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Sunday in the Park with George Review
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The show opens absorbingly. The graphics used in the production are state of the art, and are designed by Timothy Bird and the Knifedge Network. They solicited “oohs” and “aahs” from a packed house. I’d never seen the like before in a theatre. Did the innovativeness and ingenuity of the technology guarantee a smash hit? Read on!
The 5th Avenue Theatre’s latest production “Sunday in the Park with George” has a little something in it to delight everyone with the possible exception of any notable plot. The George in question is Georges-Pierre Seurat, a French neo-impressionist, and “Sunday” focuses in particular on one painting that he did, ‘Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’, which is credited with having altered the direction of modern art by initiating Neo-impressionism. Seurat was only 26 when he first showed the work at the eighth annual and final Impressionist exhibition in 1886. The painting is accepted as being one of the cultural icons of 19th century painting. But that doesn’t guarantee a great musical.
The tunes are fairly non-descript and the story line slower than the interminable walk in the park that Seurat paints but that is not what this production sets out to do. It doesn’t tell the man’s life story. He died at 31 and the first half of this show is set around the time he is painting “La Grande Jatte”. The other characters are patrons of the park who may be personally acquainted with Seurat or may not. But nevertheless, he’s painting them and they sit still on the stage punctuated with periods of them coming to life, rather cleverly duplicating the aim of an artist.
The second half of the show takes place in the 1980s where a machine called the Chromolume is part of an art display. It is supposed to be loosely based on Seurat’s theories of light as expounded in Part 1. Descendants of the characters in the opening scenes and others are gathered at an exhibition. This provides a neat showcase for more fantastic optical effects but, perhaps because the element of surprise is lost, they don’t quite shock and delight the audience on the scale of the scene immediately following the opening curtain. Nonetheless, they do succeed in transporting the audience with them, and are creatively used.
Everything about this painting was on a grand scale. It measure 6’8” by 10’10” and contained a cast of 48 people, all Sunday loungers in the Parisian park after which the picture is named. There was a mixture of soldiers, lovers, boaters, the young, the old and even animals – dogs and bizarrely monkeys.
The technique was revolutionary. Instead of celebrating Impressionist ideals such as spontaneity, improvisation and movement, “La Grande Jatte’ was seen as a proponent of rationality and science. As such, it was deemed anti-Impressionist to its core. The painting now hangs in the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago where it has been on show since 1926.
Hugh Panaro does a fine job of portraying the priggish, self-obsessed, frustrated but likeable painter whose frustration stems around the inability of his models to pose and of his agent to appreciate. He doesn’t quite rage against the rest of the world, but only because Panaro plays him carefully and with discipline. He looks positively Linconesque with his beard and if you’ve ever seen John Malcovitch in the film “Klimt”, you may appreciate just how easy it is to play the role of angry artist badly. Panaro avoided many pitfalls including the cardinal one of not allowing his colleagues their moment to shine.
Shiniest of all was Billie Wildrick as Dot, Seurat’s Mistress. Giving her absolute all, battling through some very difficult numbers including “Sunday in the Park with George”, Wildrick managed to make her diction understandable in the hall while not being half-hearted with either the difficult pace or sequence of notes. It’s hard to find a new way to play the archetypal ‘woman ignored by genius lover’ role and thankfully, with all the innovation around them, the direction didn’t take risks in the search for something novel just for the sake of it. Sometime you have to commend safe choices as well as brave ones. This is a good case.
The rest of the cast are supportive and given the eccentric personalities of their characters all manage to avoid overacting, which is a relief because if just one had opted to do so, it would have upset the balance of the play. However I did enjoy the performance of Patti Cohenour as Yvonne in the first half and Naomi Eisen, a composer in the second. Lastly it is always a delight to see Keaton Whittaker on our Seattle stages as a delightfully playful child. She will alternate with Lauren Carlos in the role of Louise, a pesky but playful child!
In the end, 5th has taken on a tough ask to put on “Sunday in the Park with George”. Bereft of any catchy numbers like Cabaret, or amusing one liners like Drowsy Chaperone, “Sunday” relies on the ability of the actors and the technical effects to be its strengths. It has to be said that both are exemplary and those responsible can be proud of their work.
For more info: www.5thavenue.org/show/SundayintheParkwithGeorge0809/sundaysite/index.html
Photos: Top: Nurse (Anne Allgood, back to camera), the Old Lady (Carol Swarbrick, left, seated), Louise (Lauren Carlos) and Yvonne (Patti Cohenour), Celeste 1 (Amanda Paulson, seated) and Celeste 2 (Krista Severeid, seated), and Louis (Chad Jenning, standing) - Chris Bennion
Bottom: George (Hugh Panaro) exhibits his newest work, "The Bathers" (Lauren Carlos left, Chad Jennings middle, Matt Owen right) - Chris Bennion
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