A masterpiece comes to life

In 1884, a twenty-five year old French Impressionist named Georges Seurat began work on A Sunday on La
Grande Jatte, an idyllic park scene that would eventually become an icon of late 19th century painting.

Sunday in the Park with George is a joyous musical theatre retelling of a visionary artist’s creative process.
Seurat’s much-loved painting comes to life, revealing the lives and loves of its subjects, and exploring the ‘art
of making art’ across generations, from 19th century Paris to 20th century Chicago.

Following its Broadway opening, legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein declared it ‘brilliant’. A year later
Sunday in the Park with George won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Sunday in the Park with George | Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
20 – 27 July Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Book by James Lapine.

Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine. Originally Produced on Broadway by The Shubert Organisation and Emanuel
Azenberg.

By arrangement with Playwrights Horizon, Inc. New York City which produced the original production of Sunday In The Park with
George in 1983.

By arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd Exclusive agent for Music Theatre International (NY).

To gain the most of your opera experience it is highly recommended to study the work, discover its
inspiration, learn about the composers and explore the main themes. The following educational resources
will provide you with information about the work, what to expect during your opera experience and post
opera reflection. Most of the information is included here in the pre-visit exploration section can be re-visited
during and after the opera experience. Visit our interactive Wall online for historical facts, behind-the-scenes,
photographs and more!

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
‘White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge. Bring order to the whole through
design…composition…balance…light…order…and harmony.’
Sunday in the Park with George

In the opening to the show, the main character Georges Seurat speaks these words and magically a blank
stage is populated with the characters of his painting. In many ways the experience you will have seeing
Sunday in the Park with George will be similar to these words. The audience can only fill the blank canvas
that is the stage when they actually experience the production; their presence ensures the theatre’s reality. As
students of Theatre Studies you will also need to consider how ‘design’ and ‘composition’ work, discuss
‘balance, ‘light’, and ‘order’ of characterisation and stagecraft, and find a point of ‘harmony’ in your
decisions about the intended meaning of the performance. These opening words have great resonance.

Sunday in the Park with George is a musical. Importantly, it is a Stephen Sondheim musical. This means that
it offers both challenges and opportunities to the performers and the audience, but particularly to those who
are studying it for Theatre Studies Unit 4. In musicals, it is the music and the songs that drive the narrative
and express the motivations of the main characters. In analysing and evaluating the production, the
realisation of characters and the characters’ journeys, the type and the positioning of songs, and the music
you hear is all very important.

These education notes serve to act as an

introduction the Victorian Opera’s production of
Sunday in the Park with George. They provide a
background to the artist who inspired the musical,
Georges Seurat and the world which inspired his
artistic style. They provide insight into the musical’s
creator, Stephen Sondheim, and his librettist, James
Lapin. Finally, the notes offer a way to focus your
study according to the Key Knowledge and the Key
Skills of the Outcome. Not the way…just one way.
You are encouraged to find your own meaning. Figure 1: Christina O'Neill (Dot) © Martin Philbey

Creatives Cast
Conductor George Louise/Boy
Phoebe Briggs Alexander Lewis Monique Heath/Emily Chessum
Director Dot/Marie Franz/Mr. - an American
Stuart Maunder Christina O'Neill couple/Dennis
Set & Costume Designer an Old Lady/Blair Daniels Lyall Brooks
Anna Cordingley Nancye Hayes Frieda/Betty
Lighting Designer Nurse/Mrs. an American Noni McCallum
Niklas Pajanti couple/Harriet Pawling Soilder/Alex
Sound Designer Dimity Shepherd Matthew McFarlane
Jim Atkins Jules/Bob Greenberg Trumpeter/Lee Randolph
David Rogers-Smith Jeremy Kleeman
Yvonne/Naomi Eisen Louis/Billy Webster
Antoinette Halloran Nathan Lay
Boatman/Charles Redman Young Man/Photographer
John Brunato Kirilie Blythman
Celeste #1/Waitress Man lying on bank/Museum
Olivia Cranwell Assistant
Celeste #2/Elaine Daniel Todd
Orchestra Victoria Carrie Barr

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Characters
In Sunday in the Park with George the performers play one character in Act 1 and another in Act 2. This is
called ‘doubling’. The following list of characters indicates the fifteen roles required in both acts of the show.
This is a large cast and as a class, you may like to allocate the ‘study’ of particular characters to different
people.

Act I (1884)
George, an artist
Dot, the mistress of George, and his model
Jules, another artist
Yvonne, his wife
Old Lady, George's mother
Nurse, the nurse of the Old Lady
Celeste #1, a shop girl
Celeste #2, another shop girl
A Soldier
A Boatman
Franz, coachman to Jules and Yvonne
Frieda, cook for Jules and Yvonne and wife to Franz
Louise, the little daughter of Jules and Yvonne
Mr & Mrs, an American couple (NB: in the Broadway, the Nurse doubled as ‘Mrs’)
Louis, a baker and Dot's husband-to-be

Act II (1984) Doubling (original production)

George, an artist (George)
Dot, the mistress of George, appearing as a vision (Dot)
Marie, George's grandmother (Dot)
Bob Greenberg, the museum director (Jules)
Dennis, a technician (Franz)
Naomi Eisen, a composer (Yvonne)
Elaine, George's former wife (Celeste #2)
Harriet Pawling, a board member of the museum (Nurse/Mrs)
Billy Webster, her friend (Louis)
Charles Redmond, a visiting curator from Texas (Boatman)
Alex, an artist (Soldier)
Betty, another artist (Frieda)
Lee Randolph, the museum's publicist (Mr)
Waitress (Celeste# 1)
Blair Daniels, an art critic (Old Lady)

