Sunday in the Park with Mash - Sondheim September
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
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Apparently, there aren't worse things than staring at the water on a Sunday. Join me as I sit through Sondheim's "classic" Sunday in the Park with George.
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Sunday in the Park with George
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
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If you're reading THIS comment below with what you think I "missed" with this show - that's how I'll know you read this far. 😉 I mean, clearly it's popular (it won the Pulitzer, for christ's sake!) But I JUST couldn't get into it! Ahh well.
Oh, and would you click that like button? Love you forever. 
Развлечения
"Some strong hat game in this musical"
Me: just you wait there's going to be two entire songs about hats
Gahhhh! Your first time? You gotta watch it closely! Without worrying about talking to us! It takes time to get into. Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and this.... all of them utterly baffled me on first viewing. But the confusion was so intriguing that I forced myself to really intensely focus on his stuff. It's the beautiful frustration of Sondheim. I find this show to be particularly important because it's Sondheim's own thoughts on art. Its creation and its importance and its relationship to reality. To me, this is his most autobiographical show.
Bailey!, I AGREE WITH YOU! So much!
I was really confused by this musical when I first watched it.
But later, I found out, that for me, the musical was about how art influences the life of many people, and how it holds a point in time, even if it's far gone.
And now I love it.
So interesting to hear your thoughts on this show. I actually attended a masterclass taught by Mandy Patinkin - well, I use "taught" loosely. He ended up shuffling through the students with immense speed, leaving quite a lot of people upset. He then discussed how artists are more sensitive to the human condition and how his art has been his way of getting through his own feelings. He specifically discussed this musical and Sondheim's work as the music and lyrics that verbalized all of his inner feelings. I ended up leaving sobbing because of how moved I was - don't think I'll ever meet anyone else quite like him.
So everyone's reaction to art is different, and saying "you missed it" or "give it time and try it again" is both useless and pretentious, but I will say this. Sunday in the Park with George is my favorite musical of all time (maybe my favorite piece of art of all time), and I sob my way through the majority of it every time I watch now. But also, the first time I watched it, my reaction was basically the same as yours. Interesting but slow and kind of amorphous.
One remarkable thing about the show is that I find different through-lines and thematic elements that tie the show together almost every time I watch, and different songs become the lens through which I understand the rest of the show. When the show first nailed me, it was "Children and Art" and the show became about the things we can put into the world that matter and last, and how our actions and feelings both intentional and unintentional leave marks on the world. Another time it might be "Finishing the Hat," and the show is about the difference between understanding and connecting with the world. Or it might be "Putting It Together," and then maybe it's the Joss Whedon plot summary of Sunday: Act One is about how hard it is to be a genius, Act Two is about how hard it is to not be a genius. Or maybe it's "Beautiful" and the song is about our impossible nostalgia for the moments and feelings that disappear before we can even really understand or appreciate them. There's a Rules of the Gameish "The awful thing about life is everybody has their reasons" reading of the show too. There's readings that center more dramatically on Dot and her struggle to be more than the artist's object- a cerebral version of that focuses on how life as it is lived has moved out of the purview of the artist in the modern era, and meaning has leaked from the lenses of the artist into the emotional struggle of everyday lives and families.
And I could keep going on and on, and these one-sentence summaries don't really do justice to the show when viewed with these perspectives, in my opinion. But the main point is that I goddamn love Sunday, and that love is powerful enough for me to break my rule about not commenting on RUclips to offer a quickie defense of it. Anyway, really enjoy your channel; keep it up!
I'm paging through the comments (I expected a lot of "you just don't get it") and needed to stop and say thank you for this.
Clearly my time with, "Sunday…" has just started. Time to re-watch, re-think, and work on a follow-up.
Well said. This is one of Sondheim's hardest musicals to digest and it took me quite a bit to really come to love it.
I agree with you, Jonathan. I've seen nearly all of Sondheim's shows, and listened to the few I haven't seen. And "Sunday" is my favorite Sondheim, as well as favorite show.
Great Comment! 🙂
Hi everyone. You're probably in the comments to tell me something about how I "missed the point" or how this is your favorite show and you violently disagree with me.
Please, do! I WANT to hear what you think.
Whether it comes across in the video or not, it's clear I need to spend more time sitting on this musical. And I intend to! Before #SondheimSeptember is over, expect a follow up video!
Until then, keep letting me know what you think and what I missed.
Also HUGE shout-out to everyone who thought, "You know, I disagree with this video but I'm going to give it a thumbs because I'm glad it exists." Ya'll are the bomb!
-Tommy
Here is my take on it. Its about finding your inspiration and going with it to make art regardless of the criticisms you face. It doesn't mean that your art is always good, but you have to keep trying to make something that speaks to you. George in the first act goes on this journey to make his art even though its heavily criticized and not understood. In act 2, his grandson is facing the problem only now George the first has become well respected in the time that has past. Through George's struggle he is visited by the spirit of Dot who mistakes him for George the first and tells him to e present and not worry about critics. What I think this show is saying is be present and enjoy the art you are making, not the art you made or will make, cause you may not be appreciated by people in your life time and thats okay cause art in a way is immortal.
