Sunday in the Park With George

I just wanted a thread on this musical. I love it. Everything about it. Why hasn't it been revived? Hello, Roundabout. It's just sitting there waiting to be done. Someone? Anyone? Please!

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Most likely because it would lose money like most Sondheim works on stage do. I would gather that you fell in love with SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE via the recording.

Most Sondheim works are virtually inaccessable unless you are familiar with the score beforehand.

Many of us theater folk fall in love with a recording and then "romanticize" it into loving the show.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE was a dreadful bore in the theater, although I do love the cd. And as was recently mentioned on another thread.........there are very serious book problems, with the second act being a particular shambles.

LET US THEATER FOLK REMEMBER! Never recommend someone see a show that we really fell in love with via the recording. It is a good way to tarnish a friendship. We theatergoers sometimes lose perspective and forget that we love a show because we have heard it on cd a million times. THIS IS a very bad reason to recommend someone see a show.

IT IS VERY RARE that someone meets anyone or knows anyone who actually likes a Sondheim show upon first view unless the first viewing was preceeded by a repeated listening of the score.

It is so curious that one of the most brilliant composers who ever lived works with creative teams that make his works so dreadfully dull onstage.

THAT is the big secret to why his shows do not sell. As for the massive cult following?????? Where was this massive cult following to keep the revival of FOLLIES running, or INTO THE WOODS or PASSION for more than four months???

Sondheim works are best appreciated on video, on recording or in revue type shows such as SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM and PUTTING IT TOGETHER....I believe those two shows have been Sondheim's most successful financially.

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Actually, I own the DVD. I've watched it several times and I think it is f*cking brilliant. I had heard a few songs, but watching it was what made me love it. Really incredible.

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I never had the opportunity to see the show live, but after watching the DVD, I'm going to have to disagree with WISHIHADATONY.
His pieces...are rarely dull. People just don't get his shows at times, but that certainly does not make them dull. In particular, this musical appears to be one of his most interesting. I'm taken somewhere else with the help of the performances, Sondheim's score, Lapine's direction, and Tony Straiges beautiful set.
I do have to agree that there are areas in the story where the book becomes mushy, however, I've come to realize why people so dislike the second act. It throws us off. As audience members, ranging from thirteen to sixty, we like some sort of consistency and we lose it with the second act of "sunday.." but the core of the show is still there. The heart and ideas are still stuck with what we had seen fifteen minutes earlier. And overall, Sunday in the Park with George really is a magnificent show.

Melissa Errico played Dot at the Sondheim festival in DC three years ago. My god, it was like sex watching those two together!

I wish that they had recorded some of the shows that played at the Sondheim festival. They were all great, like:

Sweeney Todd w/ Stokes and Christine Baranski
Sunday w/ Melissa and Raul
Merrily We Roll Along w/ Raul, Michael Hayden and Miriam Shor
Passion w/ Michael Cerveris, Judy Kuhn and Rebecca Luker

I just don't know where to being with "Iwish"'s remarks: Indeed, Sondheim's shows regularly lose money. And Van Gogh never sold a painting during his lifetime. Do we really need to even mention how financial success and artistic merit don't necessarily coincide?

And you are right that Sondheims scores are best appreciated after hundreds of listens. I'd say he was like Opera that way.

But to say that his shows can't or aren't appreciated on first encounter? I've seen "Sunday" several times and have known first time viewers to break down in sobs from it's beauty. Dreadfully dull? A second act in shambles? What show were you watching?

What? Are you really serious? Please, tell me you are joking.

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"IT IS VERY RARE that someone meets anyone or knows anyone who actually likes a Sondheim show upon first view unless the first viewing was preceeded by a repeated listening of the score."

I disagree... I fell in love with many Sondheim shows via the DVDs (couldn't see them live), including Sweeney, Sunday, Forum, and Into the Woods.

Although I am always open to color blind casting, here I can't see it possible - it would be historically inaccurate. The woman in the painting is white. As I said in other threads, it would be like a musical about Mona Lisa played by a black woman. It's just inaccurate.

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French isn't the same as Asian, black, or anything else. French people are still white...

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No, but George Seurat and the woman in the painting definitely are.

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Of course, I agree with you. I never thought about the possibility that she were black, but that might be a bit of a stretch. It's not written into the story, so it's not like the audience would get that from the show unless they added that element - which I think they shouldn't. But I completely agree - it's not like I wouldn't go see a black Dot, and it's not like she would be less effective, but the show IS based on an insanely famous painting. It would have been like Halle Berry playing Greit in GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, then at the end they show the real painting, and it's of a white girl.

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