Sunday in the Park with George- Page 2

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 12:24am

Has anyone seen the new production in London?

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 12:36am

I went in knowing a few of the songs already but I really loved what I saw. I found the first act incomprehensible at times and stunning at others (I don't see how "Finishing the Hat" could fail to pervade anybody's heart) and the second act very accessible and moving. Since then the first act has opened its arms to me and this is one of my favorite shows.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 12:50am

I want my daughter to be named Dot. enough said lol
Bernadette is beyond what words can describe and this show is just so surreal and almost like watching a painting the whole time.
And whats this about the delay of the remasters!?!?!?!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 12:56am

We had a dance teacher named DOT in college and she had a big mole on her forehead and we all called her "Dot head" - I definitely wouldn't want to name my daughter that! lol.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 7:24am

"Sunday in the Park With George" was one of my first Sondheim musicals, and the first time I heard the score, I was hooked. Absolutely hooked. I can't really explain why, but I was so moved that I couldn't shut up about it for weeks.

Then I insisted on showing my sister the DVD, thinking she would enjoy it, just because we're best friends and have the same tastes in everything. Imagine the look on my face when it was over and she looked at me and said "Well, it was ... just okay."

I really think it needs to be seen live, or at least watched/listened to multiple times to fully appreciate it. However, my sister's problem with the show wasn't really the show itself ... as much as it was Mandy Patinkin.

I love this show so much (enough to take my username here from it) - I think it has some of Sondheim's best lyrics and the music .... well, I know it's really a matter of taste, but I think the music is absolutely beautiful. My heart breaks every time I hear those "Bum bum bum"s at the end of "Sunday". There's so much weight to everything in this show. All of the music and words have so much meaning in them, in my opinion. And despite the fact that the first act is set more than 100 years ago, it never feels like a period piece ... the characters, music, and themes just transcend the time period. I guess the same could be said about the second act, since its setting is no longer contemporary.

I hope that all made sense.

That's why I love this show, though it's perfectly fine and understandable if you don't.

Updated On: 2/14/06 at 07:24 AM

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 8:31am

Having done the national tour, all I can say is that the show was the best performing experience of my life. Not a single performance went by that I didn't cry during the final scene. The play is the most wonderful expression of what an artist goes through, and I would imagine that anyone who aspires to be an artist of any kind (performing, visual, - all styles) could find a part of themselves, or something to relate to, in the portrayal.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 10:08am

I had the great good fortune of seeing the original broadway cast ... it was an amazing performance. Sondheim's shows can at first viewing seem to be a little chilly or remote, but they haunt you for days afterward. That was certainly the case for me and SUNDAY. I saw it a LA CAGE a day apart, and while LA CAGE was a more "fun" experience, it can in no way compare (nor should it) with the depth of thought, feeling and emotion in SUNDAY.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 10:26am

Most people I know who are not into theatre don't like this show at all.

On the flip-side, most people I know who ARE into theatre think it's an incredible work.

(I fall into group B)

To each his own.

[joshy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 1:03pm

I saw the new London production and am looking forward to seeing it again once it transfers to the West End.

I love this musical so much it causes my soul to ache. There she is, there she is, there she is, he must have loved her so much...

Excuse me, I need to go weep in a corner.

I'm waiting for my ordered DVD to arrive - eager to see the differences between the original production and the 2005 one. The act one finale is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen - and the show just contains so many moments where my heart skipped a beat and my eyes filled with tears. Squeak.

Posted: 2/14/06 at 3:40pm

Do tell more about the new London production! I keep hearing they've "solved" the "unecessary second act" problem.

Although I think Raul Esparza in DC back in 2002 solved it as well...

[joshy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 4:38pm

As this was the first production I've ever seen (the original UK production was when I was 1 year old so I wouldn't have appreciated it even if I had seen it) I'm not sure exactly what the second act problem is perceived to be. Hopefully I'll see when I get the DVD. Because the second act seemed crucial to the whole piece in this production. I guess the production just made it clear that George's work was unresolved, even though he did create the painting at the end of act one, he was, like Dot, 'unfinished', and so if it was just the first act I would have felt a little unsatisfied. But act two means that - even though he himself doesn't get to finish his work - Dot gives his grandson the chance to pick up where George #1 left off. And so without act two there would be no resolution to anything.

