Review - Sunday in the Park with George

I believe we all know how much I love a Sondheim musical. And Sunday in the Park with George is one of my favorite musicals ever - I've been watching the PBS recording of the original production forever, and the original cast CD is constantly at the top of my playlist. When I finally saw the show live, in 2008, I could hardly contain my weeping throughout (much to the chagrin of my seat neighbors - that review is before my blog; I'm happy to share if you're interested).  In fact, I find this musical so brilliant, it's hard to even write about it coherently. Everything I think of to write seems unworthy somehow.  But I will persevere.  :)

Like many (foolish) young theater people, when I first saw the PBS recording, I thought the first act was perfection and the second act was...unnecessary. An afterthought. I told you it was foolish.   When I saw the show in 2008, as a much older person, the second act became almost unbearably moving.  Seeing a person confront their stasis was an eye opening experience for me.  In that revival, the gent playing the contemporary artist George was always on the verge of a nervous breakdown - I found that a terrific interpretation.  The interpretation in the current revival is much different and just as moving, if not more so, especially in these times.

When the Encores series announced they were doing a short run of a concert version of Sunday in the Park with George, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, I looked at the ticket prices and thought, crap, I can't afford that.  I was sorry to miss it, especially after hearing (and reading) the rapturous response.  So when a Broadway run was announced at a newly rechristened Broadway theater, the Hudson, I got online the day tickets went on sale.  I was fortunate to have a little bit of my end-of-the-year bonus left that day, so I picked up a balcony ticket.  I couldn't quite wrap my brain around the cost of the orchestra seats, but I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't make it there somehow. Balcony was fine.  Actually, it was better than fine - more on that later.  

A brief note on the Hudson Theater:  the restoration is stunning. I've actually produced events in that space before and all of the glorious details have been shined and honed until they just gleam. The seats are comfortable and there was plenty of leg room.  The staircase to the balcony might've been a tad narrow and overcrowded after the show, but oh well.  I look forward to seeing more shows there. Oh, but the box office gal scared me when she couldn't find my reservation.  Good thing I took my confirmation email with me.  The ticket she printed for me had 'duplicate' printed on it, so I was afraid there would be someone in my seat when I got upstairs, but there wasn't.  I don't know what happened, but all turned out well.

Back to Sunday.  I've read the show is staged more fully than the concert version, but not as ornately as the last revival.  It was extremely intimate and personal and made each performance choice and song lyric stand out.  Honestly, the fact that I could marvel at the genius of EACH LYRIC and yet still be moved beyond reason is simply amazing.  I could put together a book of genius musical lyrics and it would pretty much be all of Sunday.  I even heard a couple of lyrics in an entirely new way, which rather gobsmacked me after all these years of listening.

photo credit: Matthew Murphy

Each of the performances were also so detailed and so lovingly portrayed.  As opposed to portraying George as quite so abrasive in the first act, Jake Gyllenhaal goes for more sad and obsessed - he knows what he is missing, but he cannot stop himself.  When he tells Dot to go to America and he will not look at his child because he cannot look up from his pad, it's truly unbearable.  And the contemporary George in the second act is morose, a bit depressed and truly beaten down by the weight of expectation. Again, a really active and moving interpretation.  The regret.  Oh, I'm crying just thinking of it.  I thought Gyllenhaal was amazing and I just can't get over his wonderful singing.  Not only does he have lovely tone, but his diction of the incredible lyrics was perfect.  He made sure we heard them all, not in a didactic way, but in a 'this character wants you to understand exactly what he's saying and there's no ambiguity' kind of way.  I loved him.

Annaleigh Ashford, who I have loved since her truly perfect performance in You Can't Take it With You a few years ago, was a wonderful Dot.  Warm, funny, sad, smart, and in terrific voice.  She found a lot of new shadings to the character and I could see the physical attraction between the two.  They were always tilting their heads or their bodies toward each other, uncontrollably, and it was so poignant every time George moved away. Ashford's portrayal of Marie in the second act was also fantastic.  She was just so charming and funny, the audience ate her up.  In fact, this production found a lot of warm humor throughout that was lovely.

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

The rest of the cast was also superb.  I have been a huge fan of Robert Sean Leonard for many years and his work was really grand.  He was supercilious, jealous, yet begrudgingly kind, in the first act, and he was rather a riot as the gallery manager in the second act. He also has one of my all-time favorite bios in the Playbill.  Penny Fuller was exquisite as George's mother in the first act (seriously, I nearly had a breakdown during "Beautiful") and neurotic fun in the second act.  But, really, everyone is doing fantastic work.  I started crying somewhere around "Finishing the Hat" and didn't let up until I ran into some friends after the show. The truth.  The ruefulness. The warmth.  The regret.  The resilience.  It's all there. 

If I wasn't really sold on the platform set design, so be it.  I did enjoy the lighting - oh, and the chromolume in the second act was SPECTACULAR!  I don't want to say too much because the surprise of it is grand, but I will say that being in the balcony made it even more magical.  And the costumes were terrific.  They were less exact replicas of the clothes in the painting, but definitely captured the flavor.  And I don't know if they did this in the original production (I honestly can't remember), but in this production, the costumes in the second act correspond with the costumes in the first act.  Each actor is wearing a costume in a similar color and cut, so we can see how their roles play out in both acts.  I thought that was very smart.  The new orchestrations were beautiful and I was very impressed with the orchestra.

I could go on and on about how wonderful this show is, how it says so much about art and artists (and I know you've heard me say before how much I love shows about art and artists - this is the gold standard), how each word is perfectly placed, how each performance illuminated another facet of all the truth, color and light in the show.  I guess I should stop, though, and just say you should go see it if you can.  I know it's pricey, but I think it's worth it.  And you lose nothing by seeing the show from the balcony.  I still feel as if I'm not worthy to even talk about the brilliance of Sunday in the Park with George, but its timeless genius inspires even me to 'give us more to see.'