Watch Sunday in the Park with George For Free

Absolutely Fantastic

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This Public Broadcast System film of an American Playhouse production just wasn't very interesting or entertaining to me. "Sunday in the Park with George" is billed as a comedy, drama and romance. Perhaps there was some insight in the promoters who didn't list it as a musical. It is a musical, but one that is very short on music and talent. The script for this play and film is very slow. The comedy is very little. And the music is sparse. The method used, of the painter set a little off-stage with the players on stage is so theater-bound as to be a distraction for film. It's one thing to go to a theater to see a live play, and another to see a story on film that should eliminate all the periphery. In live stage, it is part of the setting. In film, it's a distraction The story itself isn't that good or interesting. The talent is so-so. I enjoy Bernadette Peters as an actress. As a singer, she is mediocre. But musicals should have excellent singers. Alas, this production was an early indication that the days of truly great singers for films (and stage) had passed. Musicals since the last couple decades of the 20th century have had scores with jazzy numbers that tend to play over the vocals of the singers. So, better singers aren't as necessary. But this seems to create a type of artificial musical. No longer do we have films with glorious voices and songs that made up many of the grand musicals of the past. Are there no singers to replace Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand and their likes? Are there no new singing actresses to replace Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Doris Day, Mitzi Gaynor or Shirley Jones?There seem to be no male singers either to replace Gordon MacRea, Howard Keel, Nelson Eddy, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, or Bobby Darin. Nor are their modern song and dance talents the likes of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Ginger Rogers. This filmed stage production just is not my cup of tea. One suspects it plays to a very narrow audience. Unless one is used to live theater and less than great musical entertainment, this film isn't very likely to be very enjoyable.

The fine rhythm match Seurat's unique painting. And changing keys in the middle of piece express complex feeling of George or Dot. I think the music is perfect to this musical. We can be surprised at by many scenes, because the story gets on without giving us enough information about their relationship. That makes the musical more interesting. The script makes two talking coincide with each other. It is great. At first two talking have different words, but their words come to meet. Expressing two scenes on one stage at the same time is very difficult but the script makes it possible. There are many rhymes in both songs and lines. Especially during painting, he mumbles rhythmically. Of course the songs are rhymed too. The music, performance and story harmonize well. The musical was made many years ago. Now there is higher technology for musical so that we can CG. Though this musical uses simple devices, we can enjoy it very much. The wonderful direction, script, songs and actors make it a great musical.

Filmed by PBS television, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is one of the rare times that a play was filmed using its original cast. Composer Stephan Sondheim is one of the unarguable legends of musical theatre, and, overall, this is perhaps his most complex and personal play. The show brilliantly captures all of the romance and heartbreak that come with the creation of art, and includes some of Sondheim's most memorable songs (the side-splitting title song, "Color and Light," "We Do Not Belong Together," "Child and Art," "Putting It Together," and the absolutely stunning "Move On," just to name a few). In the lead roles, Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters are absolutely terrific, each playing dual roles flawlessly.The technical quality of PBS' presentation leaves something to be desired, with poor definition and even some shaky camera movements. Just having this theatrical milestone persevered on film, however, makes up for any such technical shortcomings. Highly recommended.

Sunday IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE was the first, if memory serves, Broadway musical based on a painting. This sensitive and moving look at the artist Georges Suerat, through his most famous work, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grand Jatte", was unlike anything Broadway had seen up to this point. Suerat serves as sort of a narrator and Greek chorus, as well as the main character, as James Lapine's smart book takes what little was known of the artist's life and fleshes out characters from the people in the painting. Broadway's most gifted composer, Stephen Sondheim, crafted a lilting and beautiful score filled with clever lyrics and lush melodies. Sondheim is the best lyricist in the theater because he writes as people talk, not as they sing. The first act follows the relationship between Suerat, electrically portrayed by Mandy Patinkin and his model/mistress Dot, the luminous Bernadette Peters, as their on again off again relationship is constantly challenged by his obsession with his work. The second act features Patinkin as Suerat's grandson and Peters as his grandmother as we see the modern sculptor struggling with a heredity he continues to deny until a fateful trip to the island where the original painting had been done. Director Terry Hughes has lovingly captured this intimate story on video and given us close-ups and sweeping camera shots that were not possible to experience seeing the show onstage, making the show even more personal and involving. Mandy Patinkin commands the stage as George with a stylish stage presence and magnificent singing voice that fills the theater as well as the television screen and is matched note for note by Peters, who makes Dot a tragic and fragile heroine and brings a lovely touch of humanity to the ditzy grandmother, Marie. It should be noted that at the time this was filmed, Ms. Peters was vocally and physically exhausted. She had already left this show and was in rehearsals for the show that would finally win her a Tony Award, SONG & DANCE. Some vocal strain can be noted with Peters, particularly in one unmerciful close-up where her voice just gives out on her, but Peters is a pro and delivers a performance of opening night quality. Though not for all tastes, Sunday IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a lush and lovely musical theater experience that all those with a passion for the genre should experience.