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[0:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I don't know if you've seen White Lotus, but I think it's a great, great, great, great series. And whenever I watch it, I think about Grand Hotel. And if anybody here is like, "Hi, I still don't get the plot of Grand Hotel," which, by the way, neither do I. But, like, it is, if you know White Lotus, there you go. It's a bunch of really complicated people in a hotel.

[0:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome, everybody, to A Musical Theatre Podcast where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theater history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons. You can call me Jeff. Today, we are discussing the musical Grand Hotel. A listener request from this woman. The centuries is fabulous, wonderful. I'd like to see the show two more times. I loved it so much. Why? What could possibly be that good? She is fantastic. Her movements, her dancing, her voice. Everything about her is terrific.

[1:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So you didn't like her very much.

[1:12] Spencer Glass: I loved her. I'm going to see it twice more.

[1:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: This is my favorite part. As soon as I can get tickets, my husband works in this area. Okay. She's iconic. My husband works in this area. I'm kidding. She didn't request the musical. Someone else requested this episode. It wasn't via email, though, so I don't have any fun personal anecdotes. Still, I'm glad it was requested. I honestly wasn't sure we'd get around to covering it. We reach out to guests. We give them a list of all the listener requests. Nobody's been interested in Grand Hotel. But then, then I saw a random video on Instagram. And it was this guy basically going through the history of musical theater footwear. And I felt seen and held. And when we reached out to ask if he'd be on the show, he chose Grand Hotel! So we're officially best friends. He's an actor and a coach, and I can't wait to talk to him. Everyone, welcome the wonderful Spencer Glass! Yay!

[2:09] Spencer Glass: An unbelievable intro. And, I mean, do we start by asking, like, what footwear is mostly seen?

[2:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: In Grand Hotel, from the musical theater footwear?

[2:20] Spencer Glass: It's a great question. I'm going to go with a tan laduka.

[2:24] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I'm going to agree with you. So we're off to a good start. Perfect. How are you, first of all?

[2:28] Spencer Glass: You know, I got back last night from such an incredible weekend on the lake. And sometimes coming back to New York City is like a slap across the face. And I'm really, I'm really not kidding when I say this. This is like, not just for the podcast. This is you opening with the Grand Hotel Broadway commercial, which, obviously, I knew immediately. And you could see it. You could see her face. You see the glow of the golden lights behind her. She looks like everybody in my family. She sounds like everybody in my family. And I was just taken to another universe. So thank you. I'm feeling really great.

[3:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I'm so glad. I'm so, so glad. Why did you choose Grand Hotel?

[3:12] Spencer Glass: I am from Long Island. I don't know if it's because Long Island, obviously, is access to New York City. But I just got really lucky growing up in arts education that, like, didn't just do the typical high school, middle school, elementary school musical. And I was introduced to Grand Hotel when I was probably 12, I would say.

[3:41] Spencer Glass: Oh, my gosh.

[3:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Amazing.

[3:44] Spencer Glass: And they did it at my camp on Long Island.

[3:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Stop it. Stop it.

[3:48] Spencer Glass: There was an advanced musical theater group at this camp.

[3:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, man. I would have wanted. I would have been ashamed to say it out loud, but how I would have wanted to be in the advanced.

[3:59] Spencer Glass: You would have wanted to be in the advanced because when I first got to camp, they first did On Your Toes. So I was introduced to On Your Toes. Then they did Titanic and I was introduced to Titanic. And then I was like, what's Grand Hotel? That was so I saw a bunch of 15 year olds do Grand Hotel and it was unbelievable. And then I got offered Grand Hotel at the age of 14. A mere two years later. At a community theater down the street from my parents' house. And I turned it down.

[4:36] Spencer Glass: This is so funny to go to my parents were like, you actually need to start training for college. So we need to get you out of the house. So you can't do Grand Hotel because you have to go to a Jewish Maccabi festival in New Jersey and learn straight theater Meisner technique. And so you have to not take this offer and you need to train. And so I did not get to do the ensemble of Grand Hotel.

[5:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Because you were studying Meisner.

[5:04] Spencer Glass: Because I was studying Meisner with Elizabeth Suedos. And I runaways herself.

[5:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Can I just say, I feel like I know everything about you now in these five minutes we've spent together.

[5:17] Spencer Glass: I think that's all I need to know. Bye.

[5:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's incredible. So then now I'm curious about your life. Or actually, I should say now I'm curious about the life. When did you do that at 15?

[5:30] Spencer Glass: Cy Coleman's The Life?

[5:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh my God, that's hysterical.

[5:34] Spencer Glass: No, it's just a joke. It's a deep cut for anybody out there. I was like, did I do The Life? Wait, maybe I did. Did I play the Lily's White role?

[5:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It is one of my favorite Tony Award performances.

[5:49] Spencer Glass: Oh, come on. I mean, that choreography. There is a moment when they're in like body stockings. And the choreography is just jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.

[5:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It is unbelievable. And I believe one of the people jiggling, also Sarah Kangaroo, back to Elizabeth Suedos, also I think was in Runaways.

[6:09] Spencer Glass: Wow.

[6:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Written by Elizabeth Suedos.

[6:11] Spencer Glass: I know, I know. I could be wrong though.

[6:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, but look, I'm here for it. And the universe is obviously on our side this morning. So I did not become acquainted with Grand Hotel until like my Columbia House BMI CD days, where you'd get the catalog and you could pick like 12 CDs. And Grand Hotel was definitely one that I picked. I'm so grateful that I was raised in the time of CDs because we had those darn liner notes that were so helpful and always had pictures.

[6:44] Spencer Glass: I feel so bad that like all you get on Spotify is an eight second clip of Ariana Grande's newest music video to go along with your listening experience. I had a booklet. I had tactile materials to help me envision what a musical was all about. And so I distinctly remember going through Grand Hotel and following along on the lyrics and looking at the pictures and being like, oh, who's this cute blonde? It's Jane Krakowski, by the way.

[7:12] Spencer Glass: Wow. You really also just took me back because I forgot. Oh my God. I forgot like just the magic of a cast album and how everything now just kind of feels like a gym playlist.

[7:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Not wrong.

[7:28] Spencer Glass: That was like academia in a way, flipping through those pictures and getting to like actually understand what the song is about.

[7:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, that makes me sad.

[7:38] Spencer Glass: And like who's making the decisions about what's in that booklet so that we get the vibe of the show, you know?

