Sunday in the Park with George

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Stephen Sondheim's landmark 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George is a fictional representation of maverick French Impressionist painter Georges Seurat's efforts to create his masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte. Seurat, played by Mandy Patinkin, is obsessed with his work, to the frustration of his mistress, Dot (Bernadette Peters). Along the way, we meet many other characters--whoever happens to be in the park that Sunday--who eventually become part of the canvas.

Act 2 fast-forwards 100 years. Patinkin now plays Seurat's great-grandson, George, himself a frustrated artist. (Peters plays his grandmother--Seurat and Dot's daughter.) In the score's best-known song, "Putting It Together," George (and Sondheim himself) explains the hazards of trying to create art while also confronting the reality of having to pay for it. In a search for inspiration, George travels to the original island where Seurat created the painting. As with Sondheim and cocreator James Lapine's next collaboration, Into the Woods, Sunday is often criticized for redirecting its focus in the second act instead of letting the first act stand by itself as a complete work. The second act, however, is the emotional core of the show, as George confronts all the feelings his great-grandfather had repressed so many years ago.

Stephen Sondheim's brilliant score is remarkable for its combination of vivid colors (listen to his dots of sound that represent Seurat's pointillistic style of painting), character pieces, and sheer beauty. The cast is terrific, and the show, aced out of most of the 1984 Tony Awards by La Cage aux Folles, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Recorded before a live audience, Sunday is especially entertaining on video, as the staging elements bring out the full humor and inventiveness of the show, and it is astonishing to see the disparate characters form themselves into the elements of the familiar painting. So many great musicals are banished to the memories of those who attended live or--even worse--immortalized as inferior movies. Sunday in the Park with George is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in musical theatre, and a must-own for anyone with a passion for it. The DVD includes an audio track with commentary by Sondheim, Lapine, Patinkin, and Peters. --David Horiuchi

Description

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat is one of the great paintings of the world, and in "Sunday in the Park with George," book writer James Lapine and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim bring a story based on the work brilliantly to life. While the painting depicts people gathered on an island in the Seine, the musical goes beyond simply describing their lives. It is an exploration of art, of love, of commitment. Seurat connected dots to create images; Lapine and Sondheim use connection as the heart of all our relationships. Winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Customer Reviews:

Sunday in the Park with George.......2007-08-29

This is a classic performance of Sondheim's wonderful musical based on the famous Georges Seurat pointillist painting "Sunday on the Isle Grand Jatte",(now hanging in the Chicago Institute of Art), replete with little scenes and set to captivating music by Sondheim. The musical is enhanced with a fictitious "story" involving Georges and his girlfriend Dot...plus a science fiction-like last act, featuring the present where an American great-grandson, George, faces and conquers a creative crisis. The music and acting (by Mandy Patinkin and Bernardette Peters) in this Broadway performance are first rate, as is the staging. This disc is a treasure. Grab it while it is still available.

the musical that changed my life.............2007-08-02

When I was about four years old, I happened to see Stephen Sondheim's SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and it transformed the way I saw and interpreted painting. Specifically, I fell in love with the painting that it was based on--Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jette, by the pointellist painter, Georges Seurat (December 2, 1859 - March 29, 1891). The pointellist movement was a bold and wonderful move on the part of this talented artist. The style in which these pieces were painted was through a series of hundred of painted "dots" forming elaborate and colorful studies. This beautiful musical brilliantly translates the themes and attitudes of Seurat's paintings. The first half of the musical is devoted to Seurat (Mandy Patinkin) and his lover, Dot (Bernadette Peters), the inspiration for one of the characters in the famous painted park scene. The second half follows Seurat's descendant, as he retraces the steps in the painter's life. This is a wonderful, vivid and entertaining musical journey. At age four, it was the one thing that motivated me to get on an airplane and travel to Chicago with my family, to at last see the marvelous painting that inspired the show--in the Chicago Museum of Art. I can't predict what it will inspire in you, but it will at least help you come to appreciate the great legacy that Georges Seurat left behind.

A must see for people who like to think!.......2007-06-27

This is typical Sondheim music, NOT typical Broadway music. Don't expect a toe tapping "dancing into the evening" kind of a show. You won't find it. What you will find, however, is a beautiful masterpiece that is solidly performed by some of the world greatest vocalists and actors.
The costumes and sets are just incredible and add so much to the show.
The main masterpiece, to me, is the lyrics. If you can listen closely and catch what is being said you will finish this film with a different perspective and have had your life enriched.
If you like to think, or would like to be challenged, watch this movie.
If you like art and beauty, watch this movie.
If you like clever lyrics and phenominal music, watch this movie.
Just, watch this movie.