Sunday in the Park is definitely an intellectual's show. I think if you knew more about music, you would really see the merit. It's beautiful from a compositional standpoint. The motifs and pointillism is truly stunning.
Both George's represent Art (and the relentless creation thereof). Both Dot and Marie represent humanity (and the desire to connect with others). The conflict of the show is between these two ideals. George Seurat gives up humanity when it does not wait for him, yet is able to use his art to connect with others, even after his death. Dot gives up the artist, whom she doesn't understand, to pursue the human connection she has with Louis the baker. Yet, she teaches her child, Marie, to care about both (children and art), leading to her grandson (act two George) to pursue art. However, as Act two George delves deeper into his art, he begins to give up his human connections (constantly denying the link to Seurat, divorcing his wife, even the connections he makes/ breaks during Putting it Together). In one final stroke he loses Marie and his artistic partner, and finds he's lost himself. Dot appears to him (the spirit of his great grandfather's work come to life) and he recognizes not only his place within the Seurat family, but of the beauty of human connection, and uses it as his new inspiration.
I get it, the show's REALLY abstract and the dog song is bizarre. But the score is beautiful, especially upon repeat listens. And I know many people who don't consider themselves musical theatre fans, who initially don't even like it, but have come back to me over the years to ask about Sunday/ that they can't get it out of their heads.
I can only hope the same for you.
"I don't care about any of this" is basically my feeling on this show. I love the music, don't care a whit for the musical
Hi Tommy,
It shows how we are shaped by our family history and are mirrors of our past, wether we are aware of it or not. Love and abandonment replicates itself across time. George abandoned his child, but his actions as well as his dedication to art still resonate deeply a hundred years later, as does Dots love through Marie.
The message is whispered, not blurted as we are accustomed to, so you need to really focus when you watch it, or you will miss it. Just like you will miss the winds of time unless you sit down and contemplate the people who came before you. One day we will not even be remembered. What will you have given to the living once you're gone?
A writer friend told me she thought this musical the greatest piece of theater in English in the past few decades.
this is my favorite musical... dont break my heart tommy
I want to write you a ten page essay on why this is literally the single most insanely brilliant musical to have ever been written, but I won't... instead I simply highly recommend you rewatch the show and work through it yourself. You really can't take it all in after one viewing - I felt similarly to you after my first viewing but after watching it again it quickly became my all time favourite musical.
A hint, though: don't think of the show as being about art... it's more about the ways people connect, and the legacies you leave behind. Art is just one of the mediums of connection that it explores.
I really do think is one of those musicals where you literally will just need to watch it multiple times to truly get everything you can...but this show also means and signifies and symbolizes different things to each person who watches it. To me, Sunday in the Park with George is about what you bring into the world and what you leave behind it when you leave - but also that artists form connections, but that they aren't always connected to what they perhaps should be, and that can and often does define their life. But that could be totally wrong to someone else who has seen this show, and both those opinions are correct. It's very ambiguous, and I think purposefully so, but yes, multiple viewings will help to solidify a more concrete idea of "this is what Sunday in the Park is about."
I just listened for probably the 100th time today and during Gossip I realized that the person “prowling through the streets in his top hat after midnight” is most likely Jules
"The popular Sondheim criticism, there's not a tune you can hum."
That was genius.
😀😁😂🤣😃😄😅😆😉🤗!
I came out of Into the Woods humming Children Will Listen and You Are Not Alone, but over time I've come to like No More even more...
Goddamn it, for some inexplicable reason I'm humming one-offs instead, like "Mademoiselles, I and my friend, we are but soldiers!". To be quite honest, for me most of the time humming a tune just means repeating the first line loudly and mumbling the rest.
I know this is a 5 year old video
..but reading comments about how much people love this show gives me so much joy. It's my favorite musical. Ever. 💕
Your comments mirrored mine the one and only time I watched it. I felt like "what a crazy show". I know people who say it is an absolute favorite, but I think it is the theme of "artist and their art" - the obsession, the indecision, the questioning, the sacrifice, and finally the need to just do it and keep moving - not stopping. That being said, I don't really know that it comes out of the musical as much as it comes out of the minds of the people who love it and project their own stories onto it.
At some level, I feel like this is probably Sondheim and his struggle to keep moving and creating.
I know I am 7 years late BUT I just gotta say how it's amazing how this captures everyone's initial reaction watching this show. Just pure confusion. But with time I think I can safely say this is in my top 5 musicals if not my favourite one. Just an amazing, 10/10 piece of art.
'Sunday' is my absolute favorite Sondheim show, and it ranks up there with my favorite shows EVER. Yes, it's a very difficult show - for almost everyone, it requires multiple viewings as well as some familiarity with the score and lyrics to finally put the pieces together and appreciate it. I've seen the show live twice in the past few years (both B'way revivals), and the audience reaction was the same both times. Half of us leave in tears, and the other half scratch their heads and wonder what the hell they're missing.
Watching you watch Sunday in the park gave me vicarious chills
Mash: this opening number is complicated. Me: just you wait.
I CAN'T believe you've never watched this or listened to the entire cast recording. This was one of the first Sondheim shows I ever loved.
