The Hamilton College Choir, under the direction of G. Roberts Kolb, mounted an elaborate production of Grand Hotel as its spring musical, Feb. 4-6, in Wellin Hall. Set in an elegant Berlin hotel in 1928, Grand Hotel recounts the intersecting lives of eccentric hotel guests. The world is between wars, the stock market is booming, Berlin is the center of high life, and optimism rules the day.
Inspired by Viki Baum’s period novel, book writer/playwright Luther Davis (Kismet, Timbuktu!) collaborated with the composer-lyricist team Robert Wright and George Forrest (Kismet, Timbuktu!, Magdelena, The Anastasia Affaire).
The Hamilton production featured lighting and set design by William DiPaolo and choreography by Nancy Long. Students in the cast included Nathaniel Taylor '11 as Baron Felix Von Gaigern, Michael Breslin '13 as Otto Kringelein, Jacob Taylor '13 as Herman Preysinf, Andrew Nichols '14 as Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag, Allison McLaughlin '11 as Elizaveta Grushinskaya, Julia Wilber '11 as Flaemmchen, and Andrea Wrobel '13 as Raffaela.