Musical Numbers
The musical includes eighteen different songs that integrate with the dialogue to create the overall narrative.
Below is a list of the songs in the order they are sung. However, unlike other musicals, Sondheim structures
his musicals quite differently. Some songs begin and then are interrupted with dialogue, the appearance of
another character, or a character creating an ‘aside’. The very first musical number is a good example, and
there are others throughout. It is a good example of how integral the music and song work as part of the
narrative structure.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Musical Numbers (Cont.)
Act I
"Sunday in the Park with George" – Georges & Dot
"No Life" – Jules, Yvonne
"Colour and Light" – Dot, Georges
"Gossip" – Celeste #1, Celeste #2, Boatman, Nurse, Old Lady, Jules, Yvonne
"The Day Off" – Company
"Everybody Loves Louis" – Dot
"The One on the Left" – Soldier, Celeste #1, Celeste #2, Georges
"Finishing the Hat" – Georges
"We Do Not Belong Together" – Dot, Georges
"Beautiful" – Old Lady, Georges
"Sunday" – Company

Act II
“It’s Hot up Here” Company
“Chromolume #7” – Orchestra
“Putting it together” – Company
“Children and Art” – Marie
“Lesson #8” – George
“Move On” – George, Dot
“Sunday (reprise) – Company

Songs in musical theatre

In musical theatre the key to successful songs is how well lyrics and music work together. Songs may
function dramatically in several ways, a primary one being to define character. Within the genre of
musical theatre such character songs serve a number of functions.

Character songs
‘I am’ songs
Because musicals are by nature ‘presentational’ characters may introduce themselves directly to the
audience through ‘I am’ songs. ‘I am’ songs can also allow characters to express feely how they are
feeling at that moment, for example Maria’s ‘I feel Pretty’ in West Side Story, and sometimes
characters discover something about themselves in an ‘I am’ song. Besides defining oneself and
providing moments of self-revelation through these types of songs, characters may also assert
themselves against a challenge.

‘I want’ songs
Where ‘I am’ songs describe a present state, ‘I want’ songs suggest a course of action for the
future. Characters often express their goals and dreams through these types of songs. For example,
in Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye dreams of wealth in ‘If I were a rich man’. Some characters may also
use these songs to say what they ‘don’t want’.

Reprises
Often a song will occur again in the musical as a ‘reprise’ which can be used effectively to reveal
how a character has developed during the story. An effective reprise which functions dramatically
reveals the development of character since the last time it was sung. The lyrics may reflect a change
in the character’s attitude or self-awareness, or they may indicate a change in situation.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Reprises (cont.)
In West Side Story Tony and Maria reprise their romantic ballad ‘Tonight’ but now it is the night of
the gang’s street fight and it takes on a new meaning.

Emotional climax songs

When characters read a point in the drama where they can’t help but explode with feelings or love
or success or simply the joy of live, music serves to amplify these emotions to a level above mere
words. Emotional climax songs are exuberant, celebratory and infectious, allowing the audience to
share the character’s passion and excitement.

Songs that tell the story

Exposition songs
Because songs take up time reserved for dialogue in the play, musicals must move quickly to
establish the dramatic situation, introduce the main characters, and give audiences some reason to
care about them. Exposition songs inform an audience what has happened and what may have
brought the characters to this point in the action. They may also preview the themes of the story.

Conflict songs
At the heart of every drama lies conflict. Some of the most interesting and exciting songs in Musical
Theatre involve conflict, when characters struggle.

Narration songs
Narration songs describe events that we otherwise may not see, what has happened off stage for
instance.

Summary songs
Similar to narration songs, summary songs compress lengthy amounts of time into one song.

Songs with special functions

Comment songs
A character not in the dramatic scene may step to one side and sing about events on stage.
Stephen Sondheim uses this device in several of his musicals including Company and A Little Night
Music.

Musical metaphors
These songs take advantage of the unique qualities of musical theatre to portray a situation in
presentational, non-literal fashion. Much of Sunday in the Park with George is non-literal and acts
metaphorically.

Cameo songs
Cameo songs feature a minor character in a memorable number, someone who otherwise might be
forgotten. A good cameo song defines a minor character quickly and effectively as well as giving a
performer in a small role time in the spotlight

Parodies: These rely on an audience’s familiarity with music that is not in the show they are
watching but is used to evoke an appropriate mood. For example, Dot’s ‘Follies’ moment in Sunday
in the Park with George. Source: Songs in Musical Theatre.1

1
Spurrier, James. The Integration of Music and Lyrics with the Book in the American Musical. Ph.D. dissertation, Southern Illinois U, 1979.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
 Using the above descriptions as a guide, identify which ‘type’ of song style might apply to the
following:
 Colour & Light – Dot and George, in George’s studio, Act 1
 The One on the Left – Soldier, the Celeste’s and Georges, in the park, Act 1
 We do not Belong Together – Dot and George in George’s studio, near end of Act 1
 Putting it Together – Company in the Chicago art gallery, 1984 Chicago art gallery
 Lesson #8 – George, in Paris in the park with Dot’s book in 1984

Sunday in the Park with George

The musical is in two acts that span one hundred years. The first act is staged in Paris in 1884. The second
act begins in 1891, the year Georges Seurat died, and then flashes forward to Chicago, 1984. The
following synopsis includes the positioning of the songs, as indicated by the inverted commas.

