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Sunday In the Park With George
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
At Menier Chocolate Factory
51/53 Southwark street, London SE1
Directed by Sam Buntrock
Musical Director Caroline Humphries
Set & costume design by David Farley
Lighting design by Natasha Chivers & Mike Robertson
Call +44 (0) 20 7907 7060 Tickets £14 - £22.50
Tues – Sat 8.00pm; Sun Mat 3.30pm Sun 6.00pm
Running time 2 hours with intermission
Through 19 February 2006
Just a dab here and a dab there
If you’re sitting for an artist, do you wish to be his creation, or merely in his creation? Does he materialise you in his own perception? Is your own soul being captured and used for his design? Come and find out in this extraordinary and captivating production.
The audience found itself in the middle of a painting in progress, the ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte’, by pointillist artist, George Seurat. There was a sense that anyone might be plucked and used in the grand design. The harmony in the work of director, Sam Buntrock, designer, David Farely, video animator Timothy Bird and lighting designers Natasha Chivers and Mike Robertson produced a perfect Sondheim canvas.
As Seurat arranged his subjects (Sondheim’s characters) the story of his obsessive relationship with his meticulous and miraculous painting process develops, while his awkward relationship with one of his subjects, Dot, does not. So much so, that when Dot revealed her pregnancy, it seemed to come as much a surprise to George as it was to me. Daniel Evans, as George, despite a committed intensity in his playing, never betrayed the capacity to be the lover. Anna Jane Casey was equally driven as Dot and later, most convincingly and delicately, as Marie. There were attractive cameos from Ian McLarnon as Louis/Billy Webster, Steven Kynman as Franz/Lee Randolph and Anna Lowe as Freida/Betty.
Now add Sondheim’s evocative music, some expert singing, and super nonsense lyrics: ‘Mama was funny, Mama was fun, Mama spent money when she had none’, and the multi-dimensional, living painting was almost there. George’s arrangement of his subjects into the shapes he wanted was an especially delightful director’s touch, and some marvellous tableaux almost completed the illusion of a parallel world. Some stylish company choreography might have finished the job.
A pleasure to watch and to listen to.
Highly Recommended
Saul Reichlin
London Correspondent
www.ChicagoCritic.com
Chicago Stage Talk Radio
Saturday 10 Dec 2005
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