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Laura

Sunday In The Park With George - please disuss

This is my new obsession. And I mean, OBSESSION. I did a quick searh and couldn't find a "discuss SitPwG" thread, but i'm lazy and probably wrong, so feel free tto redirect me.

I am actually having trouble expressing my emotional state in regard to this show in words right now. Please allow me to refrain from commenting until my heartrate returns to a normal level.
Pannic

I found that the second act was a little hard to swallow, but upon a second viewing, I appreciate it alot more. I adore the songs "Finishing the Hat" and "Sunday." Those are two of the most beautiful songs that Sondheim has ever written, in my opinion.
Xack

"Sunday" is the one song from any musical that can make me cry regularly. So beautiful! excellent show.
Laura

^^ I have to agree. This show is just so intricate and involved. "Sunday" is magical, and I also feel very connected to "Move On" and "We Do Not Belong Together" I think that, once again, Sondheim captures the essence of human beings and their lives, with perfectly intricate and complimentary music and lyrics.
ConverseSneaker

I found the movie at a library and borrowed it to watch. I loved act 1, but yes, act 2, was "hard to swallow" for me. I did love the opening and finale of act 2 though.


My only other complaint was that I thought perhaps Dot should have been named Marie and her daughter Dot, in honor of her father, perhaps?
BenStone

I think the real problem with the show is the first act - people tend to forgive a great deal because of the finale, which is very moving. But it does tend to drag - especially under Lapine's lumpen direction, however the whole point of SITPWG is its second act, and its resolution. The new revival does a great deal to cover the shortcomings of the original production.
qmechanic

I went to see the 2008 Broadway revival

I went to a preview (Tue 29 Jan 2008) and sat in the third row. Expensive, but it was worth it. I was close to the stage, but since the stage itself was so small (it was Studio 54 theater), I didn't have any problems. There were a few micing problems in "Color and Light", but that was very minor. Daniel Evans is a much more intense Seurat. And he comes across as really caring about Dot and being torn, whereas Mandy Patinkin came across as an arrogant, cold man. I liked Evans's acting much better, but I somewhat preferred Patinkin's singing. (My comparison is between the stage revival and the OBC video.) Jenna Russell played Dot as a sweet, slightly bumbling girl which is a different take.

I didn't feel like the digital projections added that much to the production. It was more of a gee-whiz factor. I felt like the paper cuts worked just fine in the original production. I did like how using the projection allowed them to have a blank, white set, which gave a lot of brightness to the production. It was really cool at the very beginning when you see a paint stroke of black go across the white set.

Anyways, I enjoyed Sunday in the Park with George much more in person than in video (obviously), though the video is fantastic, too.

I think you have to be "older" to appreciate this musical. I'm a 26 year old graduate student and I do physics research, so I really understand the bittersweet nature of doing creative work. My advisor says you have to be a manic-depressive. You're stuck doing tedious work all the time, but now and then you get a big success.
BenStone

Re: I went to see the 2008 Broadway revival

[quote="qmechanic"]

I didn't feel like the digital projections added that much to the production. It was more of a gee-whiz factor. I felt like the paper cuts worked just fine in the original production. I did like how using the projection allowed them to have a blank, white set, which gave a lot of brightness to the production. It was really cool at the very beginning when you see a paint stroke of black go across the white set.

quote]

I thought the projections were stunning - showing the various transformations of the paintings; the two dogs were certainly a greatly better handled than the original and the dissolve into La Grande Jatte in the evening and the autumn were very affecting.
qmechanic

Re: I went to see the 2008 Broadway revival

[quote="BenStone"]
qmechanic wrote:


I didn't feel like the digital projections added that much to the production. It was more of a gee-whiz factor. I felt like the paper cuts worked just fine in the original production. I did like how using the projection allowed them to have a blank, white set, which gave a lot of brightness to the production. It was really cool at the very beginning when you see a paint stroke of black go across the white set.

quote]

I thought the projections were stunning - showing the various transformations of the paintings; the two dogs were certainly a greatly better handled than the original and the dissolve into La Grande Jatte in the evening and the autumn were very affecting.


Hmm, well, I'm surrounded by technology geeks and I grew up in Silicon Valley, so maybe I'm a little jaded! Smile

Anyways, I looked at my last post and realized that it might be offensive. I didn't mean that you have to be 26 years old to understand SITPWG. I just think that it's not a very popular musical on this forum because you have to be either older or doing creative work to appreciate it.
qmechanic

ConverseSneaker wrote:
I found the movie at a library and borrowed it to watch. I loved act 1, but yes, act 2, was "hard to swallow" for me. I did love the opening and finale of act 2 though.


