Sunday in The Park With George – Reimagined

Mar 21, 2024 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Sue Weston and Susan Rosenbluth, Two Sues on the Aisle

There is a reason Stephen Sondheim’s beloved Sunday in the Park with George is an American musical theater classic—and at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal, NJ, a revival of the show once again shows audiences why. Without changing a word or a note of Sondheim’s masterpiece, the director and choreographer, Eamon Foley, reimagined the production allowing dancers in primary-colored leotards to visually simulate the medium through which genius is translated.

The story is fairly simple, and the tale of how the post-impressionist French artist, Georges Seurat (Graham Phillips), approached his tempestuous virtuosity in France in the 1880s and the ways it affected people around him is interesting and important. But even more so is the concept embraced by the musical, driven home by the conflicts within the artist that aren’t resolved until the end of the second act, a hundred years later. At this point, the protagonist is a different artist, working in a related medium and still facing the same tensions: how to find a voice and reconcile passion with the danger of ignoring those people physically and emotionally closest and dearest.  Is an artist’s legacy his work or the love of real people he leaves behind?

Almost nothing is known for certain about the life of Seurat, which is why the musical, with words/lyrics by Sondheim, and story/book by James Lapine, is a work of fiction. As an artist, Seurat is best known for developing the technique called pointillism—or chromoluminarism—defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches that interact optically and, thus, enlist the aid of the human eye for its effect. Up close, Seurat’s paintings may look like unrecognizable hodgepodges of color, but stand back, and the majesty of the scene he produced can be overwhelming.

All about Process

Although he is celebrated for many chefs-d’oeuvre, his arguably most popular is Un Dimanche Après-Midi à l’Ile de la Grande Jatte (a Sunday afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte), which prominently features a young, stylishly dressed, almost haughty woman. In the musical, she is Dot (Tailia Suskauer), the artist’s mistress (yes, you may cringe at the thought that the woman behind the master of the dots—Seurat actually painted with small brush strokes—is named for his innovation).

At its heart, Sunday in the Park is about process. George sees painting as a composition combining order, design, composition, tone, form, symmetry, and balance. “White, a blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to the whole, through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony.”

He meets it, but, in the process, he loses his lady love, who goes off to America with his child, Marie. The implication is that George Seurat, who really did die suddenly at 31, was left alone with only the images in his painting for company.

“Bit by Bit”

Marie, in turn, has a child, who, in the conceit of this story, is the grandmother of another artist, also named George, the great-grandson of the original George and Dot. Like his great-grandfather, the modern-day George also fiddles with art not everyone can appreciate or understand. The hallmark number of the second act, “Putting It Together,” is the anthem for anyone involved with presenting a work of art, be it a play, musical, novel, or exhibition:

•  A vision’s just a vision if it’s only in your head!
• It has to come to life!
• Bit by bit, putting it together
• Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art
• Every moment makes a contribution
• Every little detail plays a part
• Having just a vision’s no solution
• Everything depends on execution
• Putting it together, that’s what counts!”

It may be the only song audiences leave the theater humming, but make no mistake, Sunday in the Park with George is a work of genius, a tribute to the sounds of inspiration and perspiration, evidence of the labor necessary to discover an inner voice that prompts the invention of a vision.

By reviving Sunday in the Park with George, Mr. Foley has tapped into the essence of the creative process, bringing Seurat’s painting to life and giving the classic a new essence.

The Axelrod Performing Arts Center, which produces its own professionally staged musicals and ballets for the Jersey Shore in collaboration with Broadway directors, choreographers, and designers, proved a superb spot for showcasing its professional actors, dancers, and singers.

Although Sunday in the Park with George will be at the Axelrod PAC only until March 24th, there is little doubt this show about life, love, and the creation of art is Broadway-bound.

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Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) to see the play, show, film, book, or exhibit being reviewed. 

The Two Sues gave this production of Sunday in the Park with George 5 challahs