Sunday in the Park With George (2006 London Revival Cast)
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Free Music Notes for Sunday in the Park With George (2006 London Revival Cast)
Free Music Review: Gem of a recording
Hit: 4 Stars
What a wonderful recording of a great show. First of all, I need to say that Sunday in the Park With George is one of my favorite musicals. The soundtrack by Mandy & Bernadette will always be at the top of my list. That said, this British Cast recording is still great. The show won more Olivier Awards (England's version of the Tony Awards) than any other production last year.
Comparisons to the Broadway Cast Album are necessary and inevitable. Because they're Brits, the characters speak/sing with various British accents--George is refined, Dot is northern working class, etc. This only adds to the charm. Since this is a two disk set, we get to hear more of the show this time, especially more of the dialog. The only negative is that the orchestrations are simpler than the original, and I sometimes miss the fuller sounds.
I've had this CD for over a year now and find myself listening to it even more than the New York recording thes days.
Free Music Review: FINE MEMENTO - BUT ORIGINAL CAST IS STRONGER
Hit: 4 Stars
As a record of by far the best production of this wonderful Sondheim show that I have seen, this is great. As a stand-alone record of the music, I'm afraid it's no match for the original New York cast recording. On stage, Daniel Evans really gives depth and humanity to the two rather unlikeable Georges and stops Act 2 becoming the anticlimax it can sometimes seem. His voice, though, doesn't have the strength, the range of colour, the breath control or the power of Mandy Patinkin. Too often one finds oneself wanting those sustained notes that Sondheim lays above his pointilliste orchestration held for longer, both by Evans and by the Dot of Jenna Russell. This is especially true of the two big emotional numbers, We Do Not Belong Together and Move On. And the emotionally crunching big descant on 'And the light' in the latter song, so powerful in Patinkin's slightly weird ultra-high tenor, goes for relatively little here.
The orchestration, too, feels a little thin compared to the New York recording. The small band worked well in the confined spaces of the Chocolate Factory, but already felt a bit light in the West End and seems even more so on disc. Most importantly, the distinct colour - the 'tinta', if you like - that Sondheim gives this score is provided by the French Horn (suggested by the bugler in the painting). There wasn't one in the theatre where the part was mostly played by a saxophone. Here it crops up occasionally, but sounds very much as if it's played from the keyboards.
For the rest of the cast, it is predictably a bit swings and roundabouts. Simon Green's Jules is excellent as is his wife. Jenna Russell's Dot is fine up to a point, but I remain unconvinced by the Northern accent. Bernadette Peters American seems less intrusive and her singing is more intense, more characterful. The one outstanding actor/singer here is Gay Soper who makes George's Mother's number, Beautiful, a revelation - intensely moving and an even more successful point of rest before the great Act 1 Finale.
On the plus side, this recording includes more dialogue than the Original Cast disc, giving one a better idea of the plot. And, of course, Sondheim's score is still one of his finest. The move through dissonant chords to consonant harmony as George says 'harmony' may sound literal, but it works. So too the use of pointilliste riffs and ostinati to reflect George's unique painting technique. And the sequence of songs from Finishing the Hat through We Do Not Belong Together and Beautiful to the magical final assembly of the elements of the painting in Sunday is unaccountably overwhelming. That's what makes Sondheim and this show so special.
This is a fine memento of a great production of Sunday in the Park. But the Original Cast album still remains the first choice.
Free Music Review: 'Sunday in the Park' becomes smaller, cooler, less involving
Hit: 3 Stars
This is miniaturized Sondheim, delivered with British coolness. Sunday in the Park with George was already scored for chamber orchestra, so I'm not sure it has benefitted by going even more on the skinny. A single violin and a couple of winds doesn't capture the composer's thrilling shifts into the major when George rhapsodizes about color, design, and HARMONY. Jenna Russell, who sings the part of Dot, Seurat's lover, has listened to Bernadette Peters in the role and delivers the compliment of imitating her. Usually that would be fatal, but Russell's mimicry of a great performance brings more life than does the flat-footed, prim rendition of George that we get from Daniel Evans. He's hardly passionate or visionary, two qualities Mandy Patinkin brought to the premiere.
Add to these deficits a music director who merely runs thourgh the score, and about all that's left is the virtue of completion. This revival offers more music than the original cast album. If that's of importance to you, the better course is to buy the DVD of the original version, whose visual wit is half the fun.
Free Music Review: thrilling new "Sunday"
Hit: 4 Stars
This is the cast album to the acclaimed 2005 Menier Chocolate Factory production of Sondheim's SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, and features a highly-talented cast bringing back to thrilling life one of Sondheim's most personal works, the tale of a man who cannot give himself totally to the woman he loves because of a commitment to art. The original Menier production was widely-acclaimed and transferred to London's West End this year.
The story takes what little is known of the life of Parisian artist Georges Seurat and weaves it into a story of life, loss and coming to know yourself. The first act follows George (played by Daniel Evans) as he paints the legendary "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte". His mistress and model Dot (Jenna Russell) attempts to pursue a relationship with George that goes beyond art. She is rejected and leaves for America with another man (and George's baby).
The second act of the show opens with George's great-grandson (again played by Evans), who's an artist struggling with his own inspiration. Dot's daughter Marie (also played by Russell) gently guides his hand, but it's only when George returns to the scene of his great-grandfather's masterwork that the past comes to reconcile with the future.
Of all Stephen Sondheim's scores, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is one of the most rewarding. Just as the story follows painter Georges Seurat as he paints the masterpiece "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", so too the music takes on the fragmented quality that reflects the frenetic, pointillism style of painting which Seurat pioneered.
Daniel Evans gives a fresh youth and vitality to George. For all those who were left cold by Mandy Patinkin (the role's originator on Broadway in 1984) with all his mannerisms and odd vocal techniques, having the role sung so pristinely and straight-forward is a real plus.
A lot of people have been quite unfair to Jenna Russell, playing the dual roles of Dot and Marie. It must be noted that at the time of this recording, Russell had not yet performed these roles onstage (she was a replacement for Anna-Jane Casey who had starred in the original Menier run), so she must be forgiven for having a lesser grasp on the material. Nevertheless, in the first act, she's a dynamic and feisty force as Dot, particularly "Everybody Loves Louis" and the wrenching "We Do Not Belong Together". For the role of Marie, Russell adopts a lilting Southern accent which works very well.
The supporting cast is first-rate; in particular Gay Soper shines as George's senile mother, and Liza Sadovy is a revelation playing the repressed Yvonne. The orchestrations are crisp and clean, further enhancing the pointillism motif that runs throughout the score.
[PS Classics/Image Entertainment 640]
Free Music Review: Sunday in the Park CD
Hit: 5 Stars
We just saw the production in London and had the opportunity to meet Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans. Their performances on the 2 CD set really capture the color and emotion that they brought to the stage. It has all the complexity that is typically Sondheim but Evans and Russell are superb as is the rest of the cast. We couldn't imagine Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters being any better. Their British accents add to the flavor, and the orchestration is brilliant. If you like Sondheim or this show, this 2 CD set is well worth the investment.