Just a thought, but for the purposes of film, would it not be possible to intertwine both halves for most of the movie? It obviously would require a good amount of re-working, especially in the last third of the second act. But that seems to me a more cinematic solution than First act! Second act!, a convention that film can't really replicate.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt would be the ideal George and Dot should a film ever come to fruition.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Kad, I love your idea of intertwining the acts for a film version.
Parallel stories told simultaneously with cross cutting rather than a linear approach.
Very French Lieutenant's Woman.
Maybe they don't introduce the "modern" George until halfway through ...
EDIT: The reason I even suggest Baz Luhrmann is because he takes risks with material and reinvents it cinematically. His version of Gatsby is the only one that I think captures the real essence of the book, and it changed many things to get there.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
"To the point where SUNDAY is sung only once at the climax of the film? That's intriguing."
That's the idea. I think it would fit pretty well EXCEPT that intertwining them would undercut the power of Dot appearing to George and "Move On," as it would happen close to or even immediately after "We Do Not Belong Together" or whatever the equivalent would be of the moment Dot leaves Seurat. But even then, I suppose a clever writer and Sondheim would be able to create a new moment. But, really, I think the return of Dot is probably the main plot point that is most reliant on theatre convention.
I suppose, though, this could even be helped by only intertwining the first halves of both acts, leaving the second act of the film to be only about Seurat and the third act to be only about George.
I don't know. I'm not a screenwriter. But I do think Sunday is a good candidate for cinematic adaptation- more so than Follies and even Into the Woods.
But I think we would all agree a real visionary director would need to helm this.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
I love the idea of a SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE directed by Baz Luhrman! Genius. I've always thought it was written almost like a cinematic piece, that moment when Dot slips out of her dress is made for film as are George's ways of playing with his vision, you could almost see something like that pop up in 8 1/2. If someone, like Luhrman, could get at the essence of the show's cinematic moments, it could be a very special film. And combining the first and second act would be fantastic. Kate Winslet has long been my dream Dot, but I think that ship has sailed. Not sure if she can sing, but Jessica Chastain would be my top choice, she's said doing a movie musical is one of her career goals and I can see her being a fantastic Dot. Of course Blunt would be great too.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
A part of me sort of would like to see what Wes Anderson, with his fastidious (perhaps twee), diorama-like scenes and distinct visual style, would do with a musical adaptation- provided he did not write it.
I think that'll be an unpopular opinion but I stand by it.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."