Sondheim, Patinkin, Peters.......2007-05-06

Probably only Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine and a brilliant cast could use one of the world's great paintings as the basis for an intelligent and entertaining musical drama about love, art, and commitment. The scenic design is exceptional.
Buy it.

EXTRAORDINARY SUNDAY.......2007-04-13

Every now and then you come across a work, say a movie, a book, a piece of music, which moves you so entirely, you will never look at life quite the same ever again. SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, the DVD, a staged production of the Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine Broadway musical is an unconventional show, sometimes more in the tradition of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera, in that the music is truly, as joked in the musical's book, 'variations on a theme'; one long sweep of music that climaxes in a powerful finale, bound to shake up the heart, and enlighten the mind.

The synopsis of the play is bound to chase some away, as it did me for many years. It is a fictional account of real life 19th Century Parisian artist, Georges Seurat, and his attempts to finish his masterwork, "Sunday Afternoon On The Isle of La Grande Jatte", as the Paris art community ridicules the work in progress, and stands defiantly against the finished piece. During Act 2, you are rudely whisked away 100 years into the future, where a monstrous piece of art; a metallic iron lung, shell-like object, is beaming laser beams and playing new age-like music to a less than enthusiastic crowd of artists and would-be admirers. It is the work of the great grandson of Georges Seurat, who faces the same doubt and betrayal from his peers.

The sad history of the artwork, brought to the front in a matter-of-fact way during a presentation during Act 2, in which aged daughter, (Bernadette Peters), and great grandson, (Mandy Pantinkin), recount the likes of Renoir and other famous painters of the era, retracting their entries into an art exhibit when it is learned, "Sunday Afternoon On The Isle...", would be included, brings characteristic emotional depth to the painting which is now regarded as a treasured piece of art, and indeed the painting is the star of the show, even taking a majestic bow during the closing curtain call.

It sounds dry, but this is all very light-hearted, with traditional musical comedy amusements, which surmount to a power sucker punch of sadness, humanity and beauty, as the cast gathers for the final song. Get out your handkerchiefs. The cast is exemplary; Mandy Pantinkin delivers an alarmingly spiritualized tenor proclaiming the beauty of art, sure to send shivers your way, and Bernadette Peters, is aglow with an empathetic characterization, full of conviction and grace, rarely realized in a musical.

Just a quibble. An annoying, but tolerable 'feed-front', (the dialogue is heard just slightly before it is spoken, it seems to happen often in these taped DVDs), can be heard distractingly at the quiter moments. Mandy Pantinkin, Bernadette Peters, Stephen Sondheim and writer James Lapine provide audio commentary.

The Stephen Sondheim Collection (Into the Woods / Sunday in the Park with George / Follies in Concert / Passion / Sweeney Todd in Concert / A Celebration at Carnegie Hall)

Average customer rating:

A must-have for all Sondheim lovers
Worth every penny that my mom spent!
A TRUE FAN/COLLECTORS GEM
Sondheim Collection
Sondheim: Greatest Theatre Genuis of the 20th Century

The Stephen Sondheim Collection (Into the Woods / Sunday in the Park with George / Follies in Concert / Passion / Sweeney Todd in Concert / A Celebration at Carnegie Hall)
Starring: Bernadette Peters , Chip Zien , Joanna Gleason , Tom Aldredge , and Robert Westenberg
Director: James Lapine , Terry Hughes , and Michael Houldey
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

Musicals & Performing Arts | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000AKY5I
Release Date: 2003-09-23

Amazon.com

The six-disc Stephen Sondheim DVD Collection is pure Broadway gold, encompassing three original Broadway cast performances and three all-star concerts celebrating the work of musical theater's most important composer over the last half of the 20th century. Into the Woods is Sondheim's most popular show, an amalgam of fractured fairy tales and what happens after "happily ever after." Bernadette Peters heads the cast, joined by Tony winner Joanna Gleason and Chip Zein. Sunday in the Park with George was Sondheim's immediately preceding work, also a collaboration with writer-director James Lapine and also starring Bernadette Peters. She plays Dot, the mistress of brilliant French pointillist painter Georges Seurat (Mandy Patinkin), in a powerful work about the nature of art and the artist that gains substantially when you can see the staging elements. The third Broadway cast performance is Passion, which was shot on stage though not before a live audience. It's a story of obsessive love in which the romance between Giorgio (Jere Shea) and Clara (Marin Mazzie) is disrupted by a strange woman named Signora Fosca (Tony winner Donna Murphy).

