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Grand Hotel

the musical Apr 2 - May 19, 2019

It is 1928 and Berlin is at the center of a razzle-dazzle world between two wars. At the bustling Grand Hotel a series of eclectic guests and staff including a fading ballerina, a destitute baron, a wannabe-starlet typist, and an ailing bookkeeper collide in a non-stop musical toast to the high life.

Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer reunites the creative team behind last season’s smash hit A Little Night Music to conjure a scintillating musical destination where captivating characters played by Bobby Smith (Titanic, A Little Night Music), Natascia Diaz (Crazy for You), Kevin McAllister (Titanic), Nicki Elledge (A Little Night Music) and more converge with a lavish and lively score to embody the joy, style and decadence of the 1920s.

“A showstopper at every turn.” – TheaterMania

Book by Luther Davis
Music & Lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest
Based on Vicki Baum's Grand Hotel
By Arrangement with Turner Broadcasting Co. Owner of the Motion Picture ”Grand Hotel”
Additional Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
#SigGrandHotel
#SigGrandHotel

Performance Information

  • Run Time

    Run time approximately 1 hour 45 minutes, with no intermission.

  • Content Warnings

    Contains gunshots, depictions of drug use, smoking (herbal), theatrical smoke and haze

Specialty Nights

Discussion Nights

April 30 & May 8, 2019

Pride Night

May 3, 2019

Open Captioning

April 28, 2019 at 2PM

Cast Members

Christopher Bloch

Christopher Bloch

General Director Preysing

SIGNATURE: The Bridges of Madison County, Into the Woods, Assassins, Grand Hotel, The Scottsboro Boys, Titanic, Kid Victory, Cloak and Dagger, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Chess, Les Misérables, Merrily We Roll Along, Urinetown. NATIONAL TOUR: The Buddy Holly Story. DC AREA: Ford’s Theatre: Trip to Bountiful, My Lord, What a Night, 12 Angry Men, Ragtime, Jefferson’s Garden, 1776, Meet John Doe, Shenandoah, Big River, Christmas Carol; Arena Stage: Christmas Carol 1941, Damn Yankees, Black No More; Everyman: M Butterfly, God of Carnage, ART, Uncle Vanya, Jaques Brel…; Olney Theatre, Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre. REGIONAL: Lyric Theater, Guthrie Theatre, Virginia Stage, ACT, Repertory Theatre St. Louis, Indiana Rep., 2012 Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship. FILM/TV: West Wing, House of Cards, TURN, Butler MN, Damascus Road, WCBDC!, Star Wars audio (Lucas Productions). 

Ian Anthony Coleman

Ian Anthony Coleman

Jimmy 1

SIGNATURE: Grand Hotel, Blackbeard. NATIONAL TOUR: Amazing Grace the Broadway Musical, BIG NATE the Musical. DC AREA: Arena Stage: Oliver!; Round House Theatre: Father Comes Home From The Wars; Olney Theatre Center: On The Town, My Fair Lady, Singin’ In The Rain; Constellation Theatre Company: Peter & The Starcatcher (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Ensemble), The Wild Party, Aida; Imagination Stage: Wiley and The Hairy Man (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding TYA Production), Beauty & The Beast, Looking For Roberto Clemente; Kennedy Center TYA: Me...Jane; Rep Stage: Dorian’s Closet; The Keegan Theatre: HAIR!, A Few Good Men (Irish National Tour); Creative Cauldron: Once On This Island; Monumental Theatre: Urinetown. EDUCATION: Carnegie Mellon University, B.S. International Relations & Politics; Overtures Musical Theater Institute at Signature Theatre.

Natascia Diaz

Natascia Diaz

Elizaveta Grushinskaya

SIGNATURE: Passion (Fosca, Helen Hayes Award), Threepenny Opera (Jenny, Helen Hayes nom.), West Side Story (Anita, Helen Hayes nom.), Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Aurora).  BROADWAY: Man of La Mancha (Antonia, u/s Aldonza), Seussical. OFF-BROADWAY: Encores! Grand Hotel (Rafaella), The Capeman (Esmeralda), Jacques Brel, tick, tick, BOOM! (Susan, LA Ovation nom.). TOUR: West Side Story (Anita, Chicago Jeff Award, St. Louis Kevin Kline Award). DC: Shakespeare Theatre: Our Town (Mrs. Gibbs); Woolly: Collective Rage (Betty #3); MetroStage: Jacques Brel (Woman 1, Helen Hayes Award), Savage In Limbo (Savage), Rooms (Monica, Helen Hayes Award, shared with Chita!). REGIONAL: San Francisco Playhouse: Sally (Follies); St. Louis Muny: On Your Feet (Gloria Fajardo, St. Louis Critics Award), Chicago (Velma, Critics nom.); Hartford Stage: Ah, Wilderness! (Lily). FILM: Every Little Step. natasciadiaz.com 

