Question about Sunday in the Park with George.

[musicalfan07]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 1:18pm

Did the original cast perform on the TONYS? If they did, does anyone know what they performed and where I'd be able to see it?
thanks loads,
mf07

[lildogs]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:33pm

I would think they did--but the DVD has the original performances on it--it's probably very similar--you might also find it in the PBS doc that was just on last night--don't know what it's called but Julie Andrews narrated it.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:35pm

THe DVD is wonderful-- full original cast, recorded during a performance with close-ups and wideshots.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:47pm

I remember they did the Act One Finale "Sunday."

Don't know much about the upcoming revival.

I understand that computer generated digital images are somehow involved.

Would that technology been easily available in the 1984?

Posted: 6/4/07 at 4:40pm

Tron was still seen as cutting edge CGI wise in 1984 so I don't think so

Not to be anal but the DVD isn't the full original cast. Danielle Ferland who played the little girl, and one of the bathing boys in the picture within a picture (I never realized until I watched the DVD with commentary that the guy leaning with his back to us watching the bathing boys is meant to be jerking off--hence why he's credited as "the pervert"--I do know there was a song for the boys briefly in the workshop). ANyway Danielle was out of the run by then and they used her replacement for the DVD.

Mandy and Bernie (and others I imagine) were out by then too but came back for the filming much as the cast for Into the Woods would later (one reason Bernadette had to redo some of her vocals in the studio is her voice was pretty ravaged from performing Song and Dance down the block the same day)

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 5:48pm

Wow, Eric. I never made the connection that Bernadette Peters was doing SONG & DANCE by the time she did that performance of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. It certainly explains why her vocals are a little raw (though the overall performance is simply brilliant).

[singtopher]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:01pm

Very interesting Eric. Thank you for posting that.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:07pm

I'm certainly thankful for the video version of Sunday in the Park, but boy, was Mandy chewing the scenery during the taping. His performance was VERY different when that show first opened ... much more delicate. It's a shame he wasn't reigned in a little. But still, it is terrific that a filmed record of the production exists at all.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:14pm

He goes a BIT broad in places but overall I think he's still pretty controlled (I love him so much in Sunday it's a shame I can't so much of his post-Sunday work--especially when he's not under the control of a tight role/director--a well meaning family friend knew I liked SOndheim and gave me one of the Mandy SIngs Sondheim solo discs--I just can't make my way thru it...)

E

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:33pm

Quasi-Thread jack, but since it's the same show...

A friend and I were discussing "Move On" last night, and I was shocked by her dislike for the song because of the incestuous undertones of Great-Grandmother quasi hitting on grandson. Did anyone else feel this way? I just took it as the whole "muse that inspired Great Grandfather inspiring him" ala "Xanadu"

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:38pm

Eric, I once got a friend to send me that Patinkin Sings Sondheim album and I deleted the whole thing from my computer. It's a live performance with him tackling most of the Sondheim repertoire and ruining song after song after song. Terrible album which is a pity since I also think his work on SUNDAY is probably among his best (along with EVITA).
I think to dislike "Move On" because of any possible incestuous undertones is a bit missing the point of the song.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 7:06pm

That's the album I own! i just realized I've actually never sat thru it all...

Yeah he's pretty good in Evita and largely great in Sunday--and I like him in Garden (on the cast album)--even in Wild Party, a score I love though he does go over the top in it it more or less suits the characters (his reported behaviour towards Toni on the otherhand is indefensible)--but in concert? I'd rather have my ears cut off (he's also a big part of the reason the much loved Follies in Concert recording is my LEAST fave of all four Follies)

E

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:17pm

Incestuous undertones? You are way off the beat there!

At that that point in the piece we are on different realm of experience. It is more metaphorical than literal. The two characters are points on the continuum of life influencing art and art inspiring life and back again.

To dramtize this so well, so movingly, so deeply is one of the miracles of Sunday in the Park with George. Sondheim and Lapine share with us the spirtual and sacred part of art.

On a different note,

Never been a big Patinkin fan. I love Cris Groenendaal's version of finishing the hat on the Sondheim Book-of-the-Month recordings.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:23pm

That recording of Chris' is SUPERB (there are a number of true gems on the Book of the Month recording--too bad it's so relatively rare)

And you're dead right BFB--however even if somehow we took that scene to be literal (no idea how, but...) I still don't really see any sort of romantic, let alone sexual, obviousness to it that could lead to any idea of incest. I dunno--believe me my head goes many weird places when I think abotu shows but I have no idea where that idea came from.

E

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:43pm

Dot talks to Act II George as though he were Seurat because she thinks he is -- there's certainly nothing incestuous in the intent, and I think it's pretty clear that George doesn't respond to what could, I suppose, be interpreted as romantic dialogue from her (but what is more likely bittersweet reminiscence). He is inspired by her in a reverent but unromantic way, and she sees in him her George that she lost those years ago. The two might be kindred spirits, but the song is not romantic in nature.