"I'm ugly in act one and pretty in act two" bahahaaaahaaaaaa
I know this is 5 years old, but the reason why he uses a laser is because Georges used points of color and light to make his painting, and a laser is a point of color, and light. It's themes and variation :) (also, george, in the 80's is sonheim. The second part is him musing on the nature of art, and artists, and what they have to do get their pieces made, and it's beautiful.)
Move on is one of the greatest Sondheim songs ever.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to love Sunday In The Park With George the first time around. Even the second....or the third.
My unusual path to this was that I was working in a stereo store when CDs were just being introduced. One of the very first SPARS code DDD discs (Digitally recorded, Digitally mixed and Digital disc) was this. Now remember, at this time you'd walk into a record store and they'd be miles of aisles of vinyl, but if you asked for CDs, they'd pull a shoe box from under the front counter and that was your selection. So I'm looking through my latest copy of Stereo Review and they had a nice review and an order form for Sunday In The Park With George and, being the first DDD disc I had seen, I ordered it. (for Demo purposes). It weirded me out at first, but being one of the few CDs I had, I kept it playing on my player. And it started to grow on me. So I read the massive "book" (CD size, unfortunately. But was was young and could read the teeny tiny then) and started to understand the "story" they were telling. Now keep in mind I had seen photos of the famous painting, but I had no idea who Seurat was or any history of the painting.
But along with selling stereo, we also sold video and I had learned that TV picture tubes were painted with tiny red/green/blue/ phosphor dots and that the signal was broken down into Luminance (B&W) and Chrominance (color) carrier waves.
COLOR & LIGHT!
And I KNEW this was meant for me. Add the dot,dot,dot staccato of the music and all the clever puns and truths and beauty and when it hits you in all its full glory, you are overwhelmed. A true masterpiece.
The first time I watched Sunday in the Park with Geroge, I, too, loved it in parts but also felt it was long and amorphous and a bit confusing but something tugged at me. I watched it again and loved it more in the whole. Each watching I loved it more and let it resonate with me.
if you watch it one or more time you will discover new things and then you will obsess with it. You were me when I first saw it, I thought it was the most boring thing Id ever seen. Then I kept listening to the soundtrack and then i discovered new meanings to each songs and now it has become my favourite SOndheim musical. SO beautiful.
One of my favorite shows. It takes time to understand it but it's worth it!
I think Sunday in the Park with George is one of those shows that would do really well as a movie, where you could rewrite and streamline a lot of the dialogue, with the two acts intercut in order to show the parallels more clearly and keep the story moving. It's a really cool idea of a show but I think that the definitive version has yet to be made.
The best art always gets better and better with repeated exposure, especially if there's any complexity to it. You keep finding things each time that you missed previously. This is especially true of Sondheim's work; he just packs so much neat stuff in there that you can't possibly absorb it all in one sitting. I've been listening to him for over 40 years and even now I'm still discovering new things - an internal rhyme I hadn't noticed before, some melodic motif that turned out to be an Easter egg that I finally found, or a truth about the world that I'd never considered. Each time one of these "aha!" moments occurs, it's delightful and exhilarating. And I've been a huge fan of _Sunday in the Park with George_ since Steve told me back in 1983 he was writing "a fantasy with James Lapine about the painting 'A Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte'."
Give it time, lad. _Sunday_ will grow on you like an old friend.
My high school is doing it and I'm pretty excited for it, the underclassmen are complaining cause it's boring but I think it's because they're too used to modern musical theater I think this will show them classical musicals aren't always boring
You'll get it the third time you watch it. I sincerely hope.
I love how an automatic discomfort comes over Tommy the second the chomolume enters, and remains there the entire scene.
Omg I only watched this for the first time yesterday!! It's the first show I've ever cried at - Marie just broke me
I literally screamed when you said you didn't watch it. Literally. HOW HAVE YOU OF ALL PEOPLE NOT SEEN THIS????
As far as musicals are concerned, I believe Sunday in the Park with George is my favorite. The casting, music, stories, losing myself in the character of George, finding similarities in the story to my own life. All of it just makes me feel amazing.
This is definitely in my top ten favorite musicals. For me, it's because the whole thing is that "bullshit-artist" thing you were talking about. It all makes me feel like the art that I am involved in and love is important. To be fair, I first saw this as a college production and I'm not as familiar with this version on film. However, when I saw it live, that may be part of why I love it so much. I don't thnk anyone has to like it, but I'd recommend finding a way to see it live. That may make the difference
I had to chuckle when you suggested an obscure Halloween costume; I thought you were going to say you'd dress up as the waffle stove after commenting on it just beforehand. That said, you as Bernadette Peters' Marie would be priceless.
This is one of my favorite Sondheim pieces, I can't believe this is the first time you've seen it and listened to the shows album, shame Tommy. Aside from the show, I've gone to the art institute a few times and one of the first times seeing the painting, I almost touched and security barked at me to get away. I was so excited.
Sunday in the Park with George is my favorite music off of all time. I can't believe he has never seen this show. It is truly amazing, and beyond a brilliant. It's also a show that gets more and more brilliant every time you see it. There's lots of little hidden meaning that mean something new every time you revisit it. So my suggestion is watch it 20 more times you'll like it more.