Act I
In 1884, Georges Seurat, known as George in the musical, is sketching studies for his famous painting, A
Sunday on La Grande Jatte. His mistress, Dot, models for him despite her frustrations - Sunday in the Park
with George. Meanwhile an Old Lady and her Nurse discuss how Paris is changing to accommodate a
tower for the International Exposition – The Eiffel Tower.
The setting then abruptly changes to an art gallery, where Seurat's first painting is on display Bathers at
Asnières. Jules (a more successful artist friend of George's) and his wife Yvonne think George's work has "No
Life". Back on the island, Jules and Yvonne have a short discussion with George and depart. They take their
coachman Franz with them, interrupting Franz's rendezvous with the Nurse. In George's studio he works on
his painting while Dot prepares for their date at the Follies -"Colour and Light". In the end George chooses
to continue painting instead, which greatly upsets Dot.
Back in the park George sketches a grumpy Boatman. Dot enters on the arm of Louis, a baker. Two chatting
shop girls, both named Celeste, notice Dot with a new man -"Gossip". George sketches two dogs while
whimsically trying to imagine the world from their perspective - "The Day Off". Jules and Yvonne enter during
the song and mock the unconventional nature of George's art. They protest an initiative to have his work
included in the next group show. The two Celeste’s try to attract the attention of a handsome Soldier and his
companion; Franz and his wife Frieda argue with Jules and Yvonne's daughter, Louise; Jules returns to
further lecture George on his shortcomings as an artist; the Boatman reappears to rebuke the condescending
attitude of artists. Dot misses George, but feels justified in having chosen Louis instead - "Everybody Loves
Louis". The two Celeste’s fight over the more handsome of the two soldiers - "The One on the Left".
As the park empties for the evening, George returns. He misses Dot and laments that his art has alienated
him from those important to him, but resigns himself to the likelihood that creative fulfilment may always take
precedence, for him, over personal happiness - "Finishing the Hat".
At the studio Dot tells George that she is pregnant by him but that she and the baker, Louis are getting
married and leaving for America. She asks for a painting George made of her ‘Young Woman Powdering
Herself’ (1888) but he refuses and tells her he has painted over it with a new model. Jules and Yvonne come
to the studio and the conversation is interrupted. Yvonne and Dot talk about the difficulties of trying to
maintain a romantic relationship with an artist, while Jules and George discuss George's painting in
progress.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Jules is puzzled by George's new technique, and concerned that George's obsession with his work is
alienating him from his fellow artists and collectors alike. Jules and Yvonne leave, and Dot and George
argue bitterly about their failed relationship, concluding sadly that - "We Do Not Belong Together".
In the park George and his mother, the Old Lady, reminisce about George’s childhood and his father -
"Beautiful". The Celeste’s and the Soldier argue over their respective break-ups while Jules and Frieda enter
to have a clandestine affair in the park. Louise informs her mother, Yvonne, of her father's infidelity and a
fight breaks out between Jules, Yvonne, Franz, and Frieda. While this conflict develops the Celeste’s and the
Soldier squabble noisily. Soon all the park-goers are fighting furiously, until the Old Lady shouts,
"Remember, George!" George takes control of the subjects of his painting, who sing in harmony "Sunday".
George transforms all of the people into the final tableau of his finished painting.
Act II
As the curtain opens the characters – still in the tableau – complain about being stuck in the painting - "It's
Hot Up Here". The characters then deliver short eulogies for George, who died suddenly at age 31 in 1891.
The action fast-forwards one hundred years to 1984. George and Dot's great-grandson, also named
George and also a struggling artist, is at a museum unveiling his latest work: a colour and light machine
called - "Chromolume #7", an artistic reflection on the painting from the first act A Sunday on La Grande
Jatte. Marie, the daughter of George and Dot, and grandmother to this George, helps with the presentation.
At a reception various patrons and curators congratulate George on his work while George comments about
the difficulties of producing modern art - "Putting It Together". After the museum's patrons have left Marie
contemplates her legacy - "Children and Art".
Weeks later, Marie has died and George has been invited by the French government to do a presentation of
the Chromolume on the island where the painting was made. On the island George reads from a book he
got from his grandmother – the same book Dot used to learn to read – and ponders the similarities between
himself and his great-grandfather - "Lesson #8". A vision of Dot appears and she discusses 'her' book with
George. Dot tells George to stop worrying about his critics - "Move On". George finds some words written in
the back of the book – the words Georges Seurat often muttered while he worked. As George reads them
aloud the characters from the painting fill the stage and recreate their tableau "Sunday". As they leave and
the stage resembles a blank canvas, George reads: "White: a blank page or canvas. His favourite – so many
possibilities."

Seurat’s Artistic Style

Georges Seurat was a 19th Century French impressionist painter
and draftsman. In 1884, at twenty-five Georges Seurat, began
work on A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, an idyllic park scene that
would eventually become an icon of late 19th century painting.

‘White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge.

