[NEohioPAL]Berko review: Sunday in the Park with George (Lakeland)

[Roy Berko]

A pleasant ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE’ at
Lakeland

Painter Georges Seurat and musical theatre composer
and lyricist Stephen Sondheim have much in common.  
Though noted as being successful in their fields, both
had personal and career highs and lows.

Seurat, who is the subject of Sondheim’s ‘SUNDAY IN
THE PARK WITH GEORGE,’ like Sondheim was revered and
disliked because of his penchant for breaking out of
the lines.  

Seurat broke from traditional realism and embraced a
style of painting based on dabs, rather than brush
strokes.  Using his scientific knowledge, he placed
the dots in such proximity to each other that they
created light, shadow and color.  The technique,
entitled “pointillism,” was disliked by traditional
painters of his time.  Seurat was considered an
outcast and was refused participation in the major art
shows of his day.  Seurat, it is rumored, did not sell
a single major painting while he was alive.

Sondheim is also controversial.  With few exceptions
his works are intellectual, not intended only to
entertain, but also to enlighten.  Often they contain
a negative-toned woman, who, like Sondheim’s own
mother, is all-controlling.  Think Mamma Rose in
‘GYPSY’ and the Wicked Witch in ‘INTO THE WOODS.’  

Sondheim also doesn’t write songs that can be easily
removed from the script and be placed on the top hits
lists.  He writes songs for his characters to sing
that fit completely into the dialogue, reveal
something about the person, or helps develop the plot.
 Though popular among theatre performers, the vast
amount of his work is unknown to the general public.

Though Sondheim, like Seurat, is assumed to be a total
success (‘GYPSY,’ ‘SWEENEY TODD,’ ‘COMPANY,’ ‘WEST
SIDE STORY,’ ‘FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE
FORUM”), this assumption is not true.  He had
minor successes such as ‘ANYONE CAN WHISTLE’ and
‘PACIFIC OVERTURES, ‘and outright flops like ‘SATURDAY
NIGHT’ and ‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.’  After ‘MERRILY’
Sondheim quit the theatre.  He was, however, lured
back by James Lapine, with the idea of writing a
musical based on the life of Seurat and his painting, 
“A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”
 Though the musical never achieved greatness, it did
run for almost a year and a half and has some
wonderful songs.

In ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK’ Sondheim wrote music in the
artistic style of Seurat.   As one critic put it,
"Sondheim’s work has such reach, there is so much
emotional resonance, that many observers take it
personally and become as fascinated with the artist as
with the art.”

He won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for ‘SUNDAY IN THE
PARK,’ though Jerry Herman's ‘LA CAGE AUX FOLLES,’ a
traditionally formatted show, was selected by the Tony
Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. 

The first act takes place in nineteenth-century
France.  Georges struggles with his art and his
personal life.  He is completely engrossed in his
artwork and not with his pregnant girlfriend/model,
Dot.   She leaves him to find a more supportive man. 
The act introduces the audience to many of the
subjects in the painting (a fisherman, nurse, old
lady, American tourists, teenage girls and Dot).   

Act Two, is set in New York and Paris in 1984. 
Georges' great-grandson, George, is struggling to find
inspiration in his artwork.   He is helped when the
spirit of Dot returns with some wise words as he
visits La Grade Jatte. 

The first act is stronger than the second.  In fact,
the final act was finished only days before the show
opened on Broadway and failed to receive the polishing
needed.

The musical is a difficult undertaking for any
theatre.  Considering that Lakeland’s production has
only one equity performer (young Emma Wahl), and she
does not have a major role, the production is
impressive.  Much credit goes to Martin Freedman, the
show’s director and Sondheim devotee.  

Amiee Collier is excellent as Dot and later as
George’s grandmother.  She has a strong singing voice
and interprets meanings, rather than just singing
words.   This is imperative in a Sondheim show.  She
also develops clear characterizations.  Mary Jane
Nottage is endearing as the “old lady.”

Andrew Tarr puts out a yeoman’s effort into developing
the roles of Georges and George but he does not have
the acting or the vocal prowess to pull off the roles.
   One only had to have seen Mandy Patinkin in the
Broadway production or listen to his vocalizations on
the CD of the show to hear the complexity of the music
and of the character. 

Keith Nagy’s sets and lighting designs add much to the
production as does the musical direction of Larry
Goodpaster.  Unfortunately, the theatre’s poor sound
system caused vocal distortions.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  Seurat contended that a painting
is composed of design, order, composition, light and
harmony.  The same can be said of a musical.  Lakeland
should be proud of its artistic composition.

The show ran through July 30 at Lakeland Community
College.  The theatre’s next production will be Jane
Austen’s ‘PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’as adapted by James
Maxwell, from October 6-22.  For information call
440-525-7034.


Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.

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