[7:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: 100%.

[7:46] Spencer Glass: And the vibe that you get from this show and from that CD booklet was dark. And they're not wrong. There are some really joyful, beautiful moments in the show, but they do not shy away from the darkness. So much so that I thought this production opened in the 90s. It actually opened in 89. So right at the end of the 1980s. And I can't wait to chat about it because boy, oh boy, does it have a fascinating with a capital F kind of gestation period. So we got to begin by talking about Vicki Baum, because boy, do I love when we get to talk about female playwrights. When does that happen? Very often, especially in musical theater history.

[8:28] Spencer Glass: Vicki Baum wrote a novel in 1929. A German author mentioned Im Hotel, which just translates to people in a hotel. That was then translated into a stage adaptation and then really hit the mainstream in 1932 when Hollywood came out with a film version called Grand Hotel.

[8:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, have you seen this thing?

[8:53] Spencer Glass: I hadn't seen it until last week.

[8:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I actually have never seen the movie, but I love the like family tree of Drew Barrymore that has to do with the movie.

[9:03] Spencer Glass: Love that. You know what I mean?

[9:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes, please. I'm going to need your help a little bit. I know that Drew Barrymore's great grandfather. Is that correct?

[9:11] Spencer Glass: I think. Yeah. Because John then Lionel.

[9:14] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Is that right?

[9:15] Spencer Glass: Oh, they're brothers.

[9:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right. One of them is her.

[9:19] Spencer Glass: John is her grandfather. John was the Baron and Lionel was Otto in the movie.

[9:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. I mean, that goes to what is most famous about Grand Hotel as a film is that it is the first all-star cast in Hollywood history. Like, up until that point, movies had had one to two stars. Grand Hotel had like four of the biggest stars in Hollywood. You had Greta Garbo playing the ballerina. John Barrymore playing the Baron. Joan Crawford playing Flemption, who, by the way, is so modern. When you watch that film, she comes off as such a modern character. It's really interesting. And then Lionel Barrymore playing Kringlein.

[10:07] Spencer Glass: Wow. Crazy.

[10:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wow. That is crazy. And it won Best Picture.

[10:13] Spencer Glass: It won Best Picture.

[10:14] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It was nominated for no other awards, which was also kind of extraordinary. But it's because it was such a huge hit. It was undeniable. It would have been silly to give any other picture the Best Picture award. It was like the first all-star blockbuster. Undeniable. You're going to have to give this thing the trophy because it was so big.

[10:35] Spencer Glass: It makes sense that it would be nominated for nothing except Best Picture and win because this is, and I say this with love, obviously, like I wanted to do this musical, but it is one of the most bizarre pieces out there. And that's a bizarre thing to happen in Hollywood.

[10:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. No. Strange.

[10:54] Spencer Glass: And it's available to see for free on Tubi, Tubi. So if you want to go watch it, it's still totally watchable, even though it's from the 1930s. It's a fun watch.

[11:09] Spencer Glass: It was such a big hit then that I think it made sense for people to want to adapt it in different ways. And when we hit the 1950s, we really get to meet a composing team that we actually haven't talked about on the podcast because we've never covered Kismet. Do you have any opinions on Kismet? Do you know Kismet?

[11:27] Spencer Glass: I love the music. I couldn't tell you a thing about the musical. I sang Stranger in Paradise when I was nine as a soprano. And that's as much as I know.

[11:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Meisner, boy soprano, I see you. Thank you so much. Kismet is a fascinating show. Won Best Musical at the Tony Awards. It really brought us this composing team of Forrest and Wright. So let's just talk about them super fast. Robert Wright, George Forrest. They were a composing lyricist team, and their calling card was basically taking classical music, repurposing it, adding lyrics to it, and creating a new score. That's what Kismet is. It's taking, is it Barodin? Don't get mad at me, people. But like a classical composer taking those themes and music, adding lyrics to it, adding this interesting story that has to do with the Middle East, which is probably why we don't see this show done very much, because it was Richard Kiley back in the day.

You're not going to do that. But anyway, it's a gorgeous score. Interesting story. Hugely, hugely popular. So post-Kismet, these two are working on a couple different projects, and one of them is adapting Grand Hotel into a stage musical. It is called At the Grand.

[12:54] Spencer Glass: Now, At the Grand started on West Coast in Los Angeles at LA Civic Light Opera, and when they adapted it, they changed so many things about the original story. No longer do we have the Garbo ballerina. She's become an opera star.

[13:15] Spencer Glass: Kringlein wasn't just a person coming to the hotel to spend all of their money at the end of their life, but was an employee at the hotel and had secretly booked themselves a room without the manager knowing. And then it was this whole game of, Ooh, don't let the manager find out that I'm staying at the hotel. And then maybe the biggest change of all, they took it from Berlin and put it to Rome. So now it's in Italy. Now, according to them, and the original book writer Luther Davis, the reason they did that was because it was so close to the end of World War II. It didn't make any sense to put anything in Berlin at that point. But I imagine that really, given that this was such a blockbuster hit, I imagine that really pissed off people.

I think it confused people for sure. Just to kind of finish up this little section of the story, the guy who was playing Kringlein, and by the way, everyone stick with us, you might not understand who these people are, but we'll talk through the different characters. He was an Oscar winner and a big star, and absolutely hated being in the show. So he was both largely responsible for the show being a big hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco when it was trying out, and then he didn't want to go with the show to New York. So after it played LA and San Francisco, At the Grand closes down. The cast, from what I could find out, was very angry with this gentleman. So much so that I guess he was a bit of a prude and didn't appreciate when cleavage or breasts were exposed in any way. And so everybody on the last performance flashed him to thank him for making the show close.

[15:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: This is unbelievable. I didn't know any of that. A little bit, but this is unbelievable. And what's crazy is, I can't speak on the prude part, but this still happens today. If a celebrity is like, actually, never mind, you're done. It could totally change a show. The point being is, At the Grand closes out of town, never makes it to New York, despite having a composing team that had had a huge, huge hit with Kismet. Enter Tommy Toon. Okay, how do you feel about Mr. Toon, Mr. Tommy Toon?