Bring order to the whole through
design…composition…balance…light…order…and
harmony.’ Sunday in the Park with George

Seurat is credited with developing an impressionist style known as

Pointillism. Seurat created his art using small, distinct dots of
pure colour applied in patterns to form an image. The form was Figure 2: Georges Seurat
also variously called Divisionism and Chromoluminarism and
became the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting,
defined by the separation of colours into individual dots or patches that interacted optically. Georges
Seurat founded the style by drawing from his understanding of scientific theories from the time.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Seurat took to heart the colour theorists' notion of a scientific approach to painting. He believed that a
painter could use colour to create harmony and emotion in art in the same way that a musician
uses counterpoint and variation to create harmony in music. He theorized that the scientific application of
colour was like any other natural law, and he was driven to prove this conjecture. He thought that the
knowledge of perception and optical laws could be used to create a new language of art based on its own
set of heuristics and he set out to show this language using lines, colour intensity and colour schema. Seurat
called this language Chromoluminarism.
In a letter to Maurice Beaubourg in 1890
he wrote:
‘Art is Harmony. Harmony is the
analogy of the contrary and of similar
elements of tone, of colour and of line,
considered according to their
dominance and under the influence of
light, in gay, calm or sad
combinations.’
Seurat's theories can be summarized as
follows: The emotion of gaiety can be
achieved by the domination of luminous
hues, by the “predominance of warm
colours, and by the use of lines directed
Figure 3: Georges Seurat, French, 1859-1891, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- upward. Calm is achieved through an
1884, 1884–86, Oil on canvas, 81 3/4 x 121 1/4 in. (207.5 x 308.1 cm), Helen
Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.224, The Art Institute of Chicago.
equivalence/balance of the use of the light
Photography © The Art Institute of Chicago. and the dark, by the balance of warm and
cold colours, and by lines that are
horizontal. Sadness is achieved by using dark and cold colours and by lines pointing downward.”
Source: Georges Seurat.2 View online
In divisionism colour theory, artists interpreted the scientific literature through making light operate in one of
the following contexts
 Local colour: As the dominant element of the painting, local colour refers to the true colour of
subjects, e.g. green grass or blue sky.
 Direct sunlight: As appropriate, yellow-orange colours representing the sun’s action would be
interspersed with the natural colours to emulate the effect of direct sunlight.
 Shadow: If lighting is only indirect, various other colours, such as blues, reds and purples, can be
used to simulate the darkness and shadows.
 Reflected light: An object which is adjacent to another in a painting could cast reflected colours onto
it.
 Contrast: To take advantage of Chevreul’s theory of simultaneous contrast, contrasting colours might
be placed in close proximity. Source: Divisionism3. View online

 Consider carefully how Seurat’s artistic style is reflected in the musical

 Consider how the staging and themes of the performance relate to Seurat’s work on the science of
‘pointillism’

2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisionism

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Inside Sunday in the Park with George
The following extracts are drawn from a very comprehensive essay on the musical George by Scott Miller.
The full essay can be found at online here.

Sunday in the Park with George sits precariously on the edge between traditional plot-driven musicals and
the concept musicals developed mostly by Stephen Sondheim and director Hal Prince. Like concept
musicals, Sunday explores an idea more than telling a story, and yet it does still tell a story. The difference is
that the exposition and conflicts are established in the 1880s but the resolution comes a hundred years later
to a protagonist who is a different man and yet the same…

Sunday in the Park with George does

on stage what Seurat's painting does
on canvas - catch people in the midst
of living their lives, but in a formal, un-
naturalistic style. The musical just sits
back and watches people come and
go, being lazy or combative, happy or
otherwise, and because we only get
snippets of most of these characters'
lives, we don't get resolution to their
many problems. Like the hundreds of
people we each encounter every day
without really knowing them, most of
the characters in the show just pass
through this park, but in this case they
are frozen there for all time, caught
not all at one moment but at many Figure 4: Landscape with dog: study for 'La Grande 1884 Jatte' , 1884, Georges Seurat
moments at once…

One of the interesting things about the show is the fact that the two acts are set a hundred years apart and
yet are intimately related. One of the devices to help the two acts connect is the use of the same group of
actors in both acts, all playing different though sometimes parallel roles. The actor playing Seurat also plays
the modern George. The actor playing Dot also plays her daughter Marie, who is the modern George's
grandmother. The actor playing Seurat's mother later plays an art critic and friend of the modern George
(anyone looking for a connection between being a mother and being a critic hasn't had a mother).

Jules, the more conventional, commercially successful painter and colleague of Seurat later becomes the
director of the modern day museum, in both cases walking the tightrope between making art and making a
living (as evidenced by the museum director's comic monologue about selling the air rights over the museum
for condominiums). The actor playing the sweet but bland Louis the baker in Act I becomes the bland
boyfriend of a rich arts patron in Act II. The crass, uncultured American couple in Act I becomes a crass but
rich arts patron and a museum publicist in Act II. Interestingly, some of the connections were different in the
first workshop production of the show.

For instance, George's mother later became a rich arts patron and Jules' wife (who didn’t really understand
very much about art) became the critic. It's also interesting to note that the character pairing from the
Broadway production was not recreated exactly in London…

George literally is what he does. He does not exist outside his work. It defines him. He sees everything as his
art, as colour and light. In the song “Colour and Light,” he says to the figures in his painting: “It's getting
hot... it's getting orange...” Heat immediately transfers for him into colour, into the language of his art.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
He says “I am not hiding behind my canvas. I am living in it.” How could he have a real life, too? And we
have to remember the time in which Seurat lived and worked. Science and technology were moving ahead
by leaps and bounds. Wagner was transforming music theatre…

