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List Price: $13.98 | | Label: RCA Victor Broadway
Salesrank: 45405
Released: June 23, 1992 |
| Our Price: $8.96 |
| Used Price: $5.42 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Grand Hotel: The Musical - Broadway Cast Recording Track Listing:
1. The Grand Parade/Some Have, Some Have Not - Henry Grossman/William Ryall/David Elledge/Walter Willison/Kathi Moss/Brent Barrett/Bob Stillman
2. Dialogue (Look at Him) - John Wylie
3. At The Grand Hotel/Table With A View - Michael Jeter/Brent Barrett
4. Maybe My Baby Loves Me - David Jackson/Danny Strayhorn/Jane Krakowski
5. Fire and Ice/Twenty-two Years/Villa On A Hill - Liliane Montevecchi/Karen Akers
6. I Want To Go To Hollywood - Jane Krakowski
7. Dialogue (Sorry to Repout) - John Wylie
8. The Crooked Path/Some Have, Some Have Not - Timothy Jerome/Henry Grossman/William Ryall/David Elledge/Walter Willison
9. Who Couldn't Dance With You - Jane Krakowski/Brent Barrett/Michael Jeter
10. Dialouge (So Tell Me Baron...) - Liliane Montevecchi
11. Love Can't Happen - Brent Barrett
12. What You Need - Karen Akers
13. Bonjour Amour - Liliane Montevecchi
14. H-a-p-p-y/We'll Take A Glass Together - David Jackson/Danny Strayhorn/Michael Jeter/Brent Barrett
15. I Waltz Alone - John Wylie/Brent Barrett/Michael Jeter
16. Dialogue (No Creature on this Planet...) - John Wylie
17. Roses At The Station - Brent Barrett
18. Dialogue (Two Scary Enemies...) - John Wylie
19. Bolero - Orchestra
20. How Can I Tell Her? - Karen Akers
21. Trial Score - Bob Stillman/The Company
22. The Grand Waltz - Entire Company/Henry Grossman/William Ryall/David Elledge/Walter Willison/Jack Lee
23. Love Can't Happen (Live At Steve Mc Graw's) - David Carroll
Editorial Review:
OK, so it's not exactly The Threepenny Opera. Still, Grand Hotel has plenty of the atmosphere of prewar Berlin in this Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Tommy Tune. Based on the 1932 star-studded, Oscar-winning film, the show takes place in Europe's most luxurious hotel and follows the intertwining lives and shattered dreams of both regular and once-in-a-lifetime guests. Leading the ensemble cast are Parisian follies star Liliane Montevecchi as the aging ballerina, and strong tenor Brent Barrett as the dashing but debt-saddled baron. Also appearing are Ally McBeal's Jane Krakowski as the would-be movie star, cabaret artist Karen Akers as Montevecchi's confidante, and Michael Jeter as the dying bookkeeper. The score was written by Robert Wright and George Forrest (who brought Borodin to Broadway with Kismet), with additional material by Maury Yeston (Titanic), and the highlights include the soaring romantic ballad "Love Can't Happen," the jazzy scat of "Maybe My Baby Loves Me," and the sassy Charleston number "H-A-P-P-Y." Plenty of dialogue helps capture the flow of the show, and the CD also includes a live cabaret performance of "Love Can't Happen" by the late David Carroll, who originated the baron role on Broadway. --David Horiuchi
Grand Hotel: The Musical - Broadway Cast Recording Reviews:
I can only guess... 
2008-08-21 - Just hearing the bonus track of David Carroll singing "Love Can't Happen" makes me wonder how BETTER the original cast recording could have been. Brent Barrett vocally sounds shrill and tense in his upper range, marring the official recordings of "Roses at the Station" and "Love Can't Happen". What a tragedy!!! And Carroll's other recording--the Broadway version of Chess--is no longer in print (according to Amazon). This is a double tragedy, because David played Anatoly in the show and gets to sing the powerful "Anthem" at the end of Act 1.
