| Sunday in the Park with George | |
|---|---|
Original Broadway Cast Recording |
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| Music | Stephen Sondheim |
| Lyrics | Stephen Sondheim |
| Book | James Lapine |
| Basis | Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte |
| Productions | 1984 Broadway 1986 U.S. Television 1990 West End 1994 Broadway concert 2006 West End revival 2008 Broadway revival |
| Awards | 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1985 Drama Desk Outstanding Musical 1985 Drama Desk Outstanding Book 1985 Drama Desk Outstanding Lyrics 1991 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical 2007 Olivier Outstanding Musical |
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat. A complex work revolving around a fictionalized Seurat immersed in single-minded concentration while painting his masterpiece and the people in that picture, the Broadway production opened to mixed reviews in 1984.
The musical won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for design (and a nomination for Best Musical), numerous Drama Desk Awards, the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Musical and the 2007 Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production. It has enjoyed several major revivals, including the 2005-06 UK production first presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory and its subsequent 2008 Broadway transfer.
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In 1884, Georges Seurat is sketching studies for his famous painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." His longtime mistress, Dot, models for him despite her frustrations ("Sunday in the Park with George"). Meanwhile an Old Lady and her Nurse discuss how Paris is changing to accommodate a tower for the International Exposition. The setting abruptly changes to an art gallery, where Seurat's first painting is on display. Jules (a more successful artist and Georges's friend) and his wife Yvonne think Georges's work has ("No Life"). Back on the island Jules and Yvonne have a short discussion with Georges and depart. They take their coachman Franz with them, interrupting Franz's rendezvous with the Nurse.
In Georges's studio he works on his painting while Dot prepares for their date at the Follies ("Color and Light"). In the end Georges chooses to continue painting instead, greatly upsetting Dot.
In the park Georges sketches a grumpy Boatman. Dot enters on the arm of Louis, a baker. Two chatting shop girls both named Celeste notice Dot with a new man ("Gossip"). Georges sketches two dogs and imagines what they might enjoy doing ("The Day Off"). Jules and Yvonne enter during the song and mock the unconventional nature of Georges's art. They protest an initiative to have his work included in the next group show. The two Celestes try to attract the attention of a handsome Soldier and his companion; Franz and his wife Frieda argue with Jules and Yvonne's daughter, Louise; Jules returns to further lecture Georges on his shortcomings as an artist; the Boatman returns and laments the condescending attitude of artists. Dot explains why she chose Louis over Georges ("Everybody Loves Louis"). The two Celestes fight over the more handsome of the two soldiers ("The One on the Left").
As the park empties for the evening, Georges returns. He misses Dot and laments that his art has alienated him from those important to him ("Finishing the Hat").
At the studio Dot tells Georges that she is pregnant and that she and Louis are getting married and leaving for America. She asks for a painting he made of her but he refuses. Jules and Yvonne come to the studio. Yvonne and Dot talk about the alienating nature of artists while Jules and Georges discuss Georges's painting in progress. Jules is not impressed with Georges's new technique. Jules and Yvonne leave and Dot and Georges examine their failed relationship ("We Do Not Belong Together").
In the park Georges and his mother, the Old Lady, reminisce ("Beautiful"). The Celestes and the Soldier argue over their respective break-ups while Jules and Frieda enter to have a clandestine affair in the park. Louise informs her mother, Yvonne, of her father's infidelity and a fight breaks out between Jules, Yvonne, Franz, and Frieda. While this conflict develops the Celestes and the Soldier squabble noisily. Soon all the park-goers are fighting furiously, until the Old Lady shouts, "Remember, Georges!" Georges takes control of the subjects of his painting, who sing in harmony ("Sunday"). Georges transforms all of the people into the final tableau of his finished painting.
As the curtain opens the characters – still in the tableau – complain about being stuck in the painting ("It's Hot Up Here"). The characters deliver short eulogies for Georges, who died suddenly at 31.
The action fast-forwards one hundred years to 1984. Georges and Dot's great-grandson, also named George and also a struggling artist, is at a museum unveiling his latest work: a color and light machine called ("Chromolume #7"), an artistic reflection on the painting from the first act. Marie, George's grandmother and Georges's and Dot's daughter, helps with the presentation. At a reception various patrons and curators congratulate George on his work while George comments about the difficulties of producing modern art ("Putting It Together"). After the museum's patrons have left Marie contemplates her legacy ("Children and Art").