Sondheim and Lapine play a lot with the theme of art vs. commerce. George represents art; Jules represents
commerce. The musical motif for “Finishing the Hat” represents the creation of art in Act I; the same motif
represents the creation of funding in “Putting It Together” in Act II. In fact, the entire song, “Putting It
Together” is about the friction between art and commerce. During that sequence, Charles Redman, a
museum director, mentions a commission to George and then says, “Hope you don't mind me bringing up
business at a social occasion.” Of course, it's not a social occasion; it's a business occasion. Is Redman
really not conscious of that? Is he just pretending not to know that? He's only there to scout George, and
certainly George can't make another chromolume without another commission. In the original Broadway
production, the use of cut-outs made an interesting comment. In Act I, the cut-outs are used to create the art,
as elements in the painting (trees, the monkey, other people), but in Act II, the cut-outs are used to help
George raise money. Source: Inside Sunday in the Park with George.4

 How do the excerpts above provide an insight into the world of the musical?
 What do you learn about the characters?
 What do you learn about the theatrical styles?
 What do you learn about the intended meaning of the story and the production?

Cultural and Geographical

The Île de la Jatte (formerly called the Île de la Grande Jatte, which means “Big Bowl Island”) is a large
island in the middle of the Seine River in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Contemporary views of Ile de Le Grand Jatte

4
Excerpt (expanded and revised) from Deconstructing Harold Hill: An Insiders Guide to Musical Theatre by Scott Miller (Heinemann Publishing,
1999).

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Paris in the 1880s – the construction of the Eiffel Tower, Street life

Figure 5: Pierre Petit, Eiffel Tower

Figure 6: Jean Béraud, Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877
under construction, 1888

Sunday in the Park with George is a theatrical reconstruction/fantasy of the work of Georges Seurat, the
musical’s story is based on the creation of Seurat’s pointillist painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884–
1885) a mammoth work which took the experimental French painter two years to complete. Since the
musical loosely represents the problems Seurat encountered while painting the piece, the original scenic
design recreates that process on stage. The first act is set on the Island of La Grande Jatte, where Seurat
sketches his model/lover Dot and a variety of eccentric park regulars. The park setting alternates with scenes
in Seurat’s studio, in which the actual painting is displayed in various stages of completion. Paris in the
1880s was known as the Belle Epoque or Edwardian era. Source: Counterculture Timeline: The Progressive
Period (La Belle Epoque / Edwardian Age) 1880 to 19135. View the timeline online.

The second act, while beginning with Seurat’s painting and death in 1891, is predominantly set in Chicago
and Paris in the 1980s. In the 1980s Chicago was known as a fairly alternative art scene. Seurat’s grandson,
also called George, is a modern-day conceptual artist, used multimedia and laser technology to display his
own kinetic artwork. His artistic vision faltering, he returns to the Island of La Grande Jatte, the
impressionistic setting (which inspired his grandfather’s art) now obscured by cubist architecture. In a
fantasy/dream sequence, Georges Seurat’s original setting is recreated, and the painting is once again
restored. Source: Kinectic Art6. View online. Playwright and director, James Lapine, said of the work ‘The
script, and Stephen Sondheim’s music too, are about obsession’.

Other online resources

 Sunday in the Park with George lyrics
 Article written in 2000 in the New York Times on Sondheim’s 70th birthday
 Watch the original Broadway production
 Highlights from 5th Avenue 2006 Production
 Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity

5
http://www.well.com/~mareev/TIMELINE/1880-1913.html
6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_art

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Stephen Sondheim Interview
Although the piece is often criticised for falling into two disconnected halves, Sondheim says it was always his
and James Lapine’s (script/book and director of original production) intention to look at the painting from
different angles, since it was first inspired by an issue of a French magazine devoted to themes and variations
based on the Mona Lisa. Linear plots rarely feature in Sondheim’s work, instead time, as in Sunday in the
Park with George, is more often used as the unifying force. Naturally, while working on the piece, he and
Lapine travelled to the Art Institute of Chicago, where the painting hangs, and lost themselves in front of
Seurat’s mesmeric masterpiece.

‘We discussed the fact that nobody in the painting was looking at anybody else and we
started to fantasise about that and the fact that it looks like a stage set. And then James
said, “The main character is missing,” and I said, “Who?” and he said “The artist.” Once
that was spoken it immediately became a play.’

The first act is set in The Island of La Grande Jatte, but Sondheim’s music, he says, was more influenced by
Benjamin Britten than any French composer, this in spite of the fact that Maurice Ravel is one of his heroes.
‘Boy, it’s hard to explain verbally but I was haunted by the vision of that man putting those dots in. When you
go up close to the painting what you find out is that they are not dots, they’re daubs. I’m sure he painted
them this way,’ he mimes dragging a brush down, ‘and then changed colour.’ I say that he and Lapine could
hardly have called Seurat’s mythical mistress Daub instead of Dot and am ridiculously pleased when
Sondheim laughs and says ‘That’s funny’. He goes on:

‘It seemed to me that the music should be sparkly, as opposed to Ravel, which I think of
as swooning.’

And he also wanted to suggest Seurat’s rhythm? ‘Yeah, really. That rhythmic verve, if I may be pretentious
about it, is very much part of early twentieth century British music.