Generally, the score sounds cobbled together with no memorable melodies (other than "Love Can't Happen", which burrows its way into your psyche at the first or second hearing). Perhaps Yeston should have written the whole score and find some legal way to discard the derivative songs provided by Forrest and Wright. Perhaps a revival (and major rewrite) is in order...
This is not a good representation of this show, vocally and compositionally speaking. Unfortunately, there are currently no other representation. My two cents.
Grand Hotel - Grand Recording 
2008-07-21 - The original cast recording of Grand Hotel is grand indeed. Exellent orchestrations and as excellent cast. The emotion of the piece is conveye d thoroughly on this recording.
Grand Hotel
2006-07-24 - "Grand Hotel" is a fine musical with songs by George Forrest and Robert Wright and some additional material by Maury Yeston. What stole the show in this musical, however, was Mr. Tommy Tune's inventive staging. That doesn't mean audiences went out humming the staging, though. The songs are excellet as well. Some standouts include the opening number, "Grand Hotel" or "The Grand Parade" as it is officially titled written by Mr. Yeston is a wonderfully jaunty opening number. "At The Grand Hotel\Table With a View", performed by the incomparable Michael Jeter is a lovely selection. "Maybe My Baby Loves Me" is tuneful fun. "Love Can't Happen" is a very romantic ballad and "What You Need" is a wonderful Weill-esque number performed with conviciton by one my favorite performers, Karen Akers. "We'll Take a Glass Together" is also a great showstopper performed by Mr. Jeter and Brent Barret.
The performances are excellent. Ms. Akers and Mr. Jeter steal the show. Thinking about the performances of their songs "What You Need" and "We'll Take a Glass Together" performed by Akers and Jeter respectively sends chills through my body. Brent Barret is fine as the Baron and Liliane Montevecchi as the retiring balerina is excellent, although her role in "Nine" was better suited for her. Jane Krawkowski is also great as a young wannabe movie star.
The orchestrations by Peter Matz are excellent. The original cast album includes a bonus track of David Carroll performing "Love Can't Happen" at a cabaret. Mr. Carroll starred as the Baron durring the beginning of the run, but was diagnosed with HIV and was replaced by Brent Barrett. Because of legal issues, the cast album was recorded late in the run. The creative team thought that it'd be a good idea to have the still living, if very ill Mr. Carroll perform his songs. Alas, he died of AIDS in the studio before his tracks could be recorded. The bonus track is nice for people who enjoy the vocalizing of Mr. Carroll. I don't particulary like his voice and prefer Mr. Barrett's performance of the song. However, his passing was very unfortunate and he is missed.
Mr. Jeter
2005-12-06 - Traveled from AZ. to NYC specifically to see Michael Jeter perform live in "Grand Hotel". A man of remarkable talent who went way too soon. He is the only reason I went and the only reason I have this cd. For him I give it 4 stars.
"Grand Hotel" ain't anywhere near grand. 
2005-08-23 - I saw the original Broadway cast and I have never heard such praise for such a worthless piece of fluff in all my years as a Broadway performer and fan. But being a Broadway fan, I bought the album to give the show a second chance. Sitting through this mismatch of Yeston mediocre and Wright and Forest dregs, I sadly had to throw the recording away. I didn't even want it in my extensive collection. The only saving grace was "Let's Lift a Glass" with a haunting Michael Jeeter. Otherwise not one performance by any of the actor/singers came close to their previous work or their work to come. I was so disappointed because I had loved the original cast of "Nine" and was so excited about a new Yeston musical. And there in lies the tale--Tommy Tune, who I consider the last great director/choreographer of the Golden Age of Broadway, should have taken the idea that Wright and Forest had presented him and said "Thank you but go back to preserving the original concept of 'Anya' and let me hire Maury Yeston to write a completely new score. I'll make sure that he doesn't listen to one shred of your original score." Then we might have really had a smashing show based on a marvelously grand soap opera.
