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Don't think a musical about creative power and expression can lend itself to character or plot development? Perhaps the subject matter's a trifle abstruse for theatrical success? Then watch Sunday In the Park With George and discover the tenderness, the passion, the frustration and achievement felt by us all, as we struggle to define and fulfill our roles in the mandala Circle of Life.
Sunday contains some of the most haunting melodies ever heard in a theatre. The most fundamental musical motif is simply two lush chords spaced a major second apart, with the sweetest, simplest five-note line adorning their elegant elegy overhead. The andante finale to both acts, based on four simple quarter-note piano triads alternating with four suspended-fourth chords, slowly builds and swells the stage with passion and commitment, reminding us that even in our hopelessly confused and disappointing lives we occasionally stumble into, and create, greatness.
I can't imagine a stronger cast than this particular production featuring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters in the two lead roles, each playing two related characters roughly 100 years apart. Every move, every grimace and grin, every one of their pianissimo eighth-note whispers invites us to experience the difficulties of their lives, the transitory joys of their souls, and ultimately the inevitable peace derived from acceptance and surrender to the fecund "force that through the green fuse drives the flower," as Dylan Thomas put it.
What's finally important? We learn it comes down to only two fundamentals: "Children and Art." But how to define "art?" We also learn, "Work is what you do for others, Art is what you do for yourself." In the end, "Anything you do / Let it come from you / Then it will be new / Give us more to see �."
The first time I watched Sunday a few years ago I found a typically-Sondheimian melodic challenge, with too with characters singing over one another, jarring chromatic digressions and a contrived parallel plotline between Georges Seaurat, obscure 19th-century painter, and his great-grandson, a frustrated contemporary performance artist / inventor / sculptor.
What changed my mind? Why do I now consider Sunday to rank among the most moving experiences of my life?
I grew up. The fault, dear Brutus, was not within the play, but within me. Sunday is not for everyone -- if your idea of entertainment is a vapid WB sitcom, ya may not hanker to being forced to think, to ponder, to feel. But if you're sick of artistic dessert and feel the need for a little meat for your soul, run to the nearest production of Sunday In the Park With George. It's one of the greatest achievements of indisputably the greatest living theatrical composer .
NOTE: This is a Bravo presentation of a taped theatrical performance - may not be available at all video outlets.