Customer Reviews

Sunday in the Park with George (1984 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE surely must count as one of Stephen Sondheim's most amazing scores, one that continually rewards the listener with it's simplistic-yet complicated nature.

The Broadway production of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE features the irresistible Bernadette Peters with Mandy Patinkin in the title role. The story takes what little is known of the life of Parisian artist Georges Seurat and weaves it into a story of life, loss and coming to know yourself. The first act follows George as he paints the legendary "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte". His mistress and model Dot (Bernadette Peters) attempts to pursue a relationship with George that goes beyond art. She is rejected and leaves for America with another man (and George's baby).

The second act of the show opens with George's great-grandson, also an artist struggling with his own inspiration. Dot's daughter Marie (also played by Bernadette Peters) gently guides his hand, but it's only when George returns to the scene of his great-grandfather's masterwork that the past comes to rest with the future.

The score is full of gems like Dot's manic opening number "Sunday in the Park with George", the wrenching "We Do Not Belong Together" and the eccentric "Everybody Loves Louis". One of the biggest highlights is the moving "Sunday" as well as the clarifying "Move On" where the younger George is visited by Dot and the other members of the Grande Jatte painting.

To get a better idea of the staging and direction within the piece, you may wish to also purchase the well-presented DVD which preserves the Broadway production. Definitely a score which improves with repeated listening.

This is a heckuva long review, so please bear with me:

After viewing Into the Woods for the first time I instantly became a Steven Sondhime fanatic. A friend of mine (Andrew Fox, who has written many reviews here) insisted that I absolutely had to see Sunday in the Park with George and lent me his tape of it. Knowing that it had won the pulitzer prize and that Bernadette Peters, who I loved in Into the Woods, starred, I went in expecting something incredible. While the show was obviously well written, the music great and Mandy Patinkin remarkable I couldn't help being a little disappointed. Peters, having vocal troubles during the recording, was NOT sounding very good, and the chorous as well didn't sound great. There's also the book, which is well written by James Lapine but doesn't quite measure up to the score like his fantastic book for Into the Woods almost would. The fact that the tape was battered from (obvious) repeated viewings didn't help either.

Still, I went out to buy the soundtrack so i could really listen to the music and I was blown out of my mind. Bernadette Peters voice is as loud and beautiful as usual and the backround chorous was sensational. This recording also allowed me to truly appreciate the brilliant lyrics and dot-painting inspired music. Like all Sondheim shows, similar themes are repeated throughout and the lyrics range from absolutely hilariious to heart wrenching. I'm planning on buying the DVD soon and I reccomend everyone get both this CD and that as this is the ultimate way to appreciate the score but you have to know the story to get the full emotional impact. Every song (yes, EVERY ONE) is fantastic in its own right, but here are some of the highlights:

1. Color and Light: one of the most incredible pieces of music I've ever heard. Sondheim's incredible music captures Seurat's style of painting perfectly and Mandy Patintkin is brilliant in both his intense delivery of the main theme "color and light" and his trancelike repetitions of colors. The way it intertwines with Peter's thoughts is uncanny and it goes in several diffrent directions with many emotions. It is worth buying the CD for this song alone, I guarentee it.

2. Putting it Together: the score's most well known song is in competetion with Color and Light as the best song on the disc. Mandy Patinkin show's his true skills in his pin-point, dramatic and lightning fast delivery of Sondheim's lyrics that vividly describe both the struggle of having to pay for art and the conquest of working the room at a party in search of a commision. The rhyme scheme is incredible and the lyrics are truly revelant today. The chrous is great in this as well, full of character.

3. Sunday: Both rendetions of this song (at the end of the first and second act) are musically excellent but it is the one at the end of the second act that conveys the most emotion. The timing between Patintkin and the chorous is perfection and the song itself has some of the most beautiful music and lyrics ever written. I'll tell you, if you've seen the play (or even listened to the whole CD) the sheer emotional impact of this makes it the greatest musical finale I have ever heard. Period.

Those may be my three favorites, but there are so many more. The opening "Sunday in the Park with George" is quite hilarious, "No Life" as well is brilliantly performed and written. "Everybody Loves Louis" is perfectly sung by Peters, "It's Hot up Here" is a truly ingenious second act opener, "Gossip" is wonderfully fast and exciting with very funny lyrics and the final two songs before the finale, "Lesson Number 8" performed by Patintkin and "Move On" Performed by Peters have some of the most profound lyrics of all time. Both are sung perfectly, of course, as Patintkin and Peters are in top form in this show. Buy this CD and either the video or DVD to fully appreciate this masterpiece. And a masterpiece score this is...on par with George Seurat's "Sunday in the Island of La Grande Jatte"

This unique Stephen Sondheim show's main character is Georges Seurat, painter of the famous "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" among others. This beautiful spectacle of a show is accentuated, if not carried, by Stephen Sondheim's brilliant score. In the original cast, Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters are breathtaking as George and his mistress/model, Dot. As the songs parallel George's paintings, the lyrics portray the contrasting feelings of both characters. George's love for Dot is equal for his love of painting, yet he expresses it through his work, and she does not understand. Dot sees only that he paints her because she's there, not because he loves her. Songs like "We Do Not Belong Together" "Sunday in the Park with George" and "Move On" will thrill and touch the listener, with the effect that all of Sondheim's music seems to have. The show also expresses the experience of art, with critics at every turn, and the difficulty of "Putting it Together". When the fated pair meet again, the past combining with the present at the finale, the listener will be uplifted and rewarded by the experience that is "Sunday in the Park".