[15:48] Spencer Glass: I love Tommy Toon. I went to the Boston Conservatory, and I don't remember why, but he came to Boston Conservatory and did shuffle off to Buffalo's across the stage. I can't remember why they brought him or why that happened. But I remember him being on stage for like five minutes. He was like, I'm Tommy Toon. He did shuffle to Buffalo's and was gone. And it only affirmed my love for him. I love Tommy Toon. I mean, he's a master at what he does. 100%. For those who aren't a member of Patreon! We did a Divas episode. We have this little series called Divas, where we'll look at divas throughout our Broadway history, and we have covered one cisgendered male in Divas. And that person was Tommy Toon.

[16:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's incredible.

[16:38] Spencer Glass: A true diva in the best way. Started out as a performer. He's also like 6'6", 6'7", just the tallest, thinnest drink of water you ever did see. His first Tony Award was for playing one of the very first openly gay characters in Broadway history in the show Seesaw. He then kind of transitioned into choreography and directing and truly had a string of hits unlike any other director choreographer. So, Best Little Whorehouse, A Day in Hollywood, Night in Ukraine, Nine, My One and Only, Grand Hotel, Will Rogers Follies. Every single one of them in their own way, a huge, huge hit. Also, every single one of them, with the exception of Nine, hasn't had a revival, which I find really interesting.

[17:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Whoa, that is really interesting.

[17:32] Spencer Glass: Right? And we can talk a little bit about that, but it seems like every show of his has such an indelible stamp that it almost feels like when that production closes, Broadway's like, well, we never need to do that again.

[17:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: This is so embarrassing. But last week, I did make a Will Rogers Follies revival cast list.

[17:55] Spencer Glass: Okay, who is at the top?

[17:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, I'm going to start with somebody that I think people, or sorry, a role that I don't think people will automatically go to first, but it is his wife. And I want to see Nikki Renee Daniels.

[18:08] Spencer Glass: Nikki Renee Daniels as Betty!

[18:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I want to see her as Betty. I want to see Katie Weber as Ziegfeld's girl. And I'm changing my mind. But of course, at the gym, I was like, is it Hugh Jackman? But then I'm like, it's not. It's not Hugh Jackman. It's not. Oh, gosh. See, this is what's interesting about Will Rogers Follies is that it's somebody who's both political and apolitical. And that's really difficult to be in 2026. I'm going to come back to you with who's leading it. But it is fascinating that none, that his shows are triumphant and yet, except maybe at Encores! We're not seeing them.

[18:56] Spencer Glass: No, you're exactly right. You're exactly right. Because you are right. Grand Hotel was at Encores! We had a great episode about the musical Nine, just a reminder of how that show went down. One of the things that Tommy Toon learned from Nine was that, number one, he needed to trust his gut when it comes to big swings within the show because Nine was never intended from the outset to be an all-female cast with the exception of Guido Contini. That was something that came to him because of Lilian Montevichi, actually, who is in Grand Hotel as well. And he got fired for a couple days from Nine because he wanted to make the whole cast of Nine women. That, of course, paid off. So, he learned to really listen to his gut there.

The other thing that he learned, and he says this in his book, which by the way, if you're looking for stories about Busker Alley or Nine or Grand Hotel, don't go to his autobiography. He just kind of rambles in a really creative 1970s groovy type of way. You will find stories about a strange massage experience in Japan that I can't believe he included in a book. But if you do want more of a deep dive, please go read the book from our guest from that Divas episode, Kevin Winkler. He wrote this great Tommy Toon book called Everything is Choreography. And I'm going to be sharing a couple quotes from that book throughout this episode. But anyway, the other thing that he learned from Nine was that he didn't read the script of Nine before he agreed to it.

He only heard the score. He heard Maury Yeston's score and was so moved by it that he just felt like he had to say yes. And then when he said yes, he realized that Nine doesn't really have a plot. And then he spent the rest of his time trying to figure out, oh my gosh, how do we do a show with no plot? So for Grand Hotel, he's like, I'm not going to make that mistake again. I need to read the script. If my memory serves, he sees the movie and realizes that this has already been turned into a musical. He gets a hold of the original script by Luther Davis and goes through it and is like, okay, this is something. Let's try and make this musical that never made it to Broadway. 30 years later, let's try to make it into a brand new Broadway musical.

[21:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Truly, I can't think of another show that has had this trajectory. Can you?

[21:23] Spencer Glass: No.

[21:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Like we tried it once and then 30 years later, then it becomes a Broadway smash? That's insane. Like maybe Carrie in the 80s and then it had this amazing off-Broadway run and now it's like The Heathers. But no, I can't actually.

[21:40] Spencer Glass: Right. Because at least Carrie made it to Broadway. I mean, it was infamous also.

[21:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Fair. Fair. But kind of around the same time that he is thinking about this project, wanting to give it a try again, he told Kevin Winkler, the guy who wrote this book that I just mentioned, he told him about this dream that he kept having where he was in a hotel ballroom. There was a shiny parquet floor, mirrored columns, empty ballroom chairs everywhere. And he would be in this dream and he'd be looking around. And then when they finally decide to workshop this thing, they're looking for a space to do it. And they end up going to this hotel, the Diplomat Hotel, which at this point had become this rundown kind of sleazy place, but still had a ballroom available, a big open space. So they go and check it out. And when he steps into the ballroom, he goes, Oh, my gosh, this is the place for my dream.

[22:41] Spencer Glass: So he like mamarosed this grand idea.

[22:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I had a dream. Yes.

[22:46] Spencer Glass: So that place, the Diplomat Hotel, is where they do the workshop of trying to figure out what this new version of At the Grand would become. They didn't do it completely because he didn't want to lose the momentum of the creativity, etc., etc. But what that time at that hotel ballroom did create was essentially the design of the entire show. You look at the production photos of Grand Hotel and it is essentially the dream. Shiny parquet floor, chairs everywhere. I mean, Grand Hotel truly was a musical about chairs. And then these columns that I think any regular choreographer would be like, Oh, get the columns out of the way. They're going to ruin all of my movement. But because the piece was created in that space, he demanded that those pillars be involved in the theater.

[23:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Holy moly. This makes me feel like people need to like now rewind back to what you just said and now look at pictures from this production, because that's kind of what I'm dying to do. Wow. Okay. Push pause. Go look at the production photos because that is I mean, it's basically Tommy Tune's dream come to life.

