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Article: Theater; `Grand Hotel': Tommy Tune's Exquisite Facade
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 7, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The '80s techno-musical is a toy built by its director.
Sometimes it's a dull, noisy toy, like "Starlight Express";
sometimes it's an overdesigned one, like "The Phantom of the Opera."
And then sometimes it's enchanting, like Tommy Tune's production of
"Grand Hotel," which opened last night at the Kennedy Center Opera
House. "Grand Hotel" is a dazzling piece of direction, full of
surprise, beauty and daring. But it's a mechanism. There's
something askew when a musical isn't about its story or its music,
but about its exquisitely moving parts.
"Grand Hotel" began as a corny, melodramatic novel by Vicki
Baum. Life was not a cabaret but a hotel, with a stock guest list:
the ballerina tired ...