I'll have to try to track down the recording of Groenendaal's "Finishing the Hat" based on the recommendations here. A good performance of that song is simply sublime.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:52pm

I don't think Dot's dialogue with George in Act II is romantic - she's already moved on- and thanks him for letting her go. She's not trying to get back in his pants. That would defeat the purpose of the song.

I love Mandy on cast recordings: Wild Party, Sunday, and especially Evita. But I agree, there's something really creepy about Mandy on his CDs... that damned falsetto (which I don't mind at all in Sunday - in fact I love it).

It reminds me of the old guy on Family Guy.

"Ya like popsicles? I gotta whole freezer full of popsicles down in the cellar!"

[Sondheim Geek]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:09pm

I never got the incestuous vibe from Move On, but I can see how some can find that whole dialogue bizarre. She thinks he's Seurat, but I don't think she really talks to him sexually/romantically like she did to act I George...
I adore Mandy Patinkin... but the CDs scare the sh!t out of me. He sounds like he's going to kill you in your sleep or something... very serial killer-esque.
Wow, did I just say serial killer-esque?
Anyway... I don't understand all the hate for him in Follies. I've always loved him as Buddy. He was what the character has always been to me, slightly wacky and "scenery-chewing". He also came off as really scummy, which I think the character needs. He's a traveling salesman, and I don't think anyone has ever gotten that trait down with the character (at least no one I've seen/heard).
Again, what is me and descriptions today?

Oh- something I just remembered. The Reprise! production of the show (if my memory serves me correctly) cut out the line about Dot not recognizing him without his beard (Mano had it the entire time), and I always wondered if people understood that she thought he was Seurat…

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:11pm

Eric, I forgot about THE WILD PARTY, his over-the-top scenery chewing performance goes well with Burrs who is, after all, a clown. I still can't get that much into him due to his diva behavior during the show, especially if he is mostly to blame for the fact Toni Collette has no desire to return to Broadway.
While I like Cris' version of "Finishing the Hat" (there are some great renditions in the Book-of-the-Month Club album, and some really bad ones), I still think my favorite version of that song is Neil Patrick Harris' performance on the Wall-to-Wall concert.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:53pm

I haven't heard Neil's performance yet (was it on the CD released or just the broadcast? I admit to not havign any wall to wall Sondheim yet) but I have to admit something here I've been hiding for ages from this forum--i'm not a big fan of Neil's voice... I dunno what it is--I think he's a talented guy, I can see his appeal but he just comes off a bit too... Something (I think he plays the Baladeer all wrong compared to Cassidy--again something nearly everyone will disagree with--for instance, and hate some of his high notes on his Evening Primrose--though no one for me ahs done that role better than Perkins).

Ah well...

Yeah I'll have to look into the backstage gossip about Mandy during Wild Party--I love that CD so much and somehow missed all the diva rumours, etc except for a few mentions here--maybe I'm ebtter off not knowing.

E

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:55pm

Sans Patinkin, I love the taping of this show as well. And the commentary. Again, sans Patinkin.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:57pm

Ugh, the commentary. Patinkin goes on and on about his hair and how he "has none left". He also starts spewing random facts (half of which aren't true) and James Lapine just continues to go "...yeah."

On a side note: What was this horrible behavior Patinkin had toward Toni Collette during Wild Party? What did he do? I've heard about it but never any specifics. Just that he was horrible to her.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:58pm

The novelty of Mandy's albums wore off for me after the second one. I avoided his "Sings Sondheim" album because I didn't like his "Steve & Oscar" album. There are only three minutes of good singing on it and that comes from Judy Blazer in her half of "Too Many Mornings".

Though he is very restrained in his album "Experiment", it is worth a listen. (One word about his falsetto, on "Experiment" he sings the Harry Chapin "Taxi." Mandy said that he was talking to Harry Chapin's widow about the song and she said that Harry always had trouble with the falsetto part in it. To which Mandy replied, "What falsetto part?")

About the version of "Sunday" that was done on the Tony Awards ceremony, I prefer it to the version that is on the DVD of the show. It shows you George's Mother getting her tree back. (Remember from the beginning of the show: "Nurse! Where is my tree? Someone has moved it!) It was one of my favorite moments in the number.

Also it has a bit that got removed from it. Near the end when George sings "Made of flecks of light", Dot responds with "And dark." I don't know why they changed that. It makes it seem as if she's telling him that she understands.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:58pm

Ah I find Patinkin enjoyable ont he commentary=-he hogs the spotlight, tries to impress over and over again Sondheim who calmly corrects him like a child hahah

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:00pm

Hahah, so true about the commentary. Thanks for the insight about the differences, sondheimboy2. Call me.

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:07pm

Ugh I'm sure I'm screwing this up but that part where Dot says And Dark isn't it in the DVD for the final Sunday? Just not the Act I Sunday final? (You know what I mean)--I coulda sworn it was... The Tonys were performed long enough after opening that it seems odd something liek that would be dropped.

E