This was my reaction the first time I watched it..... But it has grown on me SO MUCH as I have watched it more.
I could be completely wrong here, but hear me out.
This was the musical Sondheim wrote after he wanted to retire, following the failure of Merrily We Roll Along. It's likely that he poured a lot of frustration but a lot more hope into this project. Plus, Sondheim's songs are mostly the inner thoughts of the characters set to music. It's hard to separate Sondheim from his art because to me, he is his art. Much like George.
'There's only two things worth leaving to the world - children and art.'
'It's not so much do what you like, as it is like what you do.'
'Stop worrying if your vision is new. Let others make that decision, they usually do. You keep moving on.'
Might want to try watching this one again. It's Sondheim world, we just live in it.
Oh Tommy... so beautiful and talented and wonderful. Then you make this video... ;)
The show is incredible but it takes a lot of thinking on the core themes for the impact to come to light, I think. So give it another fair whack and you may like it more.
This video inspired me to watch it again. Move on is a beautiful song about autonomy and freedom.
I watched it for the first time the other night. The cast is very talented. It's quite aesthetically pleasing. The songs are beautiful and well written. That being said, I didn't have the same fascination with it that so many others do.
watch it again and again after that. You'll get it and love it
Well I'm glad you watched it! It is one of those shows that is very nontraditional and you do have to watch it multiple times haha
I feel your pain... My wife and I saw this original production on Broadway - our first 'real' musical. We almost left during the intermission! But we stayed, and it came together for us - but you can't get it in one viewing/listening. You did miss a lot because you were sharing with the camera at the same time - worth looking at again. There's lots of diversions I don't like or get, particularly in the first act, but the overall affect still gets to me. The first statement he makes is what it's all about: art is a blank page or canvas - so many possibilities - just as can be said of life. Heady stuff - life and art is what you make it - and its value can only be calculated at the end, not the beginning. That's why the song FINISHING THE HAT is so important and remarkable - it's about the loneliness of the creative process. 'Look I made a hat - where there NEVER was a hat'. As a writer, I get this - all artists start with nothing - and create worlds. The show is flawed to be sure, but its core values and best songs outweigh its weaknesses. I think Sondheim's biggest problem (if you can call it that) is he writes amazing songs for shows with weak or impenetrable books. That's why there have been so many compilation reviews of great songs from failed shows. I love the song 'Cristhanthimum Tea but I can hardly even listen to all of PACIFIC OVERTURES let alone imagine sitting through it. COMPANY is one of the few of his classics that have a book and songs that really support each other.
OMG Sunday in the Park With George, in my opinion, is the greatest display of Sondheim's genius. I would suggest that you look it over again and you too may grow to appreciate it. It's lovely.
No violent backlash. Just couldn't help thinking that it is a bit cerebral and I would have missed it if I was doing a performance of my own craft simultaneously. I'm sure if you watch it again with your full attention, you'll come to love it, or at least greatly appreciate it.
I've seen it said about this musical that half the watchers will walk out halfway through, thoroughly bored, and the other half will sit in their seats sobbing all through the ending. Idk, personally this musical thoroughly kicked me in the heart when I saw it. I think you're comparing it too much to expectations.
edit: Though to analyze a bit, IMO the reason Dot comes back in the last number is we've established in the first act that she's truly the centerpiece of George Sr.'s painting, the focus of his attention (there's a lot of throughlines that carry that impression, compare and connect "the monkeys and who, George?" with him giving her the monkey in Sunday, which is why that song is there at the end of the first act), and now in the second act we look at how this gets transmitted forwards in time. George Jr sees Dot because he's built up such a strong image of her in her mind, from his mother and from Sr's work, that he can almost hear her; she's immortalized in his painting (compare Hot Up Here and "isn't it funny how artists can capture us"). That theme gets built on more explicitly in Into the Woods too ("No one leaves for good.").
edit: I think for a theme, it's less about "finding yourself" and more about communicating through art. You see this set up all the way in act 1, because George Sr can't express himself socially, because he's "on the other side of the window", standing by, standing back, impersonally. No life. Bizarre, fixed, cold - the show really musically hammers his isolation in. He has to engage with the world *through* the canvas. But in the second half, it pays off - children, and art. Dot doesn't see it, but George Jr will.
edit: For me, what happened was the first act emotionally hammered me in the ground because their romance was so tragically, slowly doomed, and yet George was doing the best he could, the best that he could just wasn't good for dating, because he was monofocused on art, which was why she liked him to begin with - it was so fatalistic and sad - that the show had a lot of credit with me through It's Hot Up Here and Chromolume #7, and I could get back into it with Putting It Together. I think because the show is so extended, its impact depends on whether it can carry the viewer through the slow bits without losing them, which is what makes it so pass/fail - what is an "emotional recovery time song" for one viewer is a "why does this DRAG" song for another.
I was trying to watch it the other day and was interrupted so finally couldn't. I hope your insight helps me get into it, my first impression was that the topic was strange but the music was amazing.
As I'm just getting into appreciating this artform everyone on line seems to know everything and be really hardcore so it's kind of nice to see there is stuff you still haven't seen
Yeeeeees, Its my favorite musical!!!!!