[23:58] Spencer Glass: I'm doing that right now. Okay. I'm also going to read this little Tommy Tune quote, which I thought was really interesting. Grand Hotel coming in 1989. This is right after Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, all the big British musicals. His concept in bringing Grand Hotel to the stage was to really be an answer to what he thought were, quote unquote, designer musicals. Musicals where, quote, scenery has replaced the element of choreography, because what choreography does is give movement to the whole show, right? What he's saying is, when you have the barricade turning on a turntable, all of a sudden, you don't have to be all that creative with the staging, because the big lift is being done by the scenery.

Going back to the quote, I do it with human beings. The designer musicals do it with scenery. That's choreography, but it's not human choreography. This is Tommy Tune also trying to be like, no, we do things the human way. Which really explains why the show never stops moving. This musical never stops moving. There's not even, I don't think there are scene changes, right? Isn't it?

[25:12] Spencer Glass: No.

[25:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wow. There's not a single blackout in this whole thing, I swear.

[25:17] Spencer Glass: Tell me if I'm too early on this, but now you saying this quote just opened the, ah, that's why. It's also one of the only musicals that I think the orchestra never stops playing. Even in the scenes, they're, wow, that is so wow.

[25:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Continuous. There are maybe, I'd say, two or three applause breaks.

[25:40] Spencer Glass: Holy moly, well, now I understand why.

[25:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Not a lot. And he was very strategic about where those applause breaks are, which I think is really cool. The other thing is that this show was two hours, no intermission. Forget about a 90 no. He said, no, you're going to sit there for two full hours because like you said, it never stops moving. He doesn't want to put an intermission in there. Where would the intermission be? If you look at the script, because I went through the script, there's like a little parentheses that says, if you want to put an intermission, like maybe this is a good place, is right after Love Can't Happen.

[26:13] Spencer Glass: Oh, that makes sense. So like huge no, and then they start saying curtain down.

[26:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yep.

[26:21] Spencer Glass: Okay, I'm into that. I'm more into no intermissions, but I'm into that.

[26:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, and look, do I need a break sometimes? Yes. Yes, I do.

[26:29] Spencer Glass: But sometimes it's really nice just to like, I get tired during intermission. Get it through. Get through it. We love a 90-minute note here on the podcast, because I still want to get out in time for dessert. You know what I mean? Can I just say, I just saw Rocky Horror, hour and 50 minutes with an intermission.

[26:49] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay, wait a minute. With an intermission, I was at dinner by 10:10.

[26:53] Spencer Glass: Fine by me. Gorgeous. Sounds like a great night.

[26:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thank you. Yep. Um, oh, okay. My gosh. Believe it or not, we haven't even gotten to the drama yet. The workshop goes great. All signs go for making this show a reality. They take it out of town. Tommy Tune really isn't happy with the structure of the show. And he's dealing with Robert Wright and George Forrest, who at this point, remember, they wrote this musical 30 years ago. So, these are elderly gentlemen. Luther Davis, the book writer, also an elderly gentleman. Tommy Tune requires all of those changes from the film to be put back in. We're back to Berlin. She's a ballerina again. And he's requesting new songs for moments that he feels like really need a great song. Wright and Forrest at this point in their lives, and this is a famous quote, they said that Henry Mancini had taught them a couplet a day.

Meaning, now is the time to seize the day, answer the call, and don't delay. That's a couplet. And so, they were kind of under the belief that if you really were concentrating on making good music, you could get out one of those a day. And Tommy Tune's over here like, we open in like a couple weeks. We won't even finish half a song with a couplet a day. So, he reaches out to his old friend, Mari Esten from Nine, and says, I need you to write new songs for this show. As you can imagine, Wright and Forrest are furious.

[28:24] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, was there a conversation, we think, first? Like, how involved? Like, is Tommy at this point the highest person on the team?

[28:31] Spencer Glass: Yeah, he and I really liken it unto Pippin, in a way. If you remember from the story of how Pippin was created, Bob Fosse basically took the musical from Stephen Schwartz and turned it into what it was, but without his permission, because he was Bob Fosse, right? And Stephen Schwartz is like, 20 years old, and is like, how dare you change my musical? And Bob Fosse is like, you're 20. You should be thrilled that Bob Fosse is working on your show. You know what I mean? I'm not going to say that it's the same thing with Tommy Tune, but I'm sure Tommy Tune's like, this musical wouldn't have been revived or brought back to life without me. Trust me, when I'm telling you, we're going to make it better.

So, he and he alone reaches out to Mari Yestin, and Yestin agrees. He comes on and writes new songs, lickety-split, like, God bless him. He writes some of the biggest hits. I want to be that girl in the mirror there. He writes the opening, at the grand, you are at the grand. And he wrote Love Can't Happen. And Love Can't Happen. Bonjour Amour. Like, he writes all of these songs before the out of town even starts. Not only did Tommy Tune reach out to Mari Yestin, he also reaches out to Peter Stone, the book writer very famous for Titanic, you've already mentioned, but also 1776, and asks him to come and do some unofficial doctoring of the script. I think a lot of the funny lines, like a lot of the Flemish and stuff reads very Peter Stone to me. So, he came in and worked on the script. Now, this sets up a really contentious dynamic between all of the creators that I'm pretty sure to this day hasn't been fully resolved.

[30:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And I wonder, I wonder if that might be part of why it doesn't get produced on Broadway after this is because of different licensing people being upset about different things.

[30:35] Spencer Glass: Oh, that is such a good point. Like, it's just way too convoluted at this point. And like, so many lawyers involved.

[30:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Like so many lawyers involved. Because, and then this is where we can go into this. One of the main actors, David Carroll, he played the original Baron. Now, David Carroll, if you go back to the Broadway chess, he's Anatoly. When I grew up listening to Anthem, it was David Carroll, that voice, that voice! And he's playing the Baron in Grand Hotel. He sings Love Can't Happen. It's incredible. He also has AIDS at this point. So, the show opens in 1989. He almost immediately starts missing performances and shares the role with Brent Barrett, who's also Glorious Tenor. We love Brent Barrett. But they basically start sharing the role because David Carroll has to miss so many performances. He can't perform at the Tony Awards.

So, when you watch the Tony Award performance, he's in the audience cheering everybody on. One of the real tragedies of all of that is the fact that because of all the lawyers, they didn't get into the recording studio to record the original cast album until two years later. It took that much time to just figure out all of this lawyer stuff that the cast didn't go into the recording studio until two years later. David Carroll tries his best to show up and lay down the track that he originated. He goes to the bathroom in the recording studio, has a pulmonary embolism, and dies during the recording of Grand Hotel.