That probably doesn't make sense. I hope I got the meaning across...I'm just a little omg because you run broadway abridged and that is one of my favourite sites! It makes me laff so hard. :)

[Color and Light]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 5:18pm

I love this musical so much it causes my soul to ache. There she is, there she is, there she is, he must have loved her so much...

Joshy, that part always gets to me, too. It's just such a haunting line.

Posted: 2/14/06 at 5:18pm

It sounds fantastic... got any more details on how specifically it's clear that George's work was unresolved but that his grandson is able to pick up where Seurat left off? Your assessment rings with what I keep hearing everywhere, the cohesiveness, etc. I'm just amazed that somebody pulled it off to a point where it seems like everybody agrees. Sunday is one of my favorite shows, even in a "flawed uncohesive" version.

(And glad you like my site! One day, I might even update the thing. Color Purple coming eventually, I promise.)

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 5:21pm

I think everybody'll tell you something different with the apparent problem with the second act. Some people find it vapid and Marie annoying. Nuts to them. The second act is great.

My friend John saw a highschool do it and hated it. I told him he'd like it better if he didn't see a crappy high school version but his favorite musical is Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so I don't know.

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 5:48pm

Sunday in the Park with George is a fabulous show that is about a lot of things. One theme that hasn't been mentioned is the theme of obsession with one's work. In Finishing the Hat George sings about there's always a part of us that is standing outside looking in, always standing by, always thinking about finishing the hat instead of concentrating on their family or their wife or kids or whatever. I find that song to really speak to me.
The long article by William Braun that Smaxie posted was really interesting (Thank you). I thought his comment about learning new things every time he saw the show was really telling. I think the same is true of listening to the recording. There are always new meanings to glean, lyrics that jump out in a different way than they did before.
This show is a great example of what Broadway can do.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 6:06pm

One of the best shows I've had ever the pleasure of being in. (I played Yvonne.) Couldn't resist posting this photo of our (Ovation-nominated) production at West Coast Ensemble. =)

Oh! And my husband, who hates musical theater, but is a musician (of the rock band variety) absolutely LOVED this show and saw it three times. He said it really spoke to him as an artist, and moved him deeply.

Updated On: 2/15/06 at 06:06 PM

[joshy]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 6:44pm

Erika, that's a lovely photo! Must be such a beautiful show to be part of. Was it very uncomfortable holding up the parasol for so long?!

Gil - I'm not completely sure how to explain it, partly because I've never seen it done any other way so I can't really say what they did better. But when I've seen the OBC DVD I'm sure I'll see. I suppose it was just that the two Georges were so similar in their physicalities, and the space was so small that you could acknowledge this, you felt like the second George was a continuation of the first. And 'Move On' felt like the climax of the show, which I've read other productions couldn't do. I swear, the moment Anna-Jane Casey suddenly sings the line 'Move on'...I don't think I can adequately describe it. It's like all the angsty stormclouds in the show were blasted away and sunshine comes in. That's incredibly cheesy, but the only way of articulating how it made me feel.

But all this may change when I see the DVD, plus my memory might be failing me. :)

[ProducersFan]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 9:25pm

I've never seen/heard the show, but being an Art History major and a fan of Seraut, I have always been intrigued.

My grandparents saw the show on Broadway, and my grandfather was so proud to tell me that he slept through most of it. Made me very sad inside...

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 9:34pm

I'm really annoyed about the delay of this cd. I mean, not only is this the second time, but they don't "go public."

Ahhh! What else do I have to look forward to this week until vacation starts Friday? Chemistry? - Absolutely not!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 9:50pm

It is perhaps only 2nd to SWEENY as my favourite Sondheim 9and a VERY close 2nd at that.) I saw the show just after it opened on Broadway and was mesmerized and (here's a kicker) I like the 2nd Act as much as the first.

