"This is one of the strongest Sondheim productions of the past decade."

This is by any standard a major revival, one of the strongest Sondheim productions of the past decade.

No, this is not about anything on Broadway. It is about the Arden Theatre Company's production of Sunday in the Park With George in philadelphia. I had previously made a thread about this production, but after tonight's experience I felt the urge create a new one.

Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal wrote a HUGE rave for this production. And that is where the title of this thread came from. Here is some more from his review.

Not only is this production sensitively staged and imaginatively designed, but it's the best-sung Sondheim revival to come along in years—and it makes use of Michael Starobin's ear-caressingly iridescent original 1984 orchestrations, which are among the finest ever to be created for a Broadway show.

Mr. Nolen and his colleagues get everything right that the Roundabout Theatre Company's overpraised 2008 Broadway revival, with its scrappy five-piece band and self-consciously ingenious digital animation, got wrong.

Here are some random thoughts of mine.
I saw the 2008 revival, and I am on the fence with comparing them. I think studio 54 swallowed up that production. The Arden is so incredibly intimate, and it made for such a great personal experience. I think I may have enjoyed it slightly more than the revival. It borrows many ideas from that revival, but brings them to new heights. The set is actually more plain, but most of the projections are more impressive. The actual chromolume sequence was incredible, much more inventive than what the revival did.

The staging was mostly traditional, but there were some nice things in "We Do Not Belong Together" and "Move On" that I had never seen done before. The performances were overall very good. Coon as George has a powerful voice, it almost resembled Patinkin's voice at times. Fraelich as Dot grew on me as the show progressed. She portrays a softer less earthy Dot, which ultimately worked. Her wig was a problem, it was pretty hideous, and made her look too old. Her Marie was absolute perfection. She was heartbreaking.

The original orchestrations sounded wonderful live. It's amazing that a small theatre company in Philly was able to produce the original orchestrations, but the Roundabout Theatre Company on Broadway did not. Such a shame.

I HIGHLY recommend this production. Everyone should experience it. This was the best act 1 of the show that I've seen before. Everything was top notch! Try to see it if you can.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312104575298500532410056.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_6
http://www.ardentheatre.org/2010/sunday.html

Updated On: 6/19/10 at 12:45 AM

It's playing until July 4th! You should really try to see it. It's easily on par with the 2008 revival, if not slightly better. I do prefer Evans and Russell from the revival though.

Damn!

Odd. They definitely mentioned her death last night.

Not to be a downer, but I was not as taken as others were by the Arden production. Although it is well sung and it is great to hear the original orchestrations, the acting is not as strong as it could be IMO, and the book scenes didn't go over that well for me. Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell and the rest of the cast were pretty amazing in the Roundabout production, and I missed their performances.

The Chromolume was very cool, though.

Marie's death was mentioned at the performance I attended, so I'm guessing there were line flubs on Thursday.

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Updated On: 6/19/10 at 09:23 PM

The revival did it right, just that my only complain is that it was transfered to Broadway which ends up having failure in receptions, since the whole direction is not for Broadway audience. It's strictly for English audience (same as this year's ALNM). It's better that they found a theatre that is the same size with Wyndhams in West End, but to me, that production should always be a Menier show, because the direction is for black box (well, to be honest, and in my humble opinion, EVERY Sondheim's show is a black box show).

Updated On: 6/19/10 at 11:19 PM

"Am I correct in thinking you are neither American nor English?"

You are correct. I'm from Hong Kong (once British colony), a person who LOVE minimalism, but also ADORE spectacles.

Well, I'm not saying every Sondheim's show has to be done in black box. You can do it as spectacular as you like, but you cannot pan a Sondheim production just because it was done in a black box way (and to be honest, all these transfers from England were under Sondheim's desire, since he liked the British approach to his works, which are text-focused).

Just found a discount code for SUNDAY's final weekend.

Tickets are half-price with code PFUN when you call the box office at 215.922.1122 for these performances

Sat 7/3 at 2pm and 8pm
Sun 7/4 at 2pm