[32:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I can't even open my eyes right now, because there really isn't a story like that.

[32:24] Spencer Glass: No. Isn't that insane?

[32:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's absolutely insane, because to really go back to what you said earlier, and I feel like oftentimes you hear like, yeah, the best voice in the world. He really had an instrument that no one can recreate. And my God, if there's anybody to do it, it's Brent Barrett. And I think Mark Jacoby was his standby as well. I mean, they really got the right guys in, but there's nobody like David Carroll. And the story is tragic, all capital letters. Beyond. So, when you go to that original cast recording, it is Brent Barrett doing all of the Baron stuff. At the very, very end of the album, there is a live recording of David Carroll singing Love Can't Happen at like–oh my gosh, why am I crying?–of singing at a benefit or something like that, like an AIDS benefit.

Anyway, and the audience goes crazy for him. The mix isn't great, but it's the only audio recording we have of him. And I can't ever listen to it without getting a little teary-eyed. Because we just forget how many people we lost, you know?

[33:38] Spencer Glass: When you were talking about when you were like, it was such an interesting time to bring Grand Hotel to Broadway, and then you went into the whole British invasion. When I think about Grand Hotel, I think about how eerie the show is. And I think it's an eerie that I came after such an eerie epidemic.

[33:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Fair enough. When it does open, and it's a huge hit, it runs over a thousand performances. It's the first American musical post-Big River to run over a thousand performances. So, there was a while there between 1985 and Grand Hotel where no American musicals were really running on Broadway successfully. It was truly like they say, the British invasion. And I love Phantom. I love Les Mis. So, no hard feelings by all means. But it is an interesting period of time for American artists within this art form. It wins a lot of Tony Awards along with City of Angels. It's the City of Angels year. So, they kind of bounce back and forth in terms of winning all the trophies. Speaking of Dee, Dee Hody. All right.

So, let's go into the show, because I guarantee there are a lot of people out there who don't know this musical. Just like the movie, it is an ensemble piece with a lot of big stars. So, I think the best way to do it would be to talk about each of these characters and kind of introduce them. And then we can briefly go into how they all weave together. Let's start with our narrator, who may be one of the most cynical characters in all of musical theater. He's this doctor who was in the war. And the original just kind of sat at the corner of the stage with like a patch on his eye and would constantly inject himself with morphine. He's the doctor. And he's a grumpy SOB, man.

[35:32] Spencer Glass: Yeah, he's like a less iconic mystery man slash narrator in Into the Woods. But I think he equally has amazing wisdom in the show as well. Yeah, sometimes he surprises himself with it. He begins the show by saying like, you know, welcome to the Grand Hotel. People are constantly coming and going and nothing changes. This like paradox that there's always change and nothing changes. It's really important that this story takes place in Berlin, 1932, in between the two wars. So, at this point, Berlin is, if you want to think about cabaret, it's like incredibly liberal, incredibly artistic. There's a lot of money, and then there's a lot of poverty. And this guy, who has just been through World War I, truly, not like metaphorically, but literally through the World War, has these injuries that require him to be on a constant trip of morphine.

He is both used to pain, uncomfortably comfortable with pain, and is incredibly cynical about joy. This idea of being in a space where people are coming with hopes and dreams, and then leaving, having done nothing but spend a lot of money. The Grand Hotel is the most expensive hotel in the city. He is the judge, sitting on top of the hotel, looking down on everyone.

[37:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I kind of always looked at the Grand Hotel like grandfather's mansion. And he is grandfather welcoming you in. And he doesn't quite like anybody there. He's not quite warm, but he is the source of intel because it is his house, in a way.

[37:22] Spencer Glass: Yeah, absolutely. That's a great point. Other characters, let's talk about the Baron. We already talked about David Carroll, but the Baron's a fascinating person. The way that the doctor describes him is there's nothing more useless in the world than a nobleman with no money. So, he is a baron by title. He has all of the privilege, and yet none of the wealth, because he has spent it all. He basically lives in this hotel and has so much debt, because it is the most expensive place in Berlin. He could have very easily checked out at any point, except the fact that now the debt has grown so big, he can't check out, because he doesn't have the money to pay the bill.

[38:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I would say he's one of the more complex characters in the show, because I think, especially in musical theater, when there are roles who are living beyond their means, it's always a woman. And I kind of love that it's Baron Felix. And I kind of love that it shows an addiction that we don't talk about, because I think he has a gambling addiction. I mean, I don't think it's overtly said, but I kind of love that he's like the mess in the show, in a way.

[38:35] Spencer Glass: You're right. Total mess. This time, as I was going through the show, I realized what a sign of privilege it is to be able to change one's mind. He's constantly changing his mind throughout the show. Is he going to be a thief, or is he not going to be a thief? Is he going to lie, or is he going to tell the truth? He's one of the few people who truly feels free to make any choice he wants. And I think that that is definitely tied to his position in life. I think a lot of people don't feel that kind of agency, right? But he does, because of his title. Also at the hotel is this ballerina that we've mentioned. Her name is Elisabetta Grushinskaya, I think?

[39:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, that's correct. An older ballerina. She's on her farewell tour, which is also her eighth farewell tour. So, think like Cher, but with ballet. This truly is her last tour, though, because she is starting to stumble on stage. Audiences are not being kind. They...

[39:50] Spencer Glass: Well, I mean, I think as she is dealing with aging, and a woman aging in the public eye, back in a day where I think they were even less forgiving than we are now. What's interesting is she also finds love with this younger man, aka the Baron, who we just talked about. But that's kind of what I love about her. She's just like inherently vulnerable, like just so, so, so, so, so vulnerable.

[40:20] Metal Jesus: Oh, that's such a great point. She is truly an open heart constantly. One thing that the doctor says about her that I find really interesting, he basically says, well, no wonder people are booing. We've just lost all of these young men in the war, and she's still expecting us to go to the theater and applaud her for being a dying swan. Once again, the fact that it is happening when it is feels very specific. She has an assistant named Raffaella, a fascinating macabre type character, very serious, very alto, and is somewhat controlling or obsessed with Elisabetta. You get the feeling that she has taken care of her for so many years, and she's sacrificed so much of herself for the person that she works for, that it has led to an almost obsession type romance.

[41:17] Spencer Glass: Yeah, I mean, I certainly can't speak for Raffaella's sexuality, but she's absolutely in love with her. She's one of my favorite characters in the show. She's so weird. Deeply serious.