Nicki Elledge

Flaemmchen

SIGNATURE: A Little Night Music. NATIONAL TOUR: Amazing Grace. DC AREA: Riverside Center: Beauty and the Beast; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Beauty and the Beast. REGIONAL: Utah Shakespeare Festival: The Cocoanuts, South Pacific, Mary Poppins, The Greenshow; Lamb’s Players Theatre: The Angels Arms, OZ, Joe vs. the Volcano, An American Christmas; The Welk Resorts: Fiddler on the Roof; Cygnet Theatre: A Little Night Music. ENTERTAINMENT: Legoland California: LEGOFriends: To the Rescue!. EDUCATION: The Catholic University of America: Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Theology (Magna cum Laude).

Nkrumah Gatling

Nkrumah Gatling

Baron Felix von Gaigern

SIGNATURE: Grand Hotel. BROADWAY: Camelot, Miss Saigon, Hair. NATIONAL TOUR: The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Hair. OFF-BROADWAY: Encores!: Cabin in the Sky; Second Stage: Witness Uganda. REGIONAL: Arden Theater: Ragtime; Stages: The Fantasticks; Pennsylvania Shakespeare: Ragtime; Kansas City Starlight: Miss Saigon; Hollywood Bowl: Hair; Theater Under the Stars: Dreamgirls, It’s a Wonderful Life; Goodspeed Theater, Band Geeks; Theater by the Sea: Little Mermaid; Meadowbrook Theater: Once on This Island; Northern Stage: Matilda. DC AREA: Kennedy Center: Chess. AWARDS: Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition: 2018 Marc Blitzstein Award. EDUCATION: 2007 Sam Houston State University, BFA Musical Theater.

Ben Gunderson

Ben Gunderson

Rohna

SIGNATURE: Blackbeard, Grand Hotel. BROADWAY/NATIONAL TOUR: Les Misérables. OFF-BROADWAY: Prospect Theatre: The Hidden Sky; York Theatre: A Time for Singing. DC AREA: Theater Alliance: Still Life With Rocket (Helen Hayes Outstanding Actor nom); Arena Stage: Anything Goes, The Pajama Game; STC: Camelot; Olney: Cabaret. REGIONAL: Engeman: Fiddler on the Roof; Coastal Carolina: Cabaret. TV: The Tony Awards, The Academy Awards, America's Got Talent. LEADERSHIP: Les Mis Mexico & Japan - Musical Staging. EDUCATION: UNCSA; SITI; Odin Teatret; MICHA.

Vincent Michael

Vincent Michael

Witt

he/him SIGNATURE: Into the Woods, RENT, Assassins (Helen Hayes nomination), A Chorus Line, Camille Claudel, Gypsy, Grand Hotel, Billy Elliot, Jesus Christ Superstar, Miss Saigon, Spin, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Ol’ Blue Eyes, Entirely Elvis, Woodstock, Crossing: In Concert. NEW YORK: Musical Theatre Factory: The Greenwood Tree. REGIONAL: St. Louis MUNY: RENT; Goodspeed Musicals: Private Jones; Ford’s Theatre: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Round House Theatre: The Nutcracker; Olney Theatre Center: Kinky Boots, Grease, Joseph…Dreamcoat, Takes One to Know One; Keegan Theatre: Spring Awakening; The Kennedy Center: The Greenwood Tree, Latino Inaugural 2013; DAR Constitution Hall: Horatio Alger Awards 2018; Capital Fringe Festival: Gilded; TELEVISION: A Capitol Fourth; EDUCATION: Bachelor of Music, CUA. @vincentmichael.k

Gregory Maheu

Chauffeur/Sandor

SIGNATURE: Passion, Sunday in the Park...; Hello, Dolly! (co-production with Ford’s Theatre); Chess; Sweeney Todd. NEW YORK: Lincoln Center: I Am Harvey Milk; Momentum Rep.: Assassins; NYMF: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice; The Toymaker. DC AREA: Olney Theatre Center: Once; Ford's Theatre: Ragtime; 110 in the Shade; Freedom's Song; Violet; A Christmas Carol; 1776; Liberty Smith; Kennedy Center: Ragtime; Adventure Theatre: Big. REGIONAL: MGR Playhouse: Austen's Pride; Studio Tenn: West Side Story; The Wizard of Oz; Les Misérables; Hangar Theatre: Hair. EDUCATION: BFA, Elon University.

