{"id":48643,"date":"2017-10-14T17:17:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T21:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=48643"},"modified":"2017-10-16T22:01:23","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T02:01:23","slug":"muhlenberg-presents-sondheims-sunday-park-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=48643","title":{"rendered":"Muhlenberg presents Sondheim’s ‘Sunday in the Park with George’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sondheim\u2019s \u2018Sunday in the Park\u00a0<\/strong>with George\u2019 offers a glimpse\u00a0<\/strong>into complicated lives of artists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pulitzer Prize-winning musical based on Seurat\u2019s famous pointillist landscape plays Oct. 27 \u2013 Nov. 5<\/span> at Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance<\/em><\/p>\n

Allentown, PA (Oct. 12, 2017) \u2014 \u201cSunday<\/span> in the Park with George,\u201d Stephen Sondheim\u2019s rarely produced musical about art and artists, based on a famous painting by Georges Seurat, opens Oct. 27<\/span> on the Muhlenberg College stage. Winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, \u201cSunday<\/span> in the Park\u201d is \u201cperhaps the most intimate and personal work of Sondheim\u2019s career,\u201d says director James Peck.<\/p>\n

The show runs Oct. 27 through Nov. 5<\/span> in the college\u2019s Empie Theatre. Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics; James Lapine wrote the book. Tickets and information are available at muhlenberg.edu\/theatre<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis musical, I think, is one of Sondheim\u2019s masterworks,\u201d Peck says, \u201ctruly one of the great musicals of the last 30 to 40 years. It looks at the lives of great artists, and artists who are trying to be great, and asks whether they can maintain the rigor and intensity that great art demands without destroying everything else in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cSunday<\/span> in the Park,\u201d two artists, a century apart, strive to realize their artistic vision and create something new, without losing hold of the people they love. The first is Georges Seurat (1859-1891), a French post-Impressionist painter who pioneered the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism, using the science of color to evoke qualities of light and harmony. The second is Seurat\u2019s fictional great-grandson, a 20th century artist who builds innovative sculptures \u2014 he calls them Chromolumes \u2014 that project images and light.<\/p>\n

In the first act, Seurat works feverishly to complete his now-famous \u201cSunday<\/span> Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte,\u201d painting obsessively and long into the night. His neighbors and colleagues are variously suspicious and concerned \u2014 and Dot, his model and mistress, struggles to be noticed beneath the hat with which he is obsessed.<\/p>\n

In the second act \u2014 set 100 years later, in the 1980s \u2014 Seurat and Dot\u2019s great-grandson, also named George, unveils his \u201cChromolume #7.\u201d The invention is an artistic response to the \u201cSunday<\/span> Afternoon\u201d painting; it\u2019s innovative and spectacular, but George is dissatisfied. He yearns to move forward but feels disconnected and adrift.<\/p>\n

\u201cSondheim celebrates the magical, impossible, excruciating, beautiful creative process,\u201d Peck says. \u201cAct-One George creates great art, but in service to great art he does tremendous damage to the people he loves. Act-Two George is more socially skilled and has figured out how to have a life \u2014 but he feels like he doesn\u2019t have that deep connection to his creative process. Like he says: \u2018Art isn\u2019t easy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s musical score reflects Seurat\u2019s pointillist style, Peck says, with unusual harmonics and staccato instrumental and vocal rhythms. The orchestra often offers more of a counterpoint to the singers than harmonic support. It features eleven instruments \u2014 paralleling the eleven colors that Seurat used to make \u201cSunday<\/span> Afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed Bara, a veteran of numerous Muhlenberg productions, serves as musical director and orchestra conductor.<\/p>\n