I love this show and have long called it my favourite musical, but it has been a hard sell to any of my friends; you're right that its plot and themes are amorphous and take quite a bit of patience to grapple with. That said, it speaks to me in a more profound way than I can express, and whenever I can commit the effort to watch it again, I am moved, encouraged and inspired in a way I've not yet experienced from any other show. This is a prime example of a success without popular acclaim; it isn't loved broadly, but it is loved deeply.
I'm sorry, but this time I almost completely disagree with you.
"Sunday in the Park with George" beautifully reflects the subjects it's talking about in music, lyrics, plot and set design: what art is, how it affects the artist's life, the role of the artist in both Nineteenth century's and contemporary society, Seurat's pointillism, how art changes with its creators, and, overall, how relationships are fundamental in making it, whether they're healthy or not ("Content dictates form", remember?).
I'm sure you've read "Look, I Made a Hat". Well, I think there's no better companion to the show than Sondheim's words themselves to fully understand the show, or at least try to. "Sunday" is no pic-nic when it comes to understanding it. I've watched it many times, and listened to the OBCR many, many times, and I'm proud to say that I still have not figured out everything Sondheim wanted to tell us about what he cares about, what he thinks matters. You were right when you said that the show needs to be contemplated. My suggestion is that you listen to the score again and again, immerge yourself completely into the eerie music, the poetic lyrics, and don't be afraid to find yourself within the lines of the show. You deserve the mystical, beautiful experience that is "Sunday in the Park with George".
I felt the exact same way when I first watched it. I totally agree
I thought I loved musicals! So cool to "meet" a kindred spirit 😊
I too got only some things out of this musical. It probably rewards repeated viewings, and I hope to watch again sometime. Go for it, MMM!
I'm just some schmuck on the internet, but in some ways that's actually beneficial in this context. In my opinion, this musical is ultimately about expression, about the artistic pursuit of communicating a vision and doing so irrespective of an audience understanding what's being expressed. As someone who has had a long struggle to appreciate "modern art" this is what really made it click for me.
George is trying to communicate to the world, and everyone understands the struggle of that pursuit in "Finishing the Hat," but the musical as a whole takes it a few steps further. You see and hear critics who scoff at him or pretend like they "get it" and you hear people close to him bemoaning his distance and all of that comes down to his art's inability to be heard as a message, but it's the communication of that message that is the critical thing to the artist.
But in a modern context we're used to pointillism, we're used to expressionism and cubism and all sorts of art forms that were at their time much more radical and incomprehensible than we consider them now. This is why Act II is critical, it shoves in a work that is by its very nature intended to be confusing, and by your reaction you definitely felt befuddlement. Then we get to see the in universe reaction to it with people pretending they understand or reacting without trying to understand or simply seeing art as a commodity, which that's another discussion. Young George is apoplectic about this and just wants to be able to communicate his vision but he doesn't have the same internal independence of Old George because he wants the funding and the notoriety so that his art can be heard.
Because he's so focused on being heard he's unhappy and unfulfilled and unable to just communicate. The value of art is in it's expression, interpretation is necessarily personal and subjective and that's great but when you communicate something you, ideally, have one thing in mind and not the whole host of interpretations that random people be they critics or schmucks on the internet might come up with.
Ironically, it's Act I, the act where George is only concerned with expressing himself and not being understood, that is the most easily, seemingly understood; however, Act II wherein Young George is trying desperately to be heard finds himself hampered in being able to express himself, until he is able to listen to someone else, the fact that it's his ancestors is almost completely superfluous, but it gives some justification for double casting roles.
I agree with you that it's a lot to just take in in one go, but sit on it for a little bit, come back and watch it again. It's a very thoughtful musical and has me coming back for it more and more.
My reaction to the beginning of act 2 when I saw it for the first time😂 Still an amazing beautiful show.
I personally love this show. The first act. The second act has always felt like a fever dream to me. I'm actually doing a project for my portfolio where I'm writing a fitting second act (as well as moving some parts of the first act to the second act)
Wow! That´s amazing!
In your remark on comparisons, there are bits that you can find as almost prototypical for "Passion".
Something you may have missed... Music AS painting... So plot, and lyrics aside for now... the Music... he attempted to paint a picture with music. I don't mean he tried to create images in your head... I mean like he wanted to give you the standard LSD response of "I can hear colors and taste sound." ... He wanted you to HEAR a painting in the sound... It's quite an ambitious undertaking to use a medium that can only be experienced with one sense and try to get you to experience it with another. Now of course they cheated by using such great imagery of paintings to bridge the gap... but listen to the soundtrack without watching it... or watch it with this in mind and see if you can hear the painting. :-)
I love Sunday. It's so unique. It does have its flaws, but in a way that's part of its strength. I think it's Sondheim's most personal show.
I sincerely hope you've learned to love this. Otherwise your Sondheim card is revoked. Remember it was 1984...lasers were a big deal.
Something tells me he hasn’t seen pacific overtures
This is not as complex as Sweeney Todd lyrically , or as complex as A little night music musically or as complex as Merrily plotwise. But between the interaction of the narrative and music playing together, controlling each other and elevated each other makes this Musical best...and almost perfect.