Weeks later, Marie has died and George has been invited by the French government to do a presentation of the Chromolume on the island where the painting was made. On the island George reads from a book he got from his grandmother – the same book Dot used to learn to read – and ponders the similarities between himself and his great-grandfather ("Lesson #8"). A vision of Dot appears and discusses 'her' book with George. Dot tells George to stop worrying about his critics ("Move On"). George finds some words written in the back of the book – the words Georges muttered while he worked, according to Dot. As George reads them aloud the characters from the painting fill the stage and recreate their tableau ("Sunday"). As they leave and the stage resembles a blank canvas, George reads: "White: a blank page or canvas. His favorite – so many possibilities."
Following the failure and scathing critical reception of Merrily We Roll Along in 1981 (the show closed after 16 performances), Sondheim announced his intention to leave the musical theatre to write mystery novels. He was persuaded by Lapine to return to the theatrical world after the two were inspired by "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", the masterpiece of the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat. Lapine noted that one major figure was missing from the canvas: the artist himself.[1] This observation provided the springboard for the creation of "Sunday" and the production evolved into a meditation on art, emotional connection and community.
The musical fictionalizes the life of Seurat. In fact none of his children survived beyond infancy and he had no grandchildren. Seurat's common-law wife was Madeleine Knobloch, who gave birth to his two sons, the second after his death. Unlike Dot in the story, she lived with Seurat at the time of his death and she did not emigrate to America but died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 35.[2]
The show opened to subscription audiences Off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, in July 1983 and ran for 25 performances. Only the first act was performed and even that was still in development. The first act was fleshed out and work began on the second during that time and the complete two-act show was premièred during the last three performances.[3] After seeing the show at Playwrights, composer Leonard Bernstein wrote to his friend Sondheim, calling the show "brilliant, deeply conceived, canny, magisterial and by far the most personal statement I've heard from you thus far. Bravo."[4]
The musical transferred to the Booth Theatre on Broadway on May 2, 1984, but the second act was finalised and the show was "frozen" only a few days before the opening.
Directed by Lapine, Patinkin and Peters starred, with scenic design by Tony Straiges, costume design by Patricia Zipprodt and Ann Hould-Ward, and lighting by Richard Nelson.
When Sunday opened on Broadway it received mixed responses from critics. The New York Times theatre critic, Frank Rich, wrote: "I do know... that Mr. Sondheim and Mr. Lapine have created an audacious, haunting and, in its own intensely personal way, touching work. Even when it fails - as it does on occasion - Sunday in the Park is setting the stage for even more sustained theatrical innovations yet to come."[5] Sunday enjoyed a healthy box office, though the show would ultimately lose money; it closed on October 13, 1985 after 604 performances.
Even though it was considered a brilliant artistic achievement for Sondheim and was nominated for ten Tony Awards, it won only two, both for design. The major winner of the night was Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles. (In his acceptance speech Herman noted that the "simple, hummable tune" was still alive on Broadway, a remark some perceived as criticism of Sondheim's pointillistic score. Herman has since denied that that was his intent.)[6] Sunday won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical and Sondheim and Lapine were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, one of only eight musicals to win the Pulitzer.
On May 15, 1994, the original cast of Sunday in the Park with George returned to Broadway for a tenth anniversary concert, which was also a benefit for "Friends in Deed".
The first London production opened at the Royal National Theatre on March 15, 1990 and ran for 117 performances. Philip Quast and Maria Friedman headed the cast, with Quast receiving the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
The first revival of the show was presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, opening on November 14, 2005 and closing on March 17, 2006. The score was radically re-orchestrated by Jason Carr and starred Daniel Evans and Anna-Jane Casey, with direction by Sam Buntrock. The production transferred to the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End, opening on May 23, 2006 and closing on September 2, 2006. Jenna Russell replaced the unavailable Casey. The revival received six Olivier Award nominations overall, and won five in total including Outstanding Musical Production, Best Actor in a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical. The cast of this production released a 2-disc recording on the PS Classics label, which is the most complete recording of the score to date. It also contains a bonus track - the original, full version of "The One on the Left" (of which only a fraction survives in the final show) performed by Christopher Colley, Sarah French Ellis and Kaisa Hammarlund.