[41:30] Metal Jesus: Deeply serious. Kind of has a Mary Poppins vibe about her in a way. I also would argue, if you combined all her songs, she probably has the best songs in the show.

[41:43] Spencer Glass: Ooh, interesting. All of her stuff is, I believe, the original writers. It's that more classical sound, if you want to think of Kismet adjacent.

[41:54] Metal Jesus: Mm-hmm.

[41:55] Spencer Glass: But yeah, so gorgeous, textured, rich. All of her songs are very much that. And I have to say, Miss Diaz, who played her at New York City Encores, it was truly one of the best performances I've ever seen.

[42:15] Metal Jesus: Really?

[42:16] Spencer Glass: Oh, my God. Yeah.

[42:19] Metal Jesus: That's so exciting.

[42:21] Spencer Glass: She was absolutely incredible. And yes, I did stop her on the streets of New York a couple months ago to tell her, and she gave me this giant hug. Because I think...

[42:32] Metal Jesus: Getting stopped for Raffaella.

[42:34] Spencer Glass: Raffaella, exactly. Exactly.

[42:38] Metal Jesus: That's so cool. Good for you.

[42:42] Spencer Glass: All right, let's go to Kringlein, who I think is an audience favorite. Otto Kringlein is a middle-aged Jewish man who is very ill. He's worked his whole life to try and have money. It has left him alone and sick. And so, he's kind of had it. He's like, fine, I'm done with this rat race. I'm going to the most expensive hotel in Berlin. I'm going to spend all of my money before I die. Because apparently, that's where my priority has been, is making money. So, let's live. Originally, this was played by Michael Jeter, who won a Tony Award for it. For as serious and dark as some of these other characters are, Otto Kringlein is life and hope. And he's honestly the only one who knows that he's going to die. And I think that that's profound.

[43:38] Metal Jesus: I don't know much more to add, actually. That was really quite beautiful. I guess all I will add is that actually my entire life, I thought that Chip Zion was playing him.

[43:48] Spencer Glass: He did. He took over at some point, right?

[43:51] Metal Jesus: Yes. And then I was like, but I didn't even know that. You just think about Chip in that role, but of course, he won the freaking Tony for it. No, that was beautiful. He is one of my favorite characters in the show. He's not my favorite, that's Miss Raffaella, but he's one of my favorites.

[44:07] Spencer Glass: That is a hot take that Raffaella is your favorite character in the show.

[44:11] Metal Jesus: I like weirdos. I love weirdos. She's like an owl, and I really like owls.

[44:19] Spencer Glass: Raffaella is giving Fosca energy. You know what I mean? So are you a Fosca fan?

[44:24] Metal Jesus: Of course I'm a Fosca boy. And we hear that apparently Cynthia Erivo is going to be playing Fosca. Did you hear that?

[44:32] Spencer Glass: No, I did not hear this.

[44:34] Metal Jesus: Which I'm into.

[44:35] Spencer Glass: Wow.

[44:36] Metal Jesus: I'm really, really, really, really into. Yeah, that was a great... Yeah, you're total Fosca energy. Thanks for that.

[44:42] Spencer Glass: We love weirdos. All right, Mr. Pricing. Pricing, oh, this guy. So he's a businessman who's coming to the Grand Hotel to close a merger. If you want to liken it to the Paramount Warner Brothers deal, he's trying to close that puppy. It's not going well. He needs a secretary to help him write down some memos. Enter the incredible Frida Phlemm. But she just goes by Phlemshen.

[45:15] Metal Jesus: She should be my favorite character.

[45:16] Spencer Glass: She should. Unfortunately, I kind of have Phlemshen energy as a person. So I think that's why I stay a little clearer. She's unbelievable, though. This is a female character that we don't talk about nearly enough. Number one, the first thing we learn about her, she's on the phone and she's like, I need $1,000. I haven't had my period. That's literally the first thing she says. She believes that she might be a little preggers. She needs money because she is destined to go to Hollywood. She wants to be in the picture. She wants to go to America. She's actually a really great stenographer, typist. She's an intelligent person. She's not really held down by any sort of sexual shame, liberated, but also very unhappy with her current state in life. We find out in her number, I want to go to Hollywood, that she's stuck in this cold water flat and can't get out of it and is desperate for a way to get out of it.

[46:13] Metal Jesus: She has the like, thoroughly modern Millie energy that you love and a comedic leading lady. But also, she is the more informed version of Peggy Sawyer in show business. She'll do what it takes, but she has way more gumption.

[46:35] Spencer Glass: For anybody who knows the Real Housewives of New York City, there's a Real Housewife named Sonia Morgan. Sonia Morgan to me—

[46:45] Metal Jesus: I'm so bad at this. I'm so sorry.

[46:46] Spencer Glass: No, that's okay. But somebody will know who this is. If you know who Sonia Morgan is from the Real Housewives, that is Flemshin in Grand Hotel to a T.

[46:55] Metal Jesus: Incredible. I love the idea that you're right, there is a Peggy Sawyer-ness about her, but she's way more knowing.

[47:02] Spencer Glass: Yeah, she's super self-actualized, I think. I actually think that she's probably one of the roles in the show who knows themselves.

[47:10] Metal Jesus: Yes, you're absolutely right. The plot of Grand Hotel is kind of complicated, and it would be crazy for us to try and go through all the ins and outs and how everybody gets together and kills each other, etc. But what we can say is that Baron needs money, Ballerina has jewels, and so when Baron finds out about that, he sneaks into her room to steal the jewels. What he doesn't realize is that Ballerina is coming back to her room because she couldn't perform, and she interrupts his thiefery, and he immediately breaks out into this romantic song.

[48:04] Spencer Glass: And this is what's so fascinating, is that when he sings Love Can't Happen, which is this gorgeous kind of profession of love, it feels like self-preservation. It doesn't necessarily feel like he's instantly fallen in love with this woman.

[48:04] Metal Jesus: No.

[48:04] Spencer Glass: He's covering his tracks because he got interrupted, right? And so he claims like, oh no, I'm here because I love you and I'm obsessed with your career. And because he's totally smooth and has this gorgeous voice, and the ballerina is also very insecure because of where her art form is and also where her age is, she gives herself over to him. They hook up right then and there. What is unexpected, though, is the next morning, he's kind of fallen for her. Something extra has happened in their connection. He totally gambles the night before. He knows how to do that. He knows how to get what he wants. But then he saw Hottie at the Blackjack table. And I always was shocked as an audience member, because he feels like somebody who would never be tied down. He's like that kind of musical theater role. Sorry, keep going.

