OK, Tony, I have not seen the show on stage, true. But from experience I know that when you love a taped version of a show, usually the love is completely magnified when you see it on stage unless it's an extremely different production that has nothing to do with the filmed version. If you call Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George" a "sleep indusive" then you are one of those audiences that keep real art away from Broadway and that keep shows like "Phantom" running. If you think "Sunday" is boring, then you are missing so many points about it, this show is thought-provoking, it's challenging, the music is haunting, the Act I finale has to be one of the most perfect in Broadway history, full of harmony. I highly doubt this show will ever be a hit on Broadway, but it should be revived for the sake of its message and its comments on love, art, artists, and life itself.
And call me naive, but from what I've heard, the new Sweeney is actually going to be quite successful, most people that has gone to the previews seem to enjoy it, specially because I think it is being done like Sondheim first conceived it (correct me if I'm wrong about this last remark). I think if a new director-not Lapine-were reconceptualize "Sunday" and with two great actors in the lead (I still think Chenoweth is right for this role), this show could have a decent run at a non-for-profit theater.
"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"
