Sunday Showtunes

Once Stephanie’s TV performance for the Pope was desecrated it was time to head to today’s first show, the Roundabout revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George,” which I think is the only Broadway musical in the history of the world that is based on a painting.  Naturally this was the show to see on Sunday.  (What, I’m going to program “Sunday” on a Friday or Saturday?  Come on!).  It’s a limited run which is one reason why I decided to take this “mini trip” so I could catch it before it closes.   The odd thing is, it’s never been one of my favorite shows – I consider it too “intellectual” (read:  boring) for me, although if done correctly I think it can be moving at the end (and this production was). I generally prefer something more entertaining.  But I had heard heard about this revival’s amazing new technological gimmick utilizing animated projections to bring the show and the painting to life, and I just had to check it out for myself.

It is every bit as spectacular as I had heard and one of the most technologically impressive things I have ever seen on Broadway.   The set is basically a white 3-wall box set with 2 doors on each side that open in.  From somewhere (Front? Rear? Sides? A combination of all three?) projections of the paintings and actors are put on at least 8 different surfaces (including the doors when opened and panels that are occasionally placed into the floor for the dogs and monkey).  This is all done without bleeding or projecting onto the live performers, and it reads even in stage light. 

As George begins, requesting "order, design, composition, balance, light and harmony," a charcoal line slashes over the set and quickly sketches in details that develop into a full-blown work of art.  It’s breathtaking (it got applause when it was first used in the first scene) and makes the entire stage literally a canvass where the things George describes are painted and colored before our eyes.   Plus, the things in the paintings are animated (sail boats, people, etc) and “interact” with the actors.  

During the Act II “Putting It Together” sequence, which used to be staged by George pulling out a cardboard cutout of himself so he could be in several places at once, George is here several “live” projections talking and moving in realistic-looking conversations with the live actors.   One live actor even pours champagne into the “cup” of the film George, which magically “fills” with champagne at the right moment (this bit got a delighted response from the audience). The Soldier’s cardboard buddy is now a projection (on various opened doors) that actually looks at him and interacts.  The dogs beg, roll over, and play during George’s bizarre dog song.  The musician in the painting plays the last trumpet strain in the final “Sunday” reprise as the painting appears at the end.  The strange “Chromulume #7” sequence also utilizes the projections well, along with sound and light effects. 

I couldn’t figure out how it was done and it’s now one of, if not THE, most impressive technological achievements I’ve seen to date.  It makes me think the show came out 24 years too early, as THIS is the way it was meant to be done (we didn’t have the stagecraft technology in 1984 to do the piece justice).  Unlike “The Woman in White,” in which the constant CGI projections dominated the piece, the technology in “Sunday in the Park with George” enhance and develop the work instead of overshadowing it.

You’re probably thinking I’m “singing the sets” and haven’t said anything about the performances.   Well fear not, oh cynical one, for those are terrific as well.  The relationship between Dot and George is clearer in this production that I’ve seen it before, starting with the first scene where he caresses her face lovingly instead of fussing with her dress as she poses, and I think these actors (Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans) bring more sense of connection to the relationship of each others’ characters than Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin did.  (Russell has an English accent, which helps to disengage comparisons to Bernadette Peters; unfortunately the way the part of Geroge is written I don’t think ANYONE can perform it without inviting comparison to Mandy Patinkin).  On a side note, I enjoyed seeing Mary Beth Piel, the grandmother on “Dawson’s Creek,” as the Nurse.

This is THE production of “Sunday in the Park With George,” stunning and definitive.

The only problem I had was the sound design, which did that thing where the designer tried to make them sound “natural” and “unamplified.”  At first I thought they weren’t wearing microphones.  The orchestra (sadly, just five pieces, often sounding like piano only but also featuring fine cello work) is in the boxes (just like “The Apple Tree” and “Assassins” were there).  For at least half of the first act I had a hard time hearing many words and lyrics over the orchestra (even a tiny one such as this), but someone at the sound board figured it out and bumped them up about 45 minutes in.  After that it sounded more like how it should.

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