[49:01] Metal Jesus: No, no, you're exactly right. And yet, here he is professing his love. In the back of my mind is always, I don't know, are we just being with her because she has money? I would like to think.

[49:14] Spencer Glass: And that's certainly what Rafaela is thinking. You can't blame her for thinking it. The owl always knows the truths before they become reality.

[49:24] Metal Jesus: I love this owl thing.

[49:26] Spencer Glass: I probably will give it up soon. Don't worry.

[49:29] Metal Jesus: No, it's great. So, Pricing, he's the merger guy. It's not going well. He has the secretary Flemtion. It becomes very apparent that he needs to go to America in order to sew everything up. And even though he's married and has children, he sees Flemtion and is like, well, you know, I need to go to America and I should probably take a secretary with me.

[49:57] Spencer Glass: So, she agrees and says, okay, yeah, if you can get me to America, I'll go with you. And thus begins this toxic dynamic of he's like, when I say you do something, you do it. And it's this horrible little line of like, you're going to treat me nice, right? You're going to treat me nice. That's what he says to her. And I think she knows what that means. But inch by inch, she keeps having to sacrifice more of herself in order to leave this place and go to America. Meanwhile, Kringlein is living the high life. He's making friends with everybody. He's making friends with the Baron who tells him to invest some of his money in stocks, which he does. And then the stocks go through the roof and he makes even more money, which once again, is maybe a good reason for the Baron to be friends with Kringlein.

[50:50] Metal Jesus: There's this number and we have to talk about We'll Raise a Glass Together, where Baron and Otto are singing and dancing this lovely Charleston tune. They did it on the Tony Awards. I think it's maybe one of the all-time great Tony Awards numbers. It has this best of times feeling about it. It's today for me. It's not a classic, but to you and I it is.

[51:16] Spencer Glass: Yeah. It's one of those numbers, number one, where Tommy Tune has staged it. So right at the peak of the number, they're repeating the same movement over and over again. And it gets the audience into a tizzy of applause just from repeating the same movement over and over again, which I'm obsessed with that in musicals. I love when you can move an audience that way by giving them something recognizable that they're like, oh yeah, we get this. You're doing this over and over again. And yes, it's so exciting. Anyway, I just think it's so smart. The other thing is that when you watch Michael Jeter, who by the way, if anybody doesn't know who he is, he's one of the fathers from Sister Act 2, Back in the Habit. Anyway.

[52:02] Metal Jesus: I didn't know that.

[52:02] Spencer Glass: The one with the mustache.

[52:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: We can skip to the end, which is that after all of this joy, after we get to know everybody, the Baron has agreed to meet the ballerina at the station. It's given her new life. It's given her a new desire to be back on stage. So she's going to go through with her final tour. They're going to meet up and basically spend the rest of the tour together. Still weighing on him, though, are all of his debts and the debtors who are requesting that money. So he hears about pricing having all of this money in his hotel room. He sneaks into the hotel room to steal it. Right next door, he basically hears pricing trying to rape Flemshin. So the Baron goes in to save her. There's a whole tussle, and the Baron gets shot.

This is such a beautiful moment. In the moment that he dies, he gets a song. The moment when your life passes before your eyes, it's an actual song in Grand Hotel, where he sings about wanting to be at the station with roses for his ballerina. And then that goes into a brief reprise of Love Can't Happen. It's haunting and beautiful and is another great touch that was brought to the show. Anyway, the Baron dies, unfortunately. Raffaella keeps that news away from the ballerina. She doesn't want her to know because then, of course, she'll cancel the tour. So she leaves the hotel thinking that she's going to meet up with the Baron, who has now passed away. Otto, Kringlein, and Flemshin are mourning the loss of this Baron, who they've become friends with.

Kringlein says to her, why were you going with this guy? And she's like, I just need a way out, and I don't have any money. And he says, well, I have money. Do you want to come with me? She goes, well, I need to tell you something. I'm pregnant. And he's like, oh, how cool. I would love to see a baby being born. That will give me something to live for. And she's like, okay. So these two unlikely people are now going to go forward together, Kringlein and Flemshin. She needs his money, and he needs her life, you know? Based off that, just like the theme of life in this show. So he's like, yeah, I'll raise your baby with you. That sounds awesome. But then at the same time, one of my favorite characters, and we don't have to spend a while on this, but I love the hotel clerk, Eric.

[55:52] Spencer Glass: Oh, Eric. Yes, of course. It's kind of like a featured, featured, featured ensemble track. But his whole storyline is that his wife is at the hospital about to have a baby. Yeah, she's in labor basically the entire show. And so, I've always thought, maybe I'm just overthinking, but what is this birth, rebirth metaphor of Grand Hotel?

[56:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Well, I mean, the doctor says it. People come and go, and nothing ever changes. And that is really what the show is all about, right? Is that life, death, love, violence. It's all the same. If you look at it from a very cynical point of view, like the doctor does, you're like, well, life is actually kind of predictable in its unpredictability in that everything changes, and that never changes. There's like a horrible, horrible slime tutorial out there of the original Broadway Grand Hotel. But if you go watch the last couple of minutes of it, they have the revolving doors that you would see in a hotel, even though everything is very skeletal, and there's just chairs everywhere. They have these revolving doors.

And Tommy Tune somehow gets his cast to seem like it's a cast of hundreds. They will each go through the revolving door and then go off stage, and then come back on in something else, and go through the doors, and then out. And so, you just have this never-ending line of people going in and out of the hotel while they sing this reprise of the song, which is like, life goes on, right? People come into life. People go out of life. And that metaphor for life is one of the only constants that we have. It's really elegant.

[57:48] Spencer Glass: Wow. I didn't even know that. Yeah, it really is. Wow. Anyway, I'm just saying, if this show got announced for New York as a new show in 2026, the way that I would be so excited to see a story like this with this much plot and so many interesting characters and themes. Dang, I don't want to be the person that's like, they don't make them like this anymore. But there's a lot of craft here, and I really love it. I was thinking about this yesterday. I kind of feel like our Grand Hotel revival is the White Lotus. I don't know if you've seen White Lotus, but I think it's a great, great, great, great series. And whenever I watch it, I think about Grand Hotel. And if anybody here is like, I still don't get the plot of Grand Hotel, which by the way, neither do I. But like, if you know White Lotus, there you go. It's a bunch of really complicated people in a hotel. And you almost don't believe that you would meet these people in real life, but they're real.