Sunday In The Park With George is Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize winner. Is it his very best work? No. Is it amazing? Yes, warts and all. After getting badly wounded by 1980's Merrily We Roll Along (a neglected masterpiece, in my opinion, at least for the music) and after almost leaving musical theater altogether, Sondheim put pen to paper to create one of the most *personal* and original scores in any genre or era. His "pointalistic" style of writing perfectly compliments and in fact "describes" Seurat's style of painting. The orchestration is crystal clear and filled with Seurat's colors, and is well-served by the then-new digital sound technology. And for a composer often accused of being cold and aloof, Sondheim here finally poured out his soul and revealed his insecurities.

Patinkin and Peters are wonderful in what most non-singers would not realize are very demanding roles (especially for Peters, who actually injured her voice singing this role off Broadway while also singing an Andrew Lloyd Webber revue on Broadway). The supporting cast is also excellent. But the real "star" of the show is the show, or the idea of it. Never before has such an innately non-musical idea been so well-adapted as a musical. Never have such abstract and frankly intellectual concepts made it to a mass medium so well. Imagine if this work started out life as a book instead. I could just hear the critics saying it was "unadaptable" to the stage or screen. Sondheim and Lapine deserve kudos for that, for they handle realism, surrealism, fantasy, and an almost sci-fi-ish laser sequence with equal aplomb, blending styles and genres much better than many heralded 1990's movie directors with their over-hyped hybrid films.

So what are the weak spots? A few of the songs are, to me, not quite up to Sondheim's extraordinarily high standards. Though many laud "We Do Not Belong Together" for its emotionalism, to me it sounds dangerously talky and "heart-on-sleeve"--unusual for Sondheim. The same with Bernadette's second song in the same vein, "Move On." ("Stop worrying if your vision is new/Let others make that decision, they usually do. You keep moving on." --For Sondheim, this is kind of straightforward and square, devoid of the usual layers of irony and insight we expect from him. It almost sounds like he's having a therapy session in front of his audience.) Some of the direction, too, is a little awkward and stilted, if you see the video of the production. There's a certain artificiality and stiffness up on that stage that makes it feel like a high school play in spots. Of course, this issue does not mar the CD.

The recording is first class. The booklet is frustrating, though. It is so thick it barely fits into the skinny CD case, and in fact the little plastic teeth that are supposed to hold it in place wind up tearing the back cover after repeated slidings in and out. Mine's at the point where the last few pages are about to be shredded.

This was Sondheim's last great musical, excepting possibly his latest, "Bounce," which I haven't seen or heard. Into The Woods was a pleasant evening and had a great Act I, but it didn't come together well in the end and had a rather pedestrian message. Assassins was a fascinating experiment, like Pacific Overtures, but I feel it fell flat, though I understand a recent revival smoothed out many of the problems. And I don't even want to go near Passions, which should have been called Obsessions and which was relentlessly and unnecessarily dark in my opinion, despite some beautifully emotional music. (I can't believe Barbra Steisand has never recorded "Loving You.") While Sondheim may have faded in the 90s and beyond, he's still THE voice of American musical theater, and an achievement such as the present disc helps you understand why.

"Sunday in the Park with George," a nothing-if-not-ambitious music theatre piece that explores the ins and outs of the creative process, is--as composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim himself has admitted--a weird show. Collaborating with book-writer James Lapine, Sondheim created a musical that has no real plot, a myriad of characters with relationships that in the end add nothing to the whole, and no "showtunes"--at least not in the classic sense. Yet despite what could easily be seen as setbacks, "Sunday" emerges as a masterpiece of the modern musical theatre.

This recording preserves Sondheim's highly intellectual score, which is greatly served by Michael Starobin's orchestrations and the solid singing & characterizations of every single member of the ensemble. However, calling Sondheim's score "intellectual" is perhaps a disservice to the beauty and wit of his music and lyrics, as many of his critics accuse his work of being "all brain and no heart."

It's hard to imagine that someone devoid of emotion could have written a song like "Move On," a sweeping anthem about finding your own voice as an artist, and not dwelling on past mistakes (an experience very close to Sondheim's heart, as flops such as "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Anyone Can Whistle", despite their brilliance failed miserably--the former prompting Sondheim to consider quitting the theatre!); or "Finishing the Hat," in which the title character sings of his ferocious dedication to his art, and the painful toll it has taken on his personal life; or the aptly titled "Beautiful" in which George and his nostalgic mother ruminate on the nature of beauty.

I could go on; there are countless emotionally stirring gems on the album, complimented nicely by exquisitely-written, nearly conversational songs such as the anxious title song, or "Gossip" in which two critics pompously analyze one of George's paintings. I dare you to not be impressed with Sondheim's facility in rhyme with "Gossip," "It's Hot Up Here," or "Putting it Together."