My only other complaint was that I thought perhaps Dot should have been named Marie and her daughter Dot, in honor of her father, perhaps?


Yes, I have trouble with the resolution of Act 2 as well. So when you're stuck in a creative rut, you should just "move on"? Huh? In "Move On", I think the main point (at least for me) is that you should remember all the artists who've come before you and struggled like you and you should think of people like Dot, who appreciate your work, maybe not even now, but many years later. I don't like the key phrase "move on" (how is that helpful?) and this strange connection to "we belong together" from Act I. I feel like Sondheim is trying to say multiple things at the same time, and they get garbled into each other.
IntoTheSpotlight

ConverseSneaker wrote:
My only other complaint was that I thought perhaps Dot should have been named Marie and her daughter Dot, in honor of her father, perhaps?


A good idea, and I thought the same thing at first, but I found out Seurat worked in tiny brush strokes, not dots. Dot was a very common name for a girl in that period of French history.
I absolutely love It's Hot Up Here - It doesn't really have any bearing on the plot (except maybe Dot's "Hellooooo George" bit) but it captures the passion and soul George put into his work fantastically.
mizzie

This choral rendition of Sunday makes me cry on each viewing, no matter how much I try not to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o4zVjproM
Luc

It is such a beautiful show! Holy man... I was like shaking by the end of it. (OBC DVD)
Sweeney Hyde

musikal_geek wrote:
It is such a beautiful show! Holy man... I was like shaking by the end of it. (OBC DVD)
You'll only continue to be amazed by it...still, every time I listen to it or watch it or read it I pick up on something new...it's wonderful that way.
Luc

Sweeney Hyde wrote:
musikal_geek wrote:
It is such a beautiful show! Holy man... I was like shaking by the end of it. (OBC DVD)
You'll only continue to be amazed by it...still, every time I listen to it or watch it or read it I pick up on something new...it's wonderful that way.


Absolutely.
It's one of those shows where it's impossible to not learn something new about the show, the characters, or yourself each time you watch it. There's SO much in that show, and you keep noticing little brilliant moments that you never noticed before. Sheer genius.
blackbird_fly

qmechanic wrote:
ConverseSneaker wrote:
I found the movie at a library and borrowed it to watch. I loved act 1, but yes, act 2, was "hard to swallow" for me. I did love the opening and finale of act 2 though.


My only other complaint was that I thought perhaps Dot should have been named Marie and her daughter Dot, in honor of her father, perhaps?


Yes, I have trouble with the resolution of Act 2 as well. So when you're stuck in a creative rut, you should just "move on"? Huh? In "Move On", I think the main point (at least for me) is that you should remember all the artists who've come before you and struggled like you and you should think of people like Dot, who appreciate your work, maybe not even now, but many years later. I don't like the key phrase "move on" (how is that helpful?) and this strange connection to "we belong together" from Act I. I feel like Sondheim is trying to say multiple things at the same time, and they get garbled into each other.


Yeah I was confused by the song too. I assumed it meant that you shouldn't let yourself get upset by criticism or else the art will suffer. I figure that if I listen to the album enough, it will start making more sense.
mezzo_soprano

Got the DVD from my library today. Will report back once I've watched it.
Luc

I want it to get Best Revival. All the computer projection stuff looks really cool!
mezzo_soprano

Um don't hurt me, butI watched the first few scenes and didn't like it very much. I'll try again sometime but it wasn't something that pulled me in.
Joshua

mezzo_soprano wrote:
Um don't hurt me, butI watched the first few scenes and didn't like it very much. I'll try again sometime but it wasn't something that pulled me in.

Really? It immediately pulled me in. I love this show sooooooooooo much.
mezzo_soprano

Maybe its just not my style.
kakoforever

Oh my god.

I saw it yesterday.
I bought a roundtrip Greyhound ticket for half price, got on the bus for 5 hours up to NYC, bought a student rush ticket for the front of the mezzanine, and saw it.

It was completely overwhelming. I NEVER cry when I see shows. I just don't. I'm always too busy admiring the production to get emotional. But Sunday got me. I was a complete mess afterwards. I have never been that emotional after seeing a musical before. It's such a beautiful tribute to musical theatre and art as a whole.

I stagedoored. The whole cast was very sweet, they hung out for quite awhile and made sure to shake everyone's hand and take pictures and sign playbills. I was working to compose myself when Jenna Russell came out. I asked her to sign mine, and she did and then she looked at my face. I apologized fast for being a mess and said I was a music student and thanked her for helping me get it. She was totally sweet and kept saying "bless you dear! it's always wonderful to see when people are affected like that." I told she was incredible. I was honored.

Then five hours to think about it on the Greyhound back. I guess this was my version of a pilgrimage.
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