It is a show about artistic creation and resonates with some people more profoundly than others.

The score, like the paining, is in mall sections of musical dots that only coalesce into full harmony at the end of Act One (when the painting comes together.) On the CD, without the dialogue between songs, you can hear more clearly how the score build on itself. Example...

In the opening number, Dot does a section ("Your eyes, George. I Love your eyes, George...") this melodic fragment develops more in "Color and Light" ("But it's warm inside his eyes.") then cuts off abruptly. It develops more in "We DO Not Belong Together" which in turn is echoes in "Move On."

In fact there are many melodic threads and themes that recur and develop throughout the score. The more you listen to it the more you will hear.

But... I don't think many people get it the first time through. Most of the New York theatre critics didn't and if it hadn't been for Frank Rick banging his drum on this one show, it may not have had any kind of run.

You really have to work on it the first time
through, but in the end it will rewrad you many times over.

The final scene when the people in the painting re-appaera and bow to (young) George ... OMG.

And the scene where Dot swings around her bustle to become pregnant...

THIS is what (I think) theatre is all about!!!!

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 10:29pm

"Most people I know who are not into theatre don't like this show at all."

Of course they don't and there's no reason they should. Would YOU be interested in watching a musical about how a computer programmer constructs a program or what cleaning solutions a maid uses to scour a tub? Surely not. Audiences don't care about artists' problems, understandably so. Not to mention that Lapine failed to provide a second act and a reason for the audience to care.

What slays me about this thread is that the one or two pontificating blowhards who profess to "understand" SITPWG(and never miss an opportunity to pat themselves on the back about it because, you see, they "get it"--the myth of the modern elite in a nutshell) never make mention of a very simple fact about the piece: it's a theme-and-variations structure, with virtually every number in Act One finding its musical corollary in Act Two.

Allison MacKenzie
Peyton Place, New Hampshire






Updated On: 2/15/06 at 10:29 PM

[ProducersFan]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:04pm

Actually, I'd go see a show about a computer programmer. But I love computer science, so maybe I'm biased.

I personally think there could be more musicals based on expressionist painters, beyond SITPWG. Their work is so fascinatingly deep, and much of it would make good book material. But I can also see how the majority of the theatre-going public would find it dreadfully boring...

[JesstifyMyLove]

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:23pm

This show, to me is fantastic, but I know many people who can't stand it who are professionals in theatre. So like someone said before to each their own.

But really you can't just see the show once on DVD. Watch it again.
You'll see and hear things that will move you more than the first time. Even now I notice things that I haven't thought about.

"Move On" is a song that touches me everytime.
I'm a senior in high school and this year for my final show I sang "Move on" the solo version like Beradette sings. The audience was in tears without even knowing the show. It's just the brilliant words and the music its just beautiful.

LOVE this show. period the end

[erikaamato]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 12:09am

Thanks, Joshy! Yes, it was fantastic. I've been in much higher-profile productions, but that production of Sunday definitely rates up there with being one of the bext theatrical experiences I've ever had. =) And yes, it was very uncomfortable holding that parasol still for such long periods - particlularly in "It's Hot Up Here" - but I figured out the trick of it, eventually. (We ran for four months, so I had some time to work it out!)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/15/06 at 4:21am

Audiences don't care about artists' problems, understandably so. Not to mention that Lapine failed to provide a second act and a reason for the audience to care.

Well, Enchanted Hunter, I disagree here. The second act is where the heart of the show lies. Without it, Act One is only about the painting. Act Two is where the "Art isn't Easy" theme is developed. (Of course, it is there in Act One, but it isn't dwelt upon.) "Children and Art" and "Move On" would not resonate as much with fans -old and new - if they didn't care about the characters.

I'm sorry, every show isn't THE LION KING, which you adore so much.

No. I take that back. I'm NOT sorry every show isn't THE LION KING, but I am glad that there is room on Broadway for all types of entertainment. Something for everyone!