Comments on: Sunday Matineé: ‘Sunday in the Park with George’

By: BevfromNYC

BevfromNYC — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:39:33 +0000

Also, where painters' have an affinity for certain colors and shapes, composers have the same for certain chord progressions, tones, and rhythms. That's why you can identify a composer's work, like a painter's, even if you are not a scholar. If you listen closely you will hear the shadows of all Sondheim's musicals scattered throughout each of his works. Same for all the great composers. FYI – I just saw Mandy P. in concert with Patti Lupone this weekend and he is still fabulous. I haven't seen him live since Sunday In The Park With George.

By: AndrewPrice

AndrewPrice — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:57:31 +0000

Stage, that's an interesting take on the song — I didn't hear the song that way. Miller makes some good points, but he doesn't address the uplifting ending, when George finishes the hat. If it were about blame, I would have expected something a little more smug — "ok, I finished the hat, now I will give you my attention." Instead, George seems rather thrilled that he finally achieved his goal, and it sounds like he has regained his freedom.

By: AndrewPrice

AndrewPrice — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:50:20 +0000

Beauty and the Beast was pretty impressive, but I would have been surprised if it had won because it seems "too commercial" for an awards show.

By: AndrewPrice

AndrewPrice — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:48:56 +0000

I'm not in publishing, but it seems to me that you're putting together a pretty good book here about theater. Not only a history, but a little politics, a little behind the scenes, trivia, and analysis.

By: StageRight

StageRight — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:41:09 +0000

My brother lives in Chicago. Our family has a joke about that Chicago pride in this painting. When it first came out I sent him the cast recording and my Dad and I would go on and on about the show because we had seen it and gotten hooked on it. My brother would just look at us and say "Yeah, well I've seen the painting.". And from then on, when ever the show is mentioned, my brother will alwys chime in with "I've seen the painting!"

(By the way, I've seen it too, and until you stand before it you never really grasp the scale and accomplishment of it)

By: StageRight

StageRight — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:38:35 +0000

I hear ya Bev… but, to be fair, I think that in 1984 they may have already begun incorporating body mics on Broadway.

By: StageRight

StageRight — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:37:35 +0000

OK Bev… now for the real irony of your Disney part of the tale…. what show beat "Beauty and the Beast" for Best Musical? Sondheim and Lapine's "Passion", the epitome of dark, free-form, concept musicals. Broadway had come full circle!

By: StageRight

StageRight — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:35:38 +0000

A book….? Hmmmmm….. I'm listening……

By: BevfromNYC

BevfromNYC — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:39:17 +0000

Yes, but remember that there was backlash directed at Sondheim because he was changing the structure of the American Musical. His "musicals" were more operatic and dark. They didn't have the happy ending for the big Broadway musical. I remember the Herman camp and the Sondheim camp sparring. It was the same when Disney came along – the traditional Broadway camp and the new Disney camp – though nominated in almost every catagory, Beauty and the Beast won only one Tony's the year it premiered.

By: BevfromNYC

BevfromNYC — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:30:06 +0000

But in the original production, he was singing sans microphone. Way back in the day, singers could actually be heard in the back row and were trained to sing to the back row. Now, they all use microphones and it's just not the same. It always sounds canned to me.