As far as performers, the two leads are a couple of the best in the business. It's hard to imagine anyone improving the work of the incomparable Bernadette Peters, in the dual roles of Dot (George's jilted lover) and Marie (Dot's daughter, 100 years later). Peters' voice is particular, expressive, and enormously powerful when it needs to be. Unfortunately, Mandy Patinkin's beautifully understated work as both Georges is lost without the visual, but his lilting tenor voice is also impressive in its flexibility and, at times, raw power. But I must note again, that there is not a weak voice or performance in the entire cast.

This recording is valuable for fans of both Sondheim and of musical theatre; the former get to relish in the brilliant output by the theatre's current foremost composer/lyricist; the latter to experience other avenues and forms musical theatre can take. Although Jerry Herman won the Tony over Sondheim with "La Cage..." (making what could be conceived of as a snipe at Sondheim in his acceptance speech), the gravity and depth of Sondheim's work here is every bit as valuable and noteworthy as Herman's (or Porter's, or Hammerstein's, or Loesser's, etc.) ability to write a "catchy" melody.

"Sunday in the Park with George" is a stunning work of artistic merit.

i think this show drags in the second act. fortunately, this isn't as apparent when listening to this recording. ms. peters is excellent (and should have won the tony). this was probably the last performance mr. patinkin gave before his voice became just too precious to be tolerated. (i love the act two opener "it's hot up here")

This is really a great CD. I recommend it for any Sondheim fan who's really had a lot of exposure to his other shows or who's ready to give this a good hard try. However, I don't reccomend this to just any casual theatre listener if you're not willing to warm up to it.

It's just this...some of this music is realy suited to the story, which is not easy to figure out from just listening to the music, and unless you listen to the score for a while and get a sense of characters and plot by reading the synopsis in the booklet, most people would just toss this aside.

However hard to warm up to, this is really a great score, full of rich music sung by awesome actors. Mandy Patinkin and especially the beautiful and wonderfully charming yet inquisitive Bernadette Peters are both greatly suited to their roles.

What I wonder most about this score is why the second act is so short and underdeveloped...It's full of great stuff, but it seems like it doesn't dig deep enough under the piece's skin. The new George is introduced, and his ties to Marie when she reappears to him are not fully explained.

Great songs, to me are: "Finishing the Hat," "We Do Not Belong Together," and "Move On." However, some songs that you can skip over until you're ready for them are: "No Life" sung by the droll and boring Jules and Yvonne and "The Day Off" which is George's somewhat evil song where he yaps like a dog for most of the song...boring.

Great CD...especially for Sondheads, but be ready to give this a good hard try first. I highly recommend the video, even if you're still a bit leery of the CD. It's really good stuff.

"Sunday in the Park with George" is an awesome show. One of Sondheim's best. A true masterpiece. The only reason I gave it 4 stars was for the actual recording, which is extreamly muffled. You have to turn the volume way up to here the richness of the score. Other then that, it is perfect. As always, with "George", Sondheim tried to create a new sound. He made "Forum" silly, "Company" romantic and cosmopolitain, "Sweeney" operetic, and for "George" he made the sound very picturesque, if you get my drift. The entire score is made of the sticatto sounds of George Saurat's painting style: dabbing with dots, that blend the colors together. That is how the score sounds, which I find absolutely astonishing. The story follows the trials and tribulations of an artist (George) as he paints his most famous work, "Sunday in the Park on the Island of Le Grande Jatte" (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called). Technically, physically, and musically, the show is a wonder, capturing every essence of the artist. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters are astonishing, as Sondheim writes music, specifically with these actors in mind. I have seen and listened to to this macabre show, and even with the quiet recording, the show is one of my personal favorites. You should not pass this up on adding to your collection.

Stephen Sondheim's popular 1984 musical "Sunday In the Park with George" is well-represented on this original cast recording. Both Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters are in fine voice, and both are given ample opportunity to display their artistic flair in a colorful variety of songs. There are many exceptional tracks on this recording including "Everybody Loves Louis," "Finishing the Hat," "We Do Not Belong Together," and "Move On." Sondheim is well known for his tongue-twisting lyrics, and nowhere is this more evident than in the title song which requires Peters to navigate through a fast-paced whirl of words. She does so with ease. A few of the songs in this score are neither memorable, nor that good, which is the only thing preventing the work as a whole from reaching the level of virtual perfection that Sondheim's 1994 musical "Passion" has achieved. "Children and Art" and "No Life" fail to catch fire here. Still, the majority of the material is superb

This has all the elements of a classic Sondheim musical. Haunting melodies, lyrics that can really make you think. Sondheim is unmatched in musical theatre today for his ability to write such complex and beautiful music and lyrics. And this show will demonstrate it. Bernadette Peters is wonderful in the role of Dot, even makes you laugh a couple of times. Her Children and Art is beautiful in every sense of the word. Mandy Patinkin is also wonderful, his voice soars. If you want a loud, fun musical, don't buy this. But if you want a beautiful, intelligent piece of art, buy Sunday in the Park with George!!