von Gaigern; Bryn Harvey, Trucksville, as Flaemmchen; guest artist Kevin Costley, Plymouth, as Otto Kringelein; and Katrina Klunk, Hanover, as Raffaela.

In the optimistic days of 1928, after World War I and before the great stock market crash and depression, Berlin is the place to be in Germany. Those who want to see and be seen stay at the city’s Grand Hotel, one of the world’s most beautiful and extravagant hotels.           

The rich, the famous and those who want to be rich and famous come together for a weekend there, and what happens as they mix and mingle forms the basis for the thought-provoking show “Grand Hotel: The Musical” which the Wyoming Seminary Players will present November 2, 3 and 4 in the Buckingham Performing Arts Center, North Sprague Avenue in Kingston. For tickets and ticket information call the Student Activities Office at 270-2110.           

Curtain times are 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2 and 3, and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4. Tickets are $3.00 in advance and $4.00 at the door.

Some of the major characters in “Grand Hotel” include an aging prima ballerina, a fatally ill Jewish bookkeeper, a handsome, young, penniless Baron, a young typist hoping for fame in Hollywood, a conflicted business manager and a morphine-addicted doctor who comments cynically on the action. The story presents comedy, tragedy and drama combined with a catchy musical score.           

Written by Luther Davis with music and lyrics by Robert Wright, George Forrest and Maury Yeston, the show is based on a 1929 novel and play and a 1932 MGM feature film. It opened on Broadway in 1989 and earned 12 Tony Award nominations, winning five including best direction and choreography for Tommy Tune.           

Both the play and its characters present an interesting blend of cynicism and optimism, said Jason Sherry, Sem theater director. By bringing together catchy, light-hearted tunes with a rather dark, scornful story, the show can’t be pigeonholed as either a comedy or a drama, Sherry said.           

“This show is a warning about the dangers of extremism, whether of optimism or cynicism,” he observed. “Everyone in this story is on the verge of making an important decision, and the play is about the consequences of those decisions. This is a grim play with love at its very center, and that love is what redeems some of the characters.”           

This production is part of the 2007-08 Wyoming Seminary Fine and Performing Arts program. For more information call 270-2190.

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