Sweeney Todd is generally considered Sondheim's best work, and it's well performed by Patti LuPone and George Hearn (reprising his role as the demonic barber almost 20 years after he played it opposite Angela Lansbury in a 1982 video recording). Follies in Concert was an attempt to right a wrong created by a truncated original cast recording, so it's ironic that roughly half the program is backstage material combined with only 47 minutes of concert footage. There are some brilliant moments, though, from such performers as Barbara Cook, Hearn, Patinkin, and Lee Remick. A Celebration at Carnegie Hall is another all-star cast performance of both Broadway stars and operatic voices peppered with comedy from Bill Irwin. Highlights include the ensemble numbers, Daisy Egan's "Broadway Baby," and Patrick Cassidy and Victor Garber's "The Ballad of Booth," which is about as close as you'll get to an original cast performance of Assassins. All in all, this invaluable set preserves and celebrates an important body of work that may never again be documented this well. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

A must-have for all Sondheim lovers.......2007-05-08

This is an amazing collection, which showcases the breadth of Mr. Sondheim's talents. No one else combines his musical mastery with his sheer delight in playing with the English language.

Worth every penny that my mom spent!.......2007-01-15

After watching 3 of the 6 DVDs in this collection, all I can say is "amazing!" The winner thus far is Sweeney Todd. The cast is unmatchable. The only thing missing is the airing of A Little Night Music.

A TRUE FAN/COLLECTORS GEM.......2007-01-11

I had the chance to see on Broadway : Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion and Into the Woods and Follies in London .It was a real treat to be able to behold the unforgetable experience in that fantastic DVD collection

Sondheim Collection.......2006-07-03

This is a must have in your collection Sondheim fans! This box set has titles that appeal to both the children and adults in a family. My children love Into the woods and the Carnegie Hall concert especially! One of the best purchases I've made this year.

Sondheim: Greatest Theatre Genuis of the 20th Century .......2005-11-30

I have been in love with the work of Stephen Sondheim since the age of 6, when I first memorized the lyrics to all of the songs from West Side Story. Mr. Sondheim has give us many, many wonderful pieces of theatre, and several of his best pieces are represented here.

Sweeney Todd: considered by many his masterpiece. I prefer the Angela Lansbury / George Hearn casting, but if they chose to star Betty Boop and Donald Duck it couldn't hurt this material. Brilliant.

Follies in Concert: Follies remains my favorite Sondheim musical and, unlike some other reviewers, I thought the ORIGINAL book was brilliant. The later revised version considerably weakened both characters and plot, and the "concert" version is even more woefully incomplete than the original cast album, but thank GOD they saw fit to include, "Too Many Mornings".

Sunday In The Park With George: Pulitzer Prize winning paean to the creative process; I can even forgive the casting of Mandy Patinkin, one of my least favorite actors. The recreation of Seurat's masterpiece during the first act climax still gives me chills.

Passion: the more I watch this achingly beautiful show, the more I think it's one of Sondheim's greatest scores. Subtle, yes, but if you allow it to, it will grow and grow on you until you can't get it out of your mind. This show is for anyone who has ever loved someone that they couldn't have.

Into The Woods: I saw both Broadway productions and had difficulty choosing which was better. I think the original cast, represented here, had a slight edge. Possibly the most "fun" of Sondheim's shows, this take on Grimm's fairy tales is clever, entertaining and highly satisfying.

The Carnegie Hall tribute is also wonderful.

I have long been of the opinion that Sondheim can do no wrong. His lyrics are thrillingly brilliant, witty beyond all expectations, and his music contains depth that other Broadway composers can only dream of. What is most amazing to me is how he can vary styles and musical periods from show to show to show - no two of his musicals are ever alike, which is more than I can say for many other composers. I don't understand those who like him only to a point; I have friends who love Sweeny, Follies and Night Music, but hate Sunday, Passion and Into the Woods. I think he gets better with each succeeding show.

This set is well worth the investment. Hurry and get it, as some of the individual videos are now unavailable, and who knows how long the boxed set will last.

Sunday in the Park with George [Region 2]

Average customer rating:

Sunday in the Park with George
the musical that changed my life......
A must see for people who like to think!
Sondheim, Patinkin, Peters
EXTRAORDINARY SUNDAY

Sunday in the Park with George [Region 2]
Starring: Mandy Patinkin , Bernadette Peters , Barbara Bryne , Mary D'Arcy , and Sue Anne Gershenson
Director: Terry Hughes
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000050HNI

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

Sunday in the Park with George.......2007-08-29

the musical that changed my life.............2007-08-02

A must see for people who like to think!.......2007-06-27

Sondheim, Patinkin, Peters.......2007-05-06

EXTRAORDINARY SUNDAY.......2007-04-13

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