0:35-0:50 ...............BURN HIM!!!!!! 😂😂😂 Haha great video as always!!
I have to say that your commentary is honest and well thought through. I'm glad you went back and watched it again...and again, even though ultimately it wasn't a conversion to loving the show, you gave it a fair chance. There are things that have always bothered me about the piece. I agree that you should be able to take something away from a musical on a first sitting. With soaring ticket prices, going back to a play multiple times just isn't feasible for most of us. That said, I have always liked the show a lot, but I have an uneasy love for it. I saw the original production and got to go back stage to see the show's inner workings and ended up meeting both Mr. Lapine and Mr. Sondheim too. Quite a night, which probably enhances my love for the show. I have always loved the score and the message, and as a painter, "Finishing the Hat" is profoundly moving, still, I am a little uneasy with Act II, as many people are. For a long time I chalked it up to seeing it while still in college, but a few years ago I caught the much lauded revival import from the UK and didn't feel I "got it" any more that time.
Musically it is a wonderful piece. I love how Sondheim assigned a palette of colors to specific notes on the keyboard and repeats the various intervals throughout. I can't think of any Broadway score that is so smart and fully integrated musically. I've been fortunate enough to get to see at least one Sondheim musical "cold", having no fore-knowledge of the story or score and yes, I did get a lot out of it. Understood the lyrics, got the message and had a very enjoyable evening. It was "Passion," which like many of Sondheim's works, only gets better upon repeated listening.
What I think bothers me is a feeling of missing scenes between "Children and Art" and the final scene in 1984 Paris. The story lags a little in Act II, but I can't help but feel that I got up to go the bathroom and missed a scene that bridges me from New York to Paris. Admittedly it is a masterful, ambitious work, and dare I say a masterpiece? But one that still leaves me feeling a little incomplete or unresolved or...something. In German it would be one of those long train-car words meaning something like, "a feeling of sublime discomfort with seeing a masterpiece which one does not fully embrace."
Still, I love "Sunday in the Park". I just am a little removed from the personal nature of the play. I think it is admirable that you have given it so much study.
Never have I ever liked a Sondheim show the first time I saw/heard it. NEVER. Not even West Side Story or Gypsy. I haaaaaated Into the Woods. Now Sondheim is one of my favorites. That’s kind of how it goes.
I don't think you need to fear seeing yourself in the Artist. You are the Critic.
I performed in Sunday in the Park with George in 2016 as Jules and Alex, and what I found fascinating about the process is that through the rehearsal and production process, you forget how weird and jarring the transition to Act 2 is. The concentration on individual character arcs that we do as performers kind of masks it, and as such this is definitely a show that appeals more to artists than audiences, in my opinion.
FUCK Putting it Together though.
I resonate with what you said about certain musical structures being drilled into your head making other musical types more difficult to process 5:56
I find there are some shows that I enjoy a lot while watching them and others that I enjoy more after reflection and Sunday is certainly a show that, for me at least, requires some time to process after initial viewing. It is a bit ambiguous thematically but I kind of like that because it allows for personal interpretation
Of course you missed something. You were talking the whole time. You know that is not how theater is designed to be experienced.
I'm in the middle of the video, he just said "so... what happens next?" and I was like "YOU HAVE NO IDEA!"
This is my second favorite musical of all time. But the first time I saw this show, I HATED it. I thought act 1 was cool and had great music, but I was bored and I despised act 2. Then, I saw it live. I think there were changes since the filmed production, because I feel like some of the messier segments were more interesting and cleaned up a bit when I saw it live. It's a lot to process though, so I think a second viewing (one where you're not commentating throughout it) would help you see why so many people love this show so much.Regardless, it definitely still has problems. I think act 1 is near perfect, but there are parts of act 2, especially the Chromolume scene, that are just boring and pretty stupid. For me though, the good stuff is so incredible that it far outweighs the bad. Like, you, I really thought I was missing something when I first saw it and even though I love the show now. I still have no clue what I was missing that made me not like it at first. Something just clicked the second time through.
The chromolume scene somehow was so specific that I cannot feel as if it's not reality thinly veiled as fiction and Sondheim was too polite to say otherwise; a lot of Sunday was inspired by Lapine and Sondheim actually visiting an art gallery, like that part where Marie says that that 'babycarriage' is actually Louis's waffle stove, Sondheim and Lapine remember actually visiting an art gallery and there were three experts who disagreed on what a thing was in that specific painting.
This show was the first Sondheim musical that I'd ever seen professionally done, so it has a special place in my heart. I saw it when I was eleven, which meant that part of my mentality going into it was "Sondheim is complicated and you won't get all of it until you're older, but mum and dad say it's really good, so you should try to like it." And I did like it, in fact, I loved it. Act two is certainly flawed and I did not like it as much as act one, but one of my favourite Sondheim songs of all time is "It's Hot Up Here", which is the opening of Act 2, so there's some redemption there. I probably liked that song in particular because as a kid I learned all the words and impressed myself by being able to perform a one woman version of it. This was one of the first pieces of theatre that challenged me and introduced me to the idea that challenging theatre is generally more fulfilling than bubblegum-fluff-bye-bye-birdie stuff (which I also absolutely adore, don't get me wrong.) So that's my two cents on the show. I suggest just listening to the cast album, picking out your favourites and going from there, it's not one of his shows that's great all the way through, but there are lots of gems within the show that I deeply love and appreciate.