Kevin McAllister

Kevin McAllister

General Director Preysing

SIGNATURE: Blackbeard, Grand Hotel, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Helen Hayes nomination), A Little Night Music, Titanic, SCKBSTRD, Brother Russia, The Break, Show Boat, Sweeney Todd. BROADWAY: Caroline, or Change; Come from Away. DC AREA: Round House Theatre: Next to Normal; Washington National Opera: Lost In The Stars; Ford’s Theatre: The Wiz, Ragtime (Helen Hayes winner, Best Actor in a Musical), 110 In The Shade, Freedom’s Song, …Spelling Bee, Violet (Helen Hayes nomination), Our Town, Parade (Helen Hayes nomination), The Civil War; Arena Stage: Five Guys Named Moe; Olney: The World Goes Round, Annie (Helen Hayes nomination), Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella; Kennedy Center: 2013 Gala, James and the Giant Peach, The Phantom Tollbooth; CenterStage: Expanding the Cycle Series; Toby’s: Rent, Dreamgirls, Ragtime (Helen Hayes winner, Best Actor in a Musical); Teatro 101: Brooklyn, Side Show, The Wild Party; Artistic Director, ArtsCentric, Inc. REGIONAL: Sacramento Music Circus: Ragtime. AWARDS: 2016 and 2018 Helen Hayes Award, Best Lead Actor in A Musical; Broadway World’s Performer of The Decade (2020).

Nicholas McDonough

Nicholas McDonough

Erik

SIGNATURE: Grand Hotel. REGIONAL: Cape Playhouse: South Pacific, Dutch Apple Dinner Theater: Grease, Axelrod Playhouse: Jekyll and Hyde. EDUCATION: Point Park University, 2015, Music Theater.

Crystal Mosser

Crystal Mosser

Rafaella

SIGNATURE: Signature Vinyl, Gun and Powder, Grand Hotel, Billy Elliot. DC AREA: Shakespeare Theatre: Candide, Boys From Syracuse; Woolly Mammoth/Fringe: F#@king Up Everything. NYC: Playwrights Horizons: Atlantis; New York City Opera: Car Crash Opera; Skirball Center: King David Revival, Leonard Bernstein Tribute, “Glitter and Be Gay” Soloist; McGinn/Cazale Theater: Paint Your Wagon. REGIONAL: Coastal Carolina Center of the Arts/Beef and Boards/Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center: 9 to 5; Mason Street Warehouse: Xanadu; Seven Angels Theatre: Marvelous Wonderettes; Hanesbrand Theatre: Stephen Schwartz Project; Penobscot Theatre: Great American Trailer Park; Mac-Haydn Theatre: Phantom. EDUCATION: New York University, B.M. & M.M. @CrystalMosser

Katie Mariko Murray

Katie Mariko Murray

Tootsie 2

she/they SIGNATURE: Into the Woods, RENT, Simply Sondheim, Signature Vinyl, Grand Hotel, Passion, West Side Story, Miss Saigon. NYC: ARSNova: KPOP the Musical workshop; NAAP: Into the Woods concert (Cinderella). REGIONAL: Arena Stage: Ride the Cyclone (Jane Doe); Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera: The Drowsy Chaperone (Janet Van De Graaf); Weathervane Repertory: The King and I (Tuptim), Mamma Mia (Sophie); Tuacahn: Disney's When You Wish (world premiere, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Mulan); McCarter Theatre: A Christmas Carol; Fulton Opera House: Miss Saigon. EDUCATION: BFA Penn State. Katiemarikomurray.com @ktpotaty

Alicia Osborn

Alicia Osborn

Madame Peepee

she/her SIGNATURE: Grand Hotel (Madame Peepee). NATIONAL TOUR: Mamma Mia! (Tanya/Rosie cover). DC AREA: Toby’s: Young Frankenstein (Elizabeth Benning), White Christmas, Grease; Riverside: 9 to 5 (Judy Bernly), My Fair Lady. REGIONAL: Pagosa Springs: The Secret Garden (Martha), Tarzan, Damn Yankees (Gloria Thorpe), Joseph, Little Women, A Christmas Carol; Shawnee: The King and I (Anna), ILYYPNC, All Shook Up. OTHER: AIDA Cruise Lines Vocalist. EDUCATION: American Musical and Dramatic Academy. www.aliciaosborn.com @aliciaanneosborn

