Dominic McChesney writes about We’ll Take a Glass Together from Grand Hotel (Book by Luther Davis, music and lyrics by Robert Forest and George Wright – with additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston).
“Forest and Wright made their name by taking the works of classical composers and turning them into musicals – for example, Song Of Norway which is based on the music of Grieg, Kismet, which takes the music of Borodin and Anya which uses the works of Rachmaninov. They also composed fully original works too, such as the Grand Hotel, which is happily for me still revived today.
For me, We’ll Take a Glass is the perfect example of when lyrics, music, and choreography come together to get it right in every respect. Everything here seems so effortless to the audience, when I fact the performers are going hell for leather.
The lyrics are also so easy on the ear – the meaning is clear and the tone solid that you cannot help but get swept up in the sheer joy of these characters, even if you have no concept of their story.
Michael Jeter quite rightly won a Tony for his performance… sheer musical theatre bliss!