THEATER REVIEW : ‘Grand Hotel’ More of a Not-So-Grand Motel

With its high atrium, sweeping staircases, fireplaces, bar and coffee bar, the lobby of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts could almost pass for the lobby of a grand hotel. The center should be an ideal venue for “Grand Hotel.”

But the “Grand Hotel” that’s there this week might better be called “Grand Motel.”

There are 24 cast members instead of the 30 who were in the first national company that played in Costa Mesa and Hollywood. There is no glittery front curtain outlining the hotel exterior. The action remains on one stage level. There is one less transparent pillar onstage, and this version’s revolving door stays in the back or on the side instead of moving out front.

Probably the most admired moment of the original show--when the dying bookkeeper Kringelein (Lou George) is lured out of his blues so far that he does a wild, virtually uncontrollable Charleston--has been gutted so that the number is now more of a duet than a solo. The two ballroom dancers who whirl through the action all night don’t get to do their spectacular grand finale in this edition.

In general, the dancing--credited to choreographer Daniel Pelzig--isn’t as pervasive here as it was in Tommy Tune’s original staging. The action slows down more for the spoken dialogue. The sense of 24-hour hustle-bustle in a hotel lobby isn’t as intense.

Which isn’t to say the show is longer. Because of all the trims, it’s shorter. And it’s doubtful that anyone will miss the original’s scullery workers. Their attempt at Brechtian commentary, “Some Have and Some Have Not,” is still sung by other hotel staff members, but it sounds like a much shorter version.

But the problem is that “Grand Hotel” was all style and spectacle to begin with, and if you chip away at those elements, there isn’t much of anything left. The hackneyed quality of the book becomes increasingly apparent without the magic of Tune’s original staging. The annoying doctor (Rick Stohler) who issues heavy pronouncements about the meaning of it all becomes downright unbearable.

The non-union cast isn’t bad, but no one seizes the stage, as several performers did in the original. It’s as if director Dallett Norris insisted on reining in the production. And at least on opening night, the performers were overmiked, creating an especially harsh sound in the big group numbers.

“Grand Hotel,” 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Today-Sunday, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $25-$30. (310) 916-8510. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.