Sondheim’s more of an art enthusiast than a connoisseur. ‘I don’t have a good visual sense. After
you’ve gone, I won’t remember what you were wearing, but I will remember what you sounded
like.’ Instead of paintings, he collects board games – he’s also famous for his ability to do
crosswords, something he shares with several Sondheim enthusiasts – and there are many examples
in the room in which we are sitting. Wistfully, he says he doesn’t play anymore. ‘Everyone I used to
play with has either given up or is dead.’A musical about art leads to a discussion about the art of
writing musicals. Sondheim is not keen on those that are sung all the way through because he loves
the contrast between dialogue and song. But then how do you negotiate the moment when two
people who are talking suddenly start singing? ‘There’s the old cliché,’ he explains ‘that the
character bursts into song when the emotion becomes too great for dialogue. That’s nonsense. You
can see why people would say that after the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution when the songs
became part of the story as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes. But for me
it’s more fun to find an unexpected moment for a character to sing when you don’t expect them to. I
always feel a slight chill when I can hear the orchestra under the dialogue, when people are starting
to have a love scene and you think: Uh oh! Here comes the love song. So it’s nice if it’s
unexpected.’ Source: Stephen Sondheim Interview7. Read the full article online.

7
Stephen Sondheim: Interview. TimeOut London: Jane Edwardes, Tuesday 9 May 2006

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Stuart Maunder writes about the Victorian Opera production

What drew you to this particular

piece of musical theatre? What
does it offer you as a director?
Sunday in the Park with George with
book by James Lapine is a
masterpiece. This quirky, Pulitzer Prize
winning, ‘impossible to define’ work is
at it’s essence, an examination of what
makes artists tick, how and why they
must create. As an artist I find that
fascinating…we love talking about
ourselves!

What is unique about Sunday in

the Park with George as a piece of
musical theatre? What does it offer Figure 7: Christina O'Neill (Dot) © Martin Philbey
a 21st century audience?
Sondheim and Lapine have created a work that asks audiences to look at the Broadway musical in a new
way. Sondheim delights in breaking the rules. When one reads the libretto of Sunday in the Park with George
it is often difficult to see where the songs finish and the words take over. This is not a conventional musical in
the Rodgers and Hammerstein sense. From the first moments we are in the hands of the painter, we must
take him for our guide. Trees disappear at his will, dogs talk, scenes merge. ately all these ideas, issues,
conflicts remain unresolved, all pale into insignificance, all exist just provide inspiration for the creation of
one of the greatest Neo-impressionist paintings of all time: Seurat’s masterpiece A Sunday on La Grand
Jatte. All that counts is the work.

Sondheim brings the same intense, systematic intellectual precision to the composition of his words and
music that the Seurat brought to his paintings. Studied up close, both the paintings and the musical reveal
the precision and meticulous attention to detail, the technique of the artist.

Viewed from a distance, or experienced as a

whole in the theatre what is revealed is a perfect
and complete vision; satisfying and edifying.
‘Sunday’ shows us that ordered passion of the
creative artist can be just as fulfilling as
traditional romantic passion. In addition ‘Sunday’
delights in arguing that one must ‘move on’, past
recreation of the familiar, the safe.

Have you directed other Sondheim work

before? What are the challenges and
opportunities that his productions offer?
Yes. I have directed A Little Night Music,
Company, and Sweeney Todd. Sondheim’s
Figure 8: Victorian Opera Sunday in the Park with George.
canon offer among the most intelligent, rich,
Illustrations © Anna Cordingley
profound and of course ultimately entertaining
works in the Music Theatre repertoire. Sondheim is never content to provide ‘just’ entertainment.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Never do you leave a Sondheim show without it throwing up questions, interrogating your often long held
views. His subject matter is vast, his insights always profound.

Without giving away too many secrets, what is your overall vision for the piece?
That’s a huge question, and one that should be evident to an audience member when they see the show.
The Seurat painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte impacts strongly on my vision. However, I never prescribe
what the audience should see. Too many times I have been called to task for NOT doing what I said I
would…Alan Jay Lerner spoke of the director Moss Hart:

‘His objective as director was to produce what the author has written tastefully,
theatrically and truthfully. He did not intrude, he guided.’

That’s what I will be doing. Act 1 of the musical is set in Paris. Seurat’s version of the Eiffel Tower and the
costumes showcased in A Sunday on La Grande Jatte are in evidence. Act 2 is set in the modern day in
Chicago…but it could be any art gallery, anywhere. Peopled with ‘beautiful’ A-list people. The audience can
make the leap.

Would you agree that there is a sense of ‘magical realism’ or ‘fantasy’ in this production?
It will be theatrically ‘magical’ and we will see the entire show through George’s eyes…anything is possible.
Everything is ‘real’ to George, and therefore is real to us as an audience as well.

Would you talk about the structure of the musical? Two Acts, 100 years apart?
Although the relationship of George and Dot is at the heart of the piece this is not a conventional love story.
We have to wait four generations for the relationship built and destroyed in Act 1 to find some sort of
resolution. Rather what we have is a love affair with art; with the act of creation of art. We experience in a
very real way the bliss of the creator, the intense concentration, the sheer hard work, the craft, the passion,
the desire ‘to make things that count, things that will be new’. And then the realisation that
‘Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new.’

How do the music and songs contribute to structure

and narrative arc? How do they contribute to the
tone and mood, the drama and the comedy?
The synthesis of words and music is at the heart of all
music theatre. They create the arc. Music theatre, along
with opera (Richard Bonynge, opera conductor and
husband of the great Dame Joan Sutherland has said,
‘Operas are just old musicals’) is the synthesis of so many
disciplines: drama, music, dance. We will always have
music, we will always have theatre as it is how we express
ourselves…we love to be in a darkened theatre in a
relationship with performers. That thrill has been with
mankind since ancient times. Musicals wear their hearts on
their sleeves exploring big emotions, big themes,
accessible music.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
American musical theatre composer Richard Rodgers has said: ‘The greatest gratification allowed anyone, is
to be able to gather a large group of people under one roof, and through words and music, impel them to
feel something deeply and strongly within themselves....People have an emotional need for melody....but
what would I know... I’m only a commercial theatre kid, I don’t write for posterity.’