Solomon Parker III

Solomon Parker III

Jimmy 2

SIGNATURE: The Color Purple (Helen Hayes for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical - Hayes), RENT, After Midnight, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Grand Hotel, Billy Elliot, Jesus Christ Superstar. Regional: Portland Center Stage: Hair; Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival: In the Heights. DC AREA: Olney Theater: Kinky Boots; Ford’s Theatre: The Wiz, Grace the Musical, A Christmas Carol; Keegan Theatre: Legally Blonde; Toby's Dinner Theatre: Kinky Boots, Dreamgirls, Hairspray; Monumental Theatre Co: Pippin, Sunday Funday, Montgomery, Bashful; EDUCATION: Montgomery College. @thesolomonexperience

Lawrence Redmond

Lawrence Redmond

Colonel Dr. Otternschlag

SIGNATURE: Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, She Loves Me, Assassins, Blackbeard, Grand Hotel, Passion, Titanic, The Fix, Elmer Gantry, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Over and Over, A Stephen Sondheim Evening, Working, Sunday in the Park with George, No Way to Treat a Lady (1998 Helen Hayes Award),Three Nights in Tehran, The Rink (1997 Helen Hayes Award), Passion, Cabaret. DC AREA: Ford's Theater: Little Shop of Horrors, Twelve Angry Men; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing; Arena Stage: The Great Society, Intelligence, All the Way, Ruined, Passion Play; Round House Theatre: Quixote Nuevo; Olney Theatre Center: Miss You Like Hell; AWARDS: 2023 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, 2023 Anderson-Hopkins Award for Excellence in Theatre, seven additional Helen Hayes nominations; Multiple DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Artist Fellowships (9/12/25-19/13/12) www.lawrenceredmond.com 

Maria Rizzo

Maria Rizzo

Tootsie 1

she/her SIGNATURE: Into the Woods, She Loves Me (Ilona - Helen Hayes Award), A Chorus Line, Assassins, Grand Hotel, Crazy For You, A Little Night Music, The Gulf (world premiere), West Side Story, Cabaret, Gypsy (Louise - Helen Hayes Nom), Spin (world premiere), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Xanadu. DC THEATRE: Arena Stage: Anything Goes (Erma - Helen Hayes Award), Fiddler on the Roof; Olney Theatre Center: Evita, Grease!; Keegan Theatre: Chicago (Roxie - Helen Hayes Award), Cabaret (Sally Bowles - Helen Hayes Nom), The Sunshine Boys, Spring Awakening; Studio 2ndStage: Carrie the Musical; 1stStage: Bat Boy; Toby's Dinner Theatre: Hairspray. REGIONAL: Arkansas Rep Theatre: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. EDUCATION: The Catholic University of America, BM, Musical Theatre. @mariarizz9o

Bobby Smith

Bobby Smith

Otto Kringelein

he/him SIGNATURE: No Place to Go, She Loves Me, Midnight at The Never Get, Assassins, Grand Hotel, Passion, Light Years, A Little Night Music, Titanic, Simply Sondheim, Company, Midwestern Gothic, Road Show, Threepenny Opera, Disney's Freaky Friday, La Cage aux Folles (Helen Hayes Award), Spin (Helen Hayes Award). BROADWAY: Crazy for You. OFF-BROADWAY: Forever Plaid, The World Goes ‘Round, Of Thee I Sing. NATIONAL TOURS: Brigadoon, The World Goes ‘Round. DC AREA: Theater J: Two Jews Walk Into a War; Studio Theatre: Fun Home, A Class Act; The Long Christmas Ride Home; Caroline, or Change; Grey Gardens; Reefer Madness; Jerry Springer: The Opera; Ford’s Theatre: Elmer Gantry, Liberty Smith, 1776, Violet; Metrostage: Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Helen Hayes Award). AWARDS: 2018 Anderson/Hopkins award.

Creative Team

Eric Schaeffer

Directed by

Eric Schaeffer is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Arlington’s Signature Theatre. Under his leadership, the Theatre was honored with the 2009 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theater in America, as well as 90 Helen Hayes Awards with an additional 340 nominations for theater excellence in Washington, DC.