This show absolutely wrecks me.
Thank you!!! I thought i was the only one who thought it went kinda blah after intermission
Sunday has been one of my all time favorite musicals for years. The pull between the artist who can always move on and find something new but not find success personally or professionally and the artist who has lots of professional success but gets stuck in a rut as a result. The ending of reach act leaves me a puddle of tears every time. As far as musical motifs go, check out Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions for a description of how almost every song in Act I has a counterpart in Act II and how they relate. (He talks about hire for Mandy's entire run of the show he never realized that "Finishing the Hat" and "Putting it Together" were based on the same motif.)
Sunday is not everyone's cup of tea. It's one that you either love or HATE, there is no in between but either way; you have to admit, the music is affecting and beautiful!
I was lucky enough to see this musical as part of the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center about 15 years ago. The cast perhaps brought a bit more joy of life to the performance than the original Broadway version. And of course seeing it in contrast to many of Sondheim's other works highlighted the theme of the necessity for persistence and the organization of thought in order to produce great art. At the end of the Act I you have the ah-ha God moment... then act II is a comparison to a contemporary artist seeking to find that moment. The coldness of her grandson's contemporary exhibit prompts Dot who urges “a little less thinking, a little more feeling” -- which of course is a self criticism of Sondheim himself. I remember feeling that maybe act II had not been successful in helping me understand how to create my own ah-ha moment, but it sure made me think about subject quite a lot. And if I were more of a true artist, then perhaps would I have connected more?
How can you call yourself a Sondheim fan and not like Sunday In the Park With George? Sure it's not a traditional show. It's more about a through line of a theme of the artist wrestling with himself and perception of him by himself and others and love being the most important thing, "no art in his life no life in his art." Theoretically it's more about the incredibly complex harmonic structures, being just as, if not more beautiful than traditional melodic works. Personally, it is my favorite Sondheim show.
I just finished watching this, as weird as it is it makes me think of the pointillism that Seurat used, its a little jumbled up close but once you take a moment and look back it comes together
I saw the original - this production, as a matter of fact - and perhaps this is one of those shows that has to be seen live to be truly appreciated. That moment at the end of the first act: you know it's coming, and yet when it does, you can just get all the feels from it. Then the ridiculous scene at the Museum, with the New Art and talking about selling the airspace over the Museum... it's the Chicago Museum, sure, but it is such a New York "art scene" moment. I think the word I would use for this show is Proustian: it has to be read (or, in this case, seen) with diligence. But when you do, it really is magical, epecially that final scene in which worlds collide. No, I dont think you got it, but you will.
It doesn’t even need about art if you aren’t into that. Because art isn’t the only way to express yourself, have vision, or feel like an imposter, or a sellout, or disconnected from your past and meaning, and frightened… the only thing about this show that is truly sad is that, in the end, George is given the gift of connection. That doesn’t always happen.
I am so excited to comment on this year old video because Sunday in the Park is easily my favorite show of all time.
There are obviously a few critiques, some songs could defiantly be cut. Act 1 is better than act 2 .And there is almost no reason to care for half of the characters, but I think musical overall is amazing
I think one issue people have with this show is walking in thinking it's purly about art. I see this show more as a journey of the relationship between dot and george. The conflict of act 1's George inability choose between his work and dot's love. He tried to have the mistress who he loves and loves him vs the art that he sees as meaningful. The line for me that really sums up act one is "the choice may have been mistaken the choosing was not". It's saying that maybe dot is unhappy with her choice at the end but at least she choose one over the other verses George who seems to conflict on what truly matters: the art or the people. His inability to choose leaves him conflicted - happy his masterpiece is completed but now he is left with only the painting to be his reminder of the woman he lost.
Act 2 on the other hand gets more confusing. I believe that George in act 2 is a sort of reincarnation of George from act one. The same stuggles and passion in life. Like act 1 George he too has lost a woman he loves due to his inability to choose. But instead of leaving the country she remains with George's grandmother who she loves as well. George's grandmother in act 2 is the wack in the head that everyone needs. "Children and art" is about how the only two things that matter and outlive us when we leave behind are children and art which I feel is dot's daughter's way of reaching back to the George her mother lost - saying look you two are the same you and I even if you can't see it. The end of act 2 is when he goes back to the island and sees how everything is changing and that the world is moving without him. Dot and the spirts of the painting come back to this reicarnated version to remind him that you need to make a choice even if it's maybe not the best. Dot saying "Let it come from you then it will be new give us more to see" is her coming to terms with George like a - maybe you chose the painting over me but I see now that through your work you chose me as well.
Overall its kind of a dance between dot and george of a miscommunicated love - an inability to see the other people. I feel that George's grandmother and dot are trying to show that in order to be happy you need to choose. "Sunday disappearing all the time" - the world moves on without you, so choose either way.
