Grand Hotel, the Musical @ NY City Center 3/21 Irina's back on stage where she belongs

Her elegant entrance down the grand staircase began the evening at Grand Hotel, the Musical, now on stage through March 25th at New York City Center. We’re talking, of course, about Irina Dvorovenko as Elizaveta Grushinskaya, the aging ballerina who flirts with retirement more often than Elton John does. Elizaveta’s fluttering swan song, it turns out, is part of Irina’s fascinating re-invention of herself as a compelling musical theater artist who has combined the signature artistry she developed as a leading ballerina at ABT with new theater skills that she has rapidly acquired in the five years since her final appearance on ABT’s stage at age 39. (ABT has established a pattern of dumping celebrated ballerinas at age 39 thereby preventing them from acquiring federal protections against age discrimination at age 40 while employed as an ABT dancer.) 

Irina was fantastic in her singing debut. Her voice was its best in the deeper-lower ranges, but she heartily projected everything she sang the whole night. And oh my gosh, what a show-stopping beauty she still is. She first captivated last night's audience by simply walking downstage and staring outward -- establishing a rapport so instantly and so strongly that one didn't want the moment to be broken. Suddenly there was a flood of memories of her Tatianas, Marguerites, Juliets, and Giselles. And over the next hour and a half she developed the character of her Elizaveta with the same dedication and detailing that made all of her other roles so rich and rewarding for the audience.

 

Haglund recommends that everyone quickly grab one of the few remaining tickets to this weekend's shows. The entire evening which progresses without an intermission is charming every second of the way. Not a slow moment in the production. Multiple stories about the residents at the Grand Hotel run parallel and then are interwoven skillfully. Have to say, too, that the choreography was highly entertaining, especially the dances created and executed by ballroom tango world stars Junior Cervila and Guadalupe Garcia. For one of their hot numbers, Irina's character stood downstage to the side watching. When Cervila hoisted Garcia over his head in a one-handed Don Q lift and carried her all over the stage before dramatically dropping her to an inches-above the floor finishing position, Irina never took her eyes off them and may not have taken a breath either. These guys were oh so very, very hot. The audience was rewarded with another PdD by them to close the show after everyone else had bowed out.

 

Despite confessed love for our favorites, we have to admit that the real stars of this show are James Snyder as the Baron and Brandon Uranowitz as Otto Kringelein. You're just not going to hear a better tenor in a musical than Snyder. Lord, what a beautiful voice, and what charm he brought to the role. Uranowitz was completely unrecognizable from the actor who we saw in Prince of Broadway and An American in Paris -- bloody brilliant as the sniveling yet razor sharp Otto who everyone walked all over but who rose heroically at the end.

 

The orchestra was situated on a platform raised above the stage which meant that the music carried into the house beautifully. The staging of the actors under and around this platform involved some skilled engineering. There wasn't a lot of space for Josh Rhoades' choreography but his dances were designed to move minimally horizontally while still being quite animated and interesting. A large ballet barre (with no legs) played an important role throughout the show as it was carried from one end of the stage to the other.

 

All of the performers were terrific and the evening flew by quickly. Since Haglund is only going to buy a couple of ABT tickets this Sunday for the spring season, he has decided to go back for a second performance of Grand Hotel. It'll be money well-spent.

 

Here is a rehearsal clip of what was the show-stopping solo of last evening: James Snyder as the Baron serenading Irina with "Love Can't Happen", and a little bit of Irina's fabulous performance singing "Bonjour Amour".

More of Irina and the rest of the cast here.  (Scroll down to the fourth video for 40 seconds of Irina.)

Comments

[yukionna]

I just bought my ticket!

I also saw that Whiteside has been replaced by Stearns in Stella’s Giselle. I’m gonna see her dance Giselle this year after all!

[Haglund]

😄 !!

[Laura]

Looks like great fun. Found some Youtube videos of Junior and Guadalupe; A Russian Tango channel shows the Don Q one-arm lift too. Yes, they have chemistry. Sizzling.
Extra videos: Irina and the entire cast are genuinely happy and at ease on stage--spreading some needed joy out into the world.

[Haglund]

Hi, Laura.

I saw Grand Hotel on Broadway toward the end of its run and found it kind of meh. But this cast is really spectacular, and the "get to the point quickly" staging helps the production a lot.

Next up for Irina is a brand new Susan Stroman & John Kander musical project based on Henry James' "The Beast in the Jungle". It begins in May at the Vineyard Theatre.

[LLF]

Once again Haglund, your review is spot-on: this production of Grand Hotel is one of the best I've seen in the circa-20 years I've been subscribing to the series. And the dazzling Irina Dvorovenko made the show only that much more of a magical event for me. Who knew she could sing like Edith Piaf?! What an amazing, all-around theater and TV performer she's become! She certainly could teach that Fakerina a thing or three about the true meaning of "stardom;" like everything else, it's what you achieve via hard work and perseverance, not the intervention of an investment bank and enabling puff pieces in the local news outlets. By the way, our singing colleague in the show mentioned that the producer Scott Rudin may have an interest in transferring the production to Broadway. Nothing is certain of course, but how great would that be? In the meantime, I'm planning to catch Irina in her upcoming show at the Vineyard Theater. With Sarah Lane in Giselle and Irina off-Broadway - May is looking like a very upbeat month!

[Haglund]

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it. Great news that Rudin is toying with the idea of a Broadway run. Would love to see Lincoln Center Theater pick it up.

I forgot to mention that Irina's next gig with Susan Stroman also involves Tony Yazbeck who was wonderful in On the Town and An American in Paris but who was beyond brilliant in Prince of Broadway, the recent limited run revue of Hal Prince's shows that Stroman and Prince put on for Manhattan Theatre Club. This upcoming production at Vineyard looks like it could be testing out its Broadway potential, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah all the way for Irina!

Now, LLF, you must go see Amar Ramasar in Carousel! Though the production isn't as fresh as it could be, it has revealed Amar's potential as a major Broadway talent. And Jesse Mueller, oh man, I could listen to her all day.

[LLF]

Thanks Haglund, I'll look forward to seeing Carousel later this spring. I certainly trust your judgment more than any theater (or ballet) critic with agendas that don't necessarily include the competency level of certain performers.

[AMJ]

Our favorite celebrina is not too far from 39 now...