Photo Flash: GRAND HOTEL Opens At The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival

The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival opens its second production this season, the song and dance spectacular, Grand Hotel. The show runs July 10 through July 31 at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Emerson Park.

1928. Berlin. The city is the epicenter of nightlife and frivolity and home to one of the greatest crossroads of intrigue, luxury, romance, mystery, and crime - the Grand Hotel. Check into the lavish establishment where the hopes and dreams of ten hotel guests collide over one unforgettable night. Fueled by an epic score and stylish choreography, the stories intertwine with seamless style and grace. Grand Hotel is at once lavish, charming, funny, suspenseful, and undeniably romantic.

Originally directed and choreographed on Broadway by Tommy Tune. Winner of 5 Tony Awards. Adapted from the novel and the famous film starring Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford. A spellbinding and lavish song and dance spectacle!

Grand Hotel is directed and choreographed by FLMTF Producing Artistic Director, Brett Smock (FLMTF Highlights: From Here To Eternity, Mamma Mia!, Parade, The Light in the Piazza, Saturday Night Fever) with Elle-May Patterson as Associate Choreographer; and Brian Cimmet (Broadway/Tours: Mary Poppins, The Drowsy Chaperone) as Music Director.

Grand Hotel will feature scenic design by Michael Schweikardt (Off-Broadway: The Bus, Gates of Gold, Bloodsong of Love), costume design by Tiffany Howard (FLMTF: Grease, Beehive, Mamma Mia!), lighting design by Adam Honoré (Broadway: Ain't No Mo, Carmen Jones), sound design by Ed Chapman (FLMTF: Holiday Inn, Beehive), and wig design by Alfonso Annotto (Broadway: Wicked, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Putting it Together).

Checking into the Grand Hotel will be Michele Ragusa (Broadway: Young Frankenstein, Ragtime, Titanic) as Elizaveta Grushinskaya and Patrick Cummings (Broadway /National Tour: Bright Star) as Baron Felix Von Gaigern. Flaemmchen will be played by Samantha Sturm (Broadway: My Fair Lady, CATS, Holiday Inn), with Neal Benari (Broadway: Fiddler on the Roof, Aida) as Doctor Otternschlag and Dino Nicandros (The Secret Garden and Young Frankenstein at 3-D Theatricals) as Otto Kringelein. Mark Hardy (Broadway: Les Miserables, Titanic) will play Hermann Preysing, with Kristen Gehling as Raffaela, Jake Mills as Zinnowitz/Chauffeur and Sam Stoll as Erik. The Jimmys will be played by Wesley Barnes (Tour: Magic of the Dance, FLMTF: Mamma Mia!) and Darius Jordan Lee (Off-Broadway: Clueless). The Grand Hotel ensemble will feature: Giuliana Augello, Elizabeth Brady, Kyle Caress, Sasha Conley, Elaine Cotter, Liam Fitzpatrick, Fabian-Joubert Gallmeister, Evan Woods Gunter, Abby Hazlett, Tyler Joseph, Lilli Komurek, Andrew Norlen, and Elle-May Patterson (Associate Choreographer/Dance Captain).

This year marks the company's 61st season which also includes upcoming productions of South Pacific (August 7 - 28), Working, a Musical (September 4 - 21), and Loch Ness, a New Musical (September 28 - October 13).

Tickets for Grand Hotel can be purchased by phone at 315-255-1785 or toll free at 1-800-457-8897, and online at FingerLakesMTF.com.

Photo Credit: Ron Heerkens, Jr./GF Media