The 2005 London production transferred to Broadway in 2008, where it was produced by Roundabout Theatre Company and Studio 54. As a limited engagement, previews started on January 25, 2008 with an opening on February 21, 2008, running through June 29 (making this the 3rd extension).[7]
Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell (who starred in the 2005-6 London production) reprised their roles with Sam Buntrock directing. The cast included Michael Cumpsty (Jules/Bob), Jessica Molaskey (Yvonne/Naomi), Ed Dixon (Mr./Charles Redmond), Mary Beth Peil (Old Lady/Blair), and Alexander Gemignani (Boatman/Dennis).[8]
Reviewers praised the script and score as well as the innovative design, with praise for the entire cast. Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times "The great gift of this production, first staged in London two years ago, is its quiet insistence that looking is the art by which all people shape their lives. ...a familiar show shimmers with a new humanity and clarity that make theatergoers see it with virgin eyes. And while Sunday remains a lopsided piece — pairing a near-perfect, self-contained first act with a lumpier, less assured second half — this production goes further than any I’ve seen in justifying the second act’s existence."[9] As described in The New York Times "In his [Buntrock's] intimate production, live actors talk to projections, scenery darkens as day turns into night, and animation seamlessly blends into the background...In this new version, thanks to 3-D animation, the painting, currently the crown jewel of the Art Institute of Chicago, slowly comes together onstage. A sketch emerges, then color is added, and the rest gradually comes into focus, piece by piece."[10]
The Broadway production received five Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, three Drama League Award nominations and seven Drama Desk Award nominations including Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actor and Actress in a Musical and Outstanding Director of a Musical. Russell and Evans also received Tony Award nominations for their performances. At the Tony Awards, Russell and Evans performed the song "Move On."
As part of the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration, the musical was presented in the Eisenhower Theatre from May 31, 2002 to June 28, 2002. Directed by Eric D. Schaeffer, the cast featured Raúl Esparza and Melissa Errico.
The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois, presented a semi-staged production for three shows from September 3 to 4, 2004, with Michael Cerveris, Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone and direction by Lonny Price.[11]
The team responsible for the London revival mounted a production in April 2009 at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, featuring Hugh Panaro, Billie Wildrick, Patti Cohenour, Anne Allgood, Allen Fitzpatrick and Carol Swarbrick.[12]
The Dutch production company M-Lab presented the musical, from June 9 through July 3, 2010.
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Sunday in the Park with George was taped on October 21–25, 1985 at the Booth Theatre with most of the original Broadway cast. It was broadcast on American television on February 18, 1986 on Showtime and on June 16, 1986 on Public Television's "American Playhouse". (Bernadette Peters, who was performing in Song and Dance at the time of the taping, was given time off from that play in order to be able to tape this production.[15]) This video was released on VHS by Warner Home Video on April 1, 1992; the DVD and laserdisc was released by Image Entertainment on March 23, 1999.
A number of Desperate Housewives episodes take their names from songs from the musical. These are episodes 1.11 - "Move On", 1.21 - "Sunday in the Park with George", 2.7 - "Color and Light", 3.20 - "Gossip", 4.11 - "Sunday", 6.17 - "Chromolume No. 7", and 8.9 - "Putting it Together".
The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode "Suited for Success" has a musical number based on "Putting It Together."
The 1984 Original Broadway Cast recording was released by RCA in 1984. The remastered recording was released on March 20, 2007 (ASIN: B0009A40KW). This recording won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Show Album.[16]
The 2006 London Cast Recording was released by PS Classics (2– disc set) on May 30, 2006 (ASIN: B000EZ9048).
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | Won | |
| Best Actor in a Musical | Philip Quast | Won | ||
| Best Director of a Musical | Steven Pimlott | Nominated | ||
| Actress of the Year in a Musical | Maria Friedman | Nominated | ||
| Best Costume Design | Tom Cairns | Nominated | ||
| Best Set Design | Nominated | |||
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Critics' Circle Theatre Award | Best Designer | Timothy Bird and David Farley | Won |
| 2007 | Laurence Olivier Award | Outstanding Musical Production | Won | |
| Best Actor in a Musical | Daniel Evans | Won | ||
| Best Actress in a Musical | Jenna Russell | Won | ||
| Best Set Design | Timothy Bird and David Farley | Won | ||
| Best Lighting Design | Natasha Chivers and Mike Robertson | Won | ||
| Best Director | Sam Buntrock | Nominated | ||
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