[58:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, exactly right. And it's the perfect excuse to have a setting where they all interact.

[58:59] Spencer Glass: A hundred percent. With all that said, I would love a revival. And I thought it was going.

[59:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You thought City Center would go? And did you enjoy it? So you saw it?

[59:10] Spencer Glass: I saw it. I loved it. I mean, yeah. I mean, the cast was crazy good. All-star cast. And for encores, I think it was pretty set heavy. And the tango.

[59:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: We didn't even talk about the Bolero. Yeah, there's this tango when the Baron dies, and basically the doctor informs everyone. And now the partners of death and romance, once again, do their thing. And then there's this couple that comes forward representing death and love. And I don't know, are we about to get into music? Because I have something to say about it.

[59:48] Spencer Glass: Please, please. Well, if we're going to go into the music of the show, and my favorite songs, this chorus kind of has like bits and pieces of tango. It's like this ticking time bomb the entire time. I love it. Like, you just feel like a volcano is going to erupt every second. Like, it's like anxiety written in the best way. And so when the tango actually happens, it's quite, it is like an eruption, in a way. But then there are these random breaks in the show where the music doesn't sound like, like what the score is. And one of my favorite songs, and we and again, these are very, very, very, very featured ensemble tracks, but like the Jimmy's who are like these like two hotel workers. They have this amazing song with Flemshin called Maybe My Baby Loves Me. And it kind of like, oh, my God, it's so good. It's so good. And that's not even a Maury Yeston song. Like that's the original composers. Isn't that crazy?

[1:00:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're totally right. And that sometimes you hear these songs, you're like, well, that's kind of eclectic, you know, for the score, but it's sometimes difficult to pick out which ones got added to the show in 1989. And which ones didn't, especially because I think Villa on a Hill is just like a truly stunning song. But you would think I actually might be like fumbling the bag as I say this, because I actually don't know this. It sounds like it's a Maury Yeston piece. And it sounds like it sounds like it could be in Titanic. It sounds like it could be a Nine. But it's not by Maury Yeston.

[1:01:48] Spencer Glass: It's not. Nope, you're right. And like, the word that I keep coming back to is continuous. There will be three songs in a scene, all kind of working together. It's an unusual, unusual show. I love an opening number that feels like it's 100 minutes long. Like, obviously, like we love the prologue and into the woods. Edition ragtime, ragtime, the opening of Will Rogers follies, and it's such a good opening number also. And talk about just like, exposition and information. But also you really just feel like you're at a hotel. They just do a great, great, great job at that.

[1:02:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, look, I'm not totally sure why Tommy Tune shows don't get revived. But I do wonder if on some level, they were born out of his dreams, sometimes literally, that they're somehow even more ephemeral than theater usually is. And so I don't know if we'll ever get a major revival of any of his shows. But I sure am grateful that they existed. And it also makes me very excited that the Hadestown Pro shot has been so successful, because I think we need more of them. I would have loved to have had a pro shot of Grand Hotel.

[1:02:43] Spencer Glass: Is it not? Well, first of all, I thought that was so beautiful how you put that and the whole dream metaphor and like, can we actually really recreate that? And should we recreate that? I thought it was so gorgeous. Do we not think that Grand Hotel is at the Lincoln Center Library?

[1:03:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, I guess it's not.

[1:03:02] Spencer Glass: No, it would be.

[1:03:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Maybe I should do that. You're exactly right. I should do that.

[1:03:08] Spencer Glass: I think you need to. Well, first of all, I would love to know your dream Grand Hotel revival cast. And you can think about that and get back to me if you want.

[1:03:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Sure.

[1:03:16] Spencer Glass: Then I feel like maybe you need to produce it. Come to New York during casting. Then you go to Lincoln Center Library and you watch it. Yeah. And I will go with you, by the way.

[1:03:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, and that's the other thing is like, was it a huge show? Yeah. But was it also kind of a blank space with chairs? Yes, he was kind of doing Jamie Lloyd before Jamie Lloyd, not gonna lie to you. Thank you so much for doing this with me, Spencer. My gosh, I can't believe we've talked this long about Grand Hotel, but I sure I'm grateful that you were down to do it. Thank you. As always, if you have recommendations for shows you'd like us to cover on a musical theater podcast, you can always email me at amusicalpodcast@gmail.com. Don't forget to follow us on social media. We're on Instagram. We're on TikTok. So please share all of our content there so that people can hear about the show. And do you know what?

Even more, I'd love to see a Patreon exclamation point. I've talked about it so many times this episode, but we do have a really wonderful community over there with lots of different types of bonus episodes and polls and contests and essays. Man, come and join us at Patreon exclamation point. And if you're feeling generous, go over to our TeePublic store where we have lots of fun designs. The profits we receive from those purchases is donated to Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids. More than anything, I am grateful that you are listening to this right now here in the proverbial Grand Hotel. Hey, Spencer, before we say goodbye, can you please tell us how we follow you? And if you have anything to plug, now's the time to do it.

[1:04:45] Spencer Glass: Yeah. If you're somebody who enjoys artist wisdom, actor advice, and I would say like off-kilter musical theater schemer, you can follow me on Instagram. Let's do Instagram. I'm like, I'm a little mad at TikTok recently. Instagram is hi, Spencer Glass. Hi, H-I-S-P-E-N-C-E-R-G-L-A-S-S. Hi, Spencer Glass. It almost felt like I was just singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Yes, I wanted to do like the Matthew Bourne choreography all of a sudden. That's just my Instagram handle, but you can follow me there. And this was such a pleasure. And yeah, really like important. And I mean that like really just like so special to get to like get teary-eyed about such an odd musical. Yeah, I never expected that this would happen in 2026. So thank you.

[1:05:35] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, if you want to hear people cry on mic about Grand Hotel, you came to the right place. Thank you, everybody out there for listening. And remember, love can't happen quite so quickly.

[1:05:50] Spencer Glass: I can't argue that.

[1:05:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You can't argue that.

[1:05:53] Spencer Glass: Shoo-m-ba-da-da-ba-da-bay.