Grand Hotel vs City of Angels

[A0326T]

Posted: 5/4/19 at 9:51am

Two extraordinary musicals. Saw clip of "We'll Raise the Glass Together" with Michael Jeter. Musical dancing at its finest. City of Angels with Mr Naughton.

That must have been an exciting seaspmnwith these two musicals. I also listened to CDs and I cant decide which is better. Both equally good.

Thoughts?

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 5/4/19 at 10:55am

I listen to the City of Angels album more. Seeing it live though, there are serious second act book troubles and a dull leading man.

Grand Hotel has a more cohesive story, and more likeable leading men, but I find the score uneven. I also dimly recall the album having poorer sound quality.

Both shows offer great show stoppers for the supporting female cast.

[Itonlytakesajourney]

Posted: 5/4/19 at 11:57am

The City of Angels cast recording has been on repeat for months; I think it’s a close to perfect score. The book is shaky at best and does drag on...a lot...during the movie scenes. The concept of having doubled roles for each actor is intriguing, but it never reaches its full potential, saddled with a cast of varying importance. I still think it’s a fun show worth revisiting even with its fault.

Grand Hotel never really grabbed me the way City of Angels did, but it does have a better book. The score is debatable, but it’s fine for the most part.

I wonder what new productions could do to reinvigorate these shows. Since they’re seldom produced, it’d be interesting to see how they hold up today.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/5/19 at 12:36am

IMO Grand Hotel has a really mediocre score; I recently tried listening the score recently and thought it was awful.  That said, the show was terrific entertainment, mainly due to Tommy Tune's incredibly creative direction and design concept.  The cast also delivered a number of marvelous performances, with Michael Jeter and Lilianne Montevecchi standing out.

Ironically, I have enjoyed the listening to the score of City of Angels many times, but I was  bored out of my mind watching the show twice over a few years (the second was out of town).  In both cases, I found myself grinning for about 10-15 minutes, but becoming increasingly  bored for the next 2+ hours.  By the end, I was sooooo bored that I wanted to scream at the stage.  Since it only ran for roughly 1 1/2 years -- and played to half-filled theatre for a good amount of that time, I have always assumed that mine was not a significantly minority opinion.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/5/19 at 1:42am

I saw a local, semi-pro, production of GRAND HOTEL just three weeks ago. I remember almost nothing of it. Without Tommy Tune's direction/choreography and Michael Jeter's performance, it doesn't inspire hate, even, but just a shrug.

CITY OF ANGELS has perhaps the best meeting of jazz and Broadway of any American musical. But the lyrics and music--especially the convoluted lyrics with their many, complicated puns, jokes, allusions to unmentioned cultural references, and the painful stabs at double-entendre, but also the music which attempts to find a note for all the extra verbiage--IS boring in the theater. Listening is so much work, one turns off after awhile.

The OBCR is sublime, however, because the music is genuinely gorgeous. It only gets better with repetition because, as with any pop album, one picks up the lyrics better after a number of playings.

The book, however and despite my admiration for the book writer, is mostly a collection of anti-Hollywood jokes we've all heard many, many times.

I'm not sure either needs a first-class revival, but everyone should have a copy of the CITY OF ANGELS OBCR.

Updated On: 5/5/19 at 01:42 AM

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/5/19 at 9:53am

I loved the show "City Of Angels", especially the score. I saw Tom Wopat in the leading role and he was very good which at the time surprised me, I never saw "Grand Hotel" and don't really know much about the show so I can't compare these shows.

[once a month]

Posted: 5/5/19 at 8:13pm

I saw both original productions the same day. I enjoyed both but felt each was lacking....something. To be honest, I thought together they made a perfect show, lol. The music from City of Angels and the seamless dancing of Grand Hotel was a wonderful day of theatre. Neither made my top ten list however, I’m just eternally grateful to have experienced both Michael Jeter and David Carroll, who I absolutely loved in Chess. 

[once a month]

Posted: 5/5/19 at 8:13pm

I saw both original productions the same day. I enjoyed both but felt each was lacking....something. To be honest, I thought together they made a perfect show, lol. The music from City of Angels and the seamless dancing of Grand Hotel was a wonderful day of theatre. Neither made my top ten list however, I’m just eternally grateful to have experienced both Michael Jeter and David Carroll, who I absolutely loved in Chess. 

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 5/5/19 at 8:36pm

I saw both original productions. I loved both, but am more partial to City of Angels.

Both had very strong casts, and storylines for multiple characters. I echo some of the comments already posted. Grand Hotel had better dance numbers, but the City of Angels had a better score and was jazzy fun. Both productions had very cinematic transitions, but I liked the production design with shades of black and white (for the Stone/Movie storyline) vs color (for the Stine/Hollywood storyline) for City of Angels.

All in all, I was happy that City of Angels took the Tony, but would have been happy for Grand Hotel if it had nabbed the top prize.

One last note, one of my all time favorite theatrical experiences was Lettice and Lovage with Maggie Smith and Margaret Tyzack. You can see an extended scene from the play done on the Tony Awards on youtube at the 1:05:28 mark of the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf1dPwufHqo

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 12:30am

I disagree with those who say the GRAND HOTEL score is weak if you saw it in the context of the original staging. It was hypnotic and at times absolutely thrilling. It wove a spell that wasn't to everyone's taste, but that pseudo-Brechtian, pseudo-Weill vibe worked great for me. The best scenes from that show have stayed with me for 30 years. Countless Encore revivals have basically cribbed the brilliant look nailed by Tony Walton and Tommy Tune in that production.

CITY OF ANGELS, on the other hand, was absolutely impossible to follow in the theater, not the lyrics, not the plot, not the double-casting. Even the black-and-white vs. color stage sets got confusing after a while. Years later I could remember the lovely scat singing and that swell Noir sequence combining live action and film. The rest left me with a big shrug in the theater. Years of listening to the CD has given me greater appreciation for the songs on their own, but that's not how great theater is supposed to work.

So my pick is GRAND HOTEL in a cakewalk.

Updated On: 5/6/19 at 12:30 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 1:37am

Someone, I didn't mean to say the score to GRAND HOTEL is bad. I do like the OBCR. I just don't find it especially memorable. Kander & Ebb did the Brecht/Weill thing better, IMHO.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/6/19 at 1:21pm

I saw both, and preferred Grand Hotel.  I loved Tommy Tune's staging, and the performances from Michael Jeter and Jane Krakowski.

City of Angels I just didn't like.  The remember Rachel York, but also that the blonde in the Angel City 4 annoyed the hell out of me for some reason!