I mean obviously there is some huge underlying themes of creation and how art is important and whatever we create is important because it matters to you - but I pick up and care about the relationship theme more. Personal preferences.
Either if you agree or not it's a pretty complex show with some interesting underlying themes and incredible music. The French horn at the end of Sunday (reprise) really is what kills us all.
I simply have to make a point about the conflicts of this show. There are none and there
are few. It depends from whose perspective you’re looking at it. If you are Dot
you see George neglecting you, preferring his work instead of you. If you are
George you see no problem in this. You do what you do and people have to except
it. That is probably why you felt you like you don’t care about other
characters. George is clearly the focus point of the whole show and thus every
conflict is happening in his head. That creates the duality of conflicts in
this show and they are probably Sondheims best.
The first time I watched it, on PBS, I almost turned it off. Then "Beautiful" came on, and I was hooked. I can understand why people have a hard time with it, and I would never say it's my favorite, but I love it. I do think it takes more than one viewing, which may not be the strongest endorsement for a show. But it's worth getting to know better.
Beautiful is such a powerful song. I get near tears just thinking about it.
You feel about this the way I feel about 'Wicked'. I want to like it, there are parts of it that are very strong but... I just can't get as passionate about it as people seem to be.
The show is a beautiful, sparkling "impression " ( or reflection) of the painting. You've seen the painting, right? Thousands of small dots, pieces, that coalesce into into a gorgeous whole. Like the painting, this show should be seen many, many times. Art should inspire more art. I believe it did.
It's been a while since I watched it. I completely forgot about the differences between the two halves; in my mind the present day stuff was intercut with the past stuff.
"Sondheim loves his actions scored to underscoring"
Boy just you wait!
when I watched the same performance I fell in love. Just got me as an actor/muso I get that whole feeling why bother its shit it annoys me. I fuck up my social and love life for it on a daily basis hoping that one day I make my Sunday afternoon on the island. I related to nearly every song and yet the fun songs I enjoyed cause they were different and I like how we see the world presented through Sondheim's 'window'. How he brings the characters in the painting to life. The ending worked for me because I related to him so much when she talks about concentrating is about living in the moment, moving on and go forward knowing that what I do is my view, my window and we all have the ability to find beauty in everything. Art is important in all its forms!
Also I wanna hear your take on evening primrose if you can find it anywhere!
I has almost the same reaction as you did when I first saw it in the theatre very early in its run. I was often extremely confused at times and then it seemed to drag, particularly mid- second act. I was shocked at my own reaction....I love me some Sondheim and I wanted to LOVE it...but wasn't there yet. I saw many more productions over the next ten to fifteen years, some more successful than others, and then was asked to direct a production out here in Los Angeles, where I was then living, and thought it would be a good time to try and unlock my ambiguity about the piece. Well, as I worked on it, I discovered that more and more of it was like an onion,,,,it revealed itself to me in layers. Things that had confused me before, I now got, and just to make sure, I wrote some lengthy letters to Sondheim himself to see if I was on the right track....and I was! By the end of the experience, not only I , but our entire cast, and orchestra, as well as our audiences were weeping openly at many points in the show and we received numerous Ovation Award Nominations (L.A.'s Tonys) and great critical acclaim. It's too esoteric to go into my discoveries here in this comment forum, but if you really want to know what I thought,I'd be happy to tell you.....just PM me through the site.
I thoroughly enjoy your thoughtful commentaries and criticisms, and find them knowledgable and pointed. Keep up the good work.
CalvinRE I’d love to hear about your analysis! Where can I PM you? There doesn’t seem to be a way do that on here
@CalvinRE I would also love to read about your experience directing the show and your communication with Sondheim. Please reach out to me!
Give it another watch. You can pick up a lot on the second watch
I would never say you "missed" anything, because I really don't think that's the point. The first time I watched it, I not only didn't enjoy it- I think I really disliked it. And I've rewatched it every Sondheimas since, and it has grown on me a lot. Only on my last watch did I really love it and I cried through it. There's an incredible commentary track on the DVD that I really highly suggest watching, just because it's amazing, but because it really gives a window into the work in a clearer way. I just think that this show requires a lot of time to marinate in someone before we can truly respond to it.
I wish you had PAUSED the film to give your thoughts. Yes, it is one of the princes, and it's also Little Red Riding Hood as the girl with/without her glasses.
So I gotta ask- what are your thoughts of Sunday as a song? It's one of the most gorgeous songs I've heard in all of theatre and it's my favourite part of the show and I always have to ask people what they think of that song specifically when they first see the show. And I can definitely understand your not really liking the show; it's an acquired taste that takes sitting on for months before you can really enjoy it in full. And even then there are parts that are definitely kinda just weird and obscure that you can never really get. But I'd definitely recommend, if you want, just thinking it through over and over whenever you have some free time for thought and then coming back to it in a little while. I can almost guarantee you'll find something new to like about it.
It'sone that you need to see more than once before it seeps into your consciousness ... then it takes hold.
I'm still not completely sold on the second act.
I happen to agree with you. The first time I saw this show I was like "huh?" In my mind, this is the reason it lost the Tony to La Cage aux Folles.