Does the Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne offer particular challenges or opportunities as a
space?
Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne is a state-of-the-art theatre, giving great opportunities for technical
possibilities. It is also the perfect size for this intimate piece, allowing immediate connection between actor
and audience.

Would you talk about the characters of George and Dot in Act 1? What type of characters are
they?
This is far too early for me to prescribe the essence of these characters. That is the work to be done working
with the actors playing the roles in the five week rehearsal period. The list the qualities of each character
should be evident to anybody reading the piece. The joy of coming to the show is that each audience
member will have a different view of these complex, very human characters. I am not going to force a view.

What are the challenges of directing performers to act, speak dialogue and sing?
Assuming the actors have ability in all these disciplines there is no difference in directing in the different
disciplines. The challenges are when the performers are asked to perform in a genre in which they have no
training or ability. My cast, however, are adept in every discipline. The ultimate aim is to tell a story, whether
through spoken word, sung word or presence.

What are the challenges of directing performers who play double or multiple roles? How do you
find contrast? Is it in the music? Songs? How does stagecraft contribute?
The stagecraft of the actor is at the heart of actors playing multiple roles. One task is showcasing the
versatility of the actor. Your job as a director is to guide/question/suggest, to help the actor to find the best
way - a way that might be not the most obvious - to play a character. This will be influenced by their craft,
training, instincts, and relationships with other characters within the production. Multiple roles obviously
make more demands, and I would suggest more delights for the actor and the audience.

In Act 1 in Sunday in the Park with George, many of the figures in the Seurat painting come to life.
Some are characters who really existed in Georges Seurat’s life and others are imagined,
representing the cross section of people who frequented the park on their Sunday off. Below is a
suggested guide to how the musical’s characters relate to the figures in the painting. Note that Louis
is not in the painting, nor is the American couple, Mr and Mrs, who have comic cameo roles.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
In Act 1 in Sunday in the Park with George, many of the figures in the Seurat painting come to life.
Some are characters who really existed in Georges Seurat’s life and others are imagined,
representing the cross section of people who frequented the park on their Sunday off. Below is a
suggested guide to how the musical’s characters relate to the figures in the painting. Note that Louis
is not in the painting, nor is the American couple, Mr and Mrs, who have comic cameo roles. Some
of the characters who ‘come to life’ only exist in the world of the painting, at the park. Others also
exist in George’s real world – Dot, Jules, Yvonne and his mother, the Old Lady.
Soldier & Friend
(behind Louise & Yvonne)

Louise & Yvonne

(lying down behind
Old Lady & Nurse man standing behind Louis & Baby Marie
(behind Franz & Frieda) Old Lady & Nurse) (standing next to tree)

Figure 9: Georges Seurat, French, 1859-1891, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- 1884, 1884–86, Oil on canvas, 81 3/4 x 121 1/4 in. (207.5 x
308.1 cm), Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.224, The Art Institute of Chicago. Photography © The Art Institute of Chicago.

Boatman Franz & Frieda Celeste 1 & Celeste 2 Dot & Jules
(lying down) (behind the Boatman) (sitting down behind dog)

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Outcome 3 – Performance Analysis
The following dot points outline the Key Skills you need to consider when responding to Sunday in
the Park with George and completing Outcome 3
 Analyse the characters in the production including status, motivation and characteristics
 Analyse and evaluate interpretation by actor/s of a playscript in performance including – the
acting skills used to realise character, and the use of focus and acting space
 Analyse use of verbal and non-verbal language to convey the intended meaning of the play
 Analyse application of stagecraft
 Analyse and evaluate establishment and maintenance of actor-audience relationship
 Analyse the way actors work within theatrical styles utilized in the production
 Discuss the intended meaning of the play/musical and how this was conveyed in the
performance

Theatrical Styles and the World of the Play

‘It will be theatrically ‘magical’ and we will see the entire show through George’s
eyes…anything is possible. Everything is ‘real’ to George, and therefore is real to us an
audience as well.’ Stuart Maunder, Director

Consider this statement by the director. This is a musical about an artist creating a great artwork. Further it is
a musical that spans 100 years.

 What is ‘magical’ about the world of the play? What theatrical elements make it so?
 What is real in the play? Which characters anchor it in reality?
 Would you agree that musicals are by their very nature ‘heightened’ and ‘stylized’?
 What is heightened and stylized about Sunday in the Park with George?

‘Linear plots rarely feature in Sondheim’s work, instead time, as in ‘Sunday in the Park with
George’ is more often used as the unifying force.’ Notes on Sunday in the Park with George

 What is a ‘linear plot’?

 Does the show have a linear plot? For instance it begins in 1884 and ends in 1984? Does this
make it linear?
 If the world of the play is defined by TIME. Consider how time impacts on the story
 How does the one hundred year time difference link the two acts in the play?
 Do we witness ‘real’ time? Do we flashback? Is time disjointed?
 What aspects of the following contribute to establishing time – accent, costume, music, set,
props, content, themes?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
The historical contexts in ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ are Paris, 1884, then Chicago, US 1984. These
are the overarching worlds of the play.

