Photo Flash: Kokandy Productions Presents GRAND HOTEL

Kokandy Productions is pleased to present the final production of its fifth anniversary season: the Tony Award-nominated musical GRAND HOTEL, playing April 15 - May 27, 2018 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Featuring a book by Luther Davis, music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest and additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, the Kokandy production will be directed by Artistic Producer John D. Glover, with music direction by Aaron Benham and choreography by Brenda Didier. Single tickets are currently available at www.kokandyproductions.com, by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at the Theater Wit Box Office.

GRAND HOTEL will feature Michelle Jasso as Elizaveta Grushinskaya, Jonathan Schwart as Otto Kringelein, Leryn Turlington as Flaemmchen, Jeremy Trager as Herman Preysing, Erik Dohner as Baron Felix von Gaigern, Jerry M. Miller as Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag and Liz Norton as Raffaela with Nick Arcero, Parker Guidry, Daniel Hurst, Jennifer Ledesma, Jenny McPherson, Hanah Rose Nardone, Darren Patin, Shea Pender, Jeff Pierpoint, Pavi Proczko, Maurice Randle, Rachel Whyte and Travis Austin Wright.

It is 1928. The world is between wars, the stock market is booming, Berlin is the center of high life and optimism rules the day. Underneath it all, much is happening at the elegant Grand Hotel, where the lives of its eccentric guests intersect over one defining weekend: a fading prima ballerina; a fatally ill Jewish bookkeeper who wants to spend his final days living in luxury; a young, handsome, but destitute Baron; a cynical doctor; an honest businessman gone bad and a typist dreaming of Hollywood success. Based on Vicki Baum's 1928 play and novel Menschen im Hotel (People in a Hotel) and the subsequent 1932 MGM feature film, issues of life and death, financial ruin, love and murder all converge as people come and go through the lobby of the Grand Hotel.

"The themes of isolationism, broken dreams and cultural differences form the central messages of the Grand Hotel - messages that are all too relevant in our nation's current social and political climate," comments director John D. Glover. "My vision is to create a 'vanished luxury' and the fever dreams of a world on the brink of depression and war and to illuminate for the theater-goer the harsh realities of each of these characters' journeys. Especially now, the truth is more important than ever. In the musical, Otto Kringelein concludes that 'life resides in people, not places.' The hotel may be grand, but as the director, my job is to ensure we genuinely care about the people who venture through the revolving door...."

The production team for GRAND HOTEL includes Jeffrey D. Kmiec (scenic design), John Nasca (costume design), Alexander Ridgers (lighting design), Michael Patrick (sound design), Johnny Buranosky (props design, asst. director), Eva Breneman (dialect coach), Rachel Flesher (violence and intimacy choreography), Keith Ryan (hair and wig design), Brian Estep (asst. costume design), Cam Turner (asst. choreographer), Lindsay Brown (production manager), Lina Benich (stage manager) and Zach Barr (asst. stage manager).

Photo by Evan Hanover.