The score includes some of the most beloved songs among Sondheim aficionados, including \u201cMove On,\u201d \u201cFinishing the Hat,\u201d and \u201cChildren and Art.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the lead roles, the show features two seniors whom Lehigh Valley theatergoers may recognize. Evan Brooks played Woof in this summer\u2019s production of \u201cHair\u201d and Stephen Dedalus in last spring\u2019s \u201cUlysses in Nighttown.\u201d In \u201cSunday<\/span> in the Park,\u201d he plays both Georges: Seurat and his 20th century great-grandson. Kelly Shannon played Ruth, the Pirate Maid, in last fall\u2019s \u201cPirates of Penzance.\u201d In the first act, she plays Dot, Seurat\u2019s model and mistress. In the second, she will age about 80 years to play Marie, Dot and Seurat\u2019s daughter, who is the modern-day George\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvan and Kelly are both great musicians, and their vocal blend is spectacular,\u201d Peck says. \u201cKelly is funny and charismatic, with spunk and a kind of gritty determination. Evan is just a beautiful soul of a person; he has an innate understanding of the sensitivity the role requires.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parts were made famous in the original production by Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, both in their 30s at the time \u2014 as was Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in the recent Broadway revival. Historically, though, the characters were closer in age to Brooks and Shannon. Seurat was just 26 when he finished the painting; his common-law wife, upon whom Dot is loosely based, was even younger.<\/p>\n

Visually, the first act of \u201cSunday<\/span> in the Park with George\u201d occupies a complicated space that\u2019s partly George\u2019s studio, partly the park itself, partly the two-dimensional world of the painting, and partly the mind of the artist, as he transforms what he sees into the familiar image of a masterpiece. To create this multi-layered universe, Muhlenberg has turned to veteran scenic designer Curtis Dretsch, New York costume designer Matt Riley, and veteran lighting designer Susan Hamburger, who has designed the lights for numerous Muhlenberg dance concerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be visually sumptuous,\u201d Peck says. \u201cThe challenge is to capture the world of the painting and the unusual dimensionality of the play \u2014\u00a0the way in which George lives both in the real world and in this two-dimensional representation of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second act presents its own challenges \u2014 how to represent George\u2019s \u201cChromolume #7\u201d in a way that does justice to the character\u2019s artistic abilities and also serves the play. Peck prefers to leave the Chromolume a secret for now, but he does say that the moment takes advantage of the unique qualities of the Empie Theatre \u2014 it\u2019s huge white walls and cavernous auditorium space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe show has been on my to-do list for quite a long time,\u201d Peck says. \u201cIt is rarely produced, because it\u2019s extremely challenging \u2014\u00a0the music, the acting, the scenery all present their challenges. Of course, it resonates for me as an artist. I can\u2019t wait to see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSunday<\/span> in the Park with George\u201d will be performed in the Empie Theatre, in the Baker Center for the Performing Arts. Performances are Friday, Oct. 27, 8 p.m.<\/span>; Saturday, Oct. 28<\/span>, 2& 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 29, 2 p.m.<\/span>; Nov. 2-4<\/span>, 8 p.m.<\/span>; and Sunday, Nov. 5, 2 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aside from the two lead roles, the show will feature alternating casts of performers. A schedule indicating which cast appears in which performances is posted on the Theatre & Dance website.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Nov. 5<\/span>, will be an Accessible Performance<\/strong>, with Open Captioning for patrons with hearing loss and Audio Description for patrons who are blind or low vision. Please reserve tickets in advance for the accessible section of the performance by calling Jess Bien at 484-664-3087<\/a> or emailing boxoffice@muhlenberg.edu.<\/p>\n

Tickets are $22. Youth and student tickets are $8. Groups of 15 or more can purchase discount tickets for $16. Tickets and information are available at muhlenberg.edu\/theatre<\/a> or 484-664-3333<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is a highly selective, private, four-year residential college located in Allentown, PA., approximately 90 miles west of New York City. With an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, sciences, business, education and public health. A member of the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg competes in 22 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.<\/em><\/p>\n

Muhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg\u2019s theater program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theater and dance. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Information Provided By:
\nScott Snyder
\nMarketing & Development Manager
\nDepartment of Theatre & Dance
\nMuhlenberg College
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