At Signature, Schaeffer directed productions including: Elmer Gantry; Cloak and Dagger; Beaches; Crossing; Miss Saigon; Spin; Hello, Dolly! (Ford’s Theatre co-production); The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Brother Russia; Hairspray; Sunset Boulevard; Chess; Show Boat; First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb; The Hollow; Les Misérables; ACE; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Glory Days; The Witches of Eastwick; Saving Aimee; Into the Woods; My Fair Lady; Nevermore; The Highest Yellow; One Red Flower; Allegro; Twentieth Century; 110 in the Shade; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; The Gospel According to Fishman; Grand Hotel; The Rhythm Club; Over & Over; The Fix; Working; The Rink; Cabaret; First Lady Suite; Wings; Poor Superman; Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love; and the Sondheim musicals Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George (Arena Stage co-production), Passion, Into the Woods, Company, Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Follies and Pacific Overtures, among others.

On Broadway, Schaeffer directed Gigi, the critically acclaimed Follies as well as the Tony Award®-winning Million Dollar Quartet, Glory Days and Putting It Together. His national tours include Million Dollar Quartet and big. Off-Broadway, he has directed Sweet Adeline (City Center Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert) and Under the Bridge. His West End credits include Million Dollar Quartet and The Witches of Eastwick.

Eric’s regional credits include Ford’s Theatre: Meet John Doe; Goodman: Million Dollar Quartet; Apollo Theatre: Million Dollar Quartet; Mark Taper Forum: Putting It Together (w/ Carol Burnett); Chicago: Elmer Gantry; Los Angeles: Disney’s Snow White. For the Kennedy Center, Schaeffer served as the Artistic Director of the acclaimed Sondheim Celebration in 2002 as well as directing its productions of Sunday in the Park with George and Passion. At the Kennedy Center, he also directed Follies starring Bernadette Peters, Mame starring Christine Baranski, First You Dream: The Music of Kander & Ebb and Gigi starring Vanessa Hudgens.

In 2006, Schaeffer created Signature’s musical theater commissioning program, the American Musical Voices Project (AMVP), in partnership with the New York-based Ted & Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund, to commission and produce new musicals for the American theater canon. Since that time, AMVP has grown to become the largest musical theater commissioning program in the country, providing writers and composers a creative, fertile ground to develop original musicals. Since the program was launched, Signature has commissioned 18 new musicals from composers such as Michael John LaChiusa, Ricky Ian Gordon, Joseph Thalken, Adam Guettel, Jeanine Tesori, Josh Schmidt and Joshua Rosenblum, among others.

Schaeffer earned his BFA from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, where he received an Honorary Doctorate in 2012. He also received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Shenandoah University in 2014.

Jon Kalbfleisch

Music Direction by

SIGNATURE (Resident Music Director) Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, She Loves Me, Broadway in the Park (Wolf Trap), Simply Sondheim, A Chorus Line, Assassins, Passion, Crazy for You, A Little Night Music, West Side Story, Cabaret, Sunday in the Park, Gypsy, Company, Hairspray, Saturday Night, Side by Side, Sunset Boulevard, Show Boat, Anyone Can Whistle, Spider Woman, Merrily, Into the Woods, Pacific Overtures, Elegies, Allegro, Follies, 110 in the Shade, Putting It Together, Forum, Sweeney Todd, Wings. BROADWAY: Ambassador Theatre: The Visit (Actor's Fund Benefit), Marius Company: Les Misérables (Associate Conductor). DC AREA: Kennedy Center: First You Dream; National Theatre, Warner Theatre, Round House Theatre, Everyman Theatre. OTHER: Carnegie Hall, Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony. TV: Celebration of the Arts (Executive Producer), Good Morning America. AWARDS: Grammy nomination; Bernstein MASS, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, pianist; Anderson-Hopkins Award; ten Helen Hayes Awards and 30 nominations; Distinguished Alumni Award, Cameron University. EDUCATION: Master of Music, Southern Methodist University.

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Press Reviews

Check in for a five-star experience

CurtainUp

Signature Theatre’s roaring, non-stop rendering of the musical Grand Hotel  is abundantly alive

DCMetroTheaterArts

A show to savor

MD Theatre Guide

Full of energy… plenty of style

BroadwayWorld

Dialed to sultry

The Washington Post

Signature Theatre

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