 How is each specific era created and portrayed? Consider how set, costume, make-up and
lighting assist with the construction of each era
 How do the characters in each timeframe contribute to establishing the era? Consider accent,
physical relationship
 How are the contexts recreated through the use of accent, costume and set?

The world of the play could be described as one that includes a sense of ‘magic realism’ or ‘fantasy’.

 Do you agree? How is this established?

 In Act 1, how many of the characters exist in George’s head? What is real to George? What is
‘fantasy’?
 Comment on the appearance of Dot in the park in Act 2. Is this a moment of magical realism?

The key theatrical style apparent in Sunday in the Park with George is musical theatre. The director of this
production, Stuart Maunder says …the ultimate aim of the musical is to tell a story, whether through spoken
word, sung word or presence. Musical theatre is a form of theatre that combines songs, spoken dialogue,
acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of the piece – humour, pathos, love, anger – are
communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an
integrated whole.

Musical Theatre asks an audience to accept the notion that songs contribute to the story and the characters’
journeys.

 Discuss how the songs contribute to the narrative of Sunday in the Park with George
 Choose two songs from the musical and analyse and evaluate the narrative/story. Whose story
do they tell? What do they reveal? What comment do they make?
 Discuss how ‘humour, pathos, love and anger’ are communicated in the production. How does
the music contribute to the evocation of these?

A key feature of the musical is the ‘presentational’ nature that it demands. In presentational acting the
performers acknowledge the audience by speaking or singing to them.
 How is this apparent in the production? What do you observe about the performers?
 Consider how the following characters contribute to the presentational style – George (in both acts), Dot,
Mr and Mrs
 Traditionally a ‘presentational style’ eliminates the 4th wall, or the pretence that the audience is looking in
on the real world of the characters.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
The world of the play in Act II, is 1984, Chicago, an art gallery

 How is this apparent in the production?

 For instance how do the use of accent, costume, music and other stagecraft help create this era?

Actor/audience relationships
In Sunday in the Park with George the actor/audience relationship is established, maintained and then re-
established on a number of occasions. It changes throughout the performance, within the theatrical style of
musical theatre, for the purposes of establishing the worlds of the characters

 Does the design depict a ‘proscenium arch’?

 Do the characters remain within the arch or do they sometimes emerge from it? Who? Why?
 How would you describe the actor/audience relationship that a proscenium arch
theatre/design establishes?

In both Act I and Act II characters directly address the audience

 Discuss how the artist, George, uses direct address when he is painting A Sunday on La
Grande Jatte
 Consider how this works when he painted the dog
 Consider how direct address or the presentational style of the show works in ‘Finishing the
Hat’
 Discuss – Is George speaking directly to us? Are these moments more like soliloquies?

The opening scene in the Chicago gallery is quite particular

 Discuss how Marie and George’s direct address enrol the audience. Who do we become?

When George enters the gallery after his Chromolume presentation doesn’t work, the production
becomes very stylized.
 As George sings ‘Putting it together’ who does he sing to? What happens to the other
characters while he is singing?
 How is the actor/audience relationships affected? What impact does it have?
 Comment on the use of ‘cut outs’ in this scene. How do they function and how do they
enhance the stylized nature of the scene?

Consider the scenes in George’s studio in Act 1.

 How do they contrast with the park scene?
 Is there a ‘fourth wall’ apparent in these scenes?
 How does the actor/audience relationship shift in these scenes?

In the production, how does the use of Freeze and Stillness Use of freeze contribute to the
establishment, maintenance and/or changing actor-audience relationship?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Characterisation – acting and expressive skills
The concept of character in this musical is complex. Firstly in Act 1 several characters are imagined people,
observed by the artist, who simply come to life within the time George is painting them.

The Soldier, Franz, Frieda, Nurse, Louise, Mr, Mrs, Celeste 1, Woman with a baby carriage, Man with a
Bicycle and Boatman are all ‘characters’ in Seurat’s painting and ‘sample’ the late 19th century ‘day off’ that
French citizens may have experienced. Such ‘characters’ are imagined by Georges Seurat and they come to
life in the musical through the gradual creation of Seurat’s painting. This is Sondheim’s intention. Secondly,
there are the characters such as Dot, Jules, Yvonne and the Old Lady (mother) who have a basis in historical
reality. Thirdly, there is the doubling by the performers. The director, Stuart Maunder says:

‘Multiple roles obviously make more demands, and I would suggest more delights for the
actor and the audience.’ Stuart Maunder, Director

Select TWO of the imagined characters in the painting

 Would you describe them as caricatures? Would you describe them as ‘types’?
 Discuss the use of expressive skills used by the performers to create the two imagined
characters – voice, gesture, accent, focus, movement, stillness and silence.
 Are there ‘class’ differences between these characters. E.G. Working class and middle class
characters?
 Is this evident in the use of voice, accent, timing, pitch etc.?
 How did the use of expressive skills contribute to the PERFORMANCE STYLES within the
show?

What function do the American couple, Mr and Mrs, have in the production?
 Discuss the performers’ use of accent, gesture, focus, movement to create these two roles
 How do these characters contrast with other characters?
 Would you describe these characters as ‘heightened’, ‘presentational’, ‘stylized’? Why?

Now consider the two main characters, George the French painter and George the descendent of
Marie
 How does the performer, Alexander Lewis, create EACH George?
 Begin with French George – What is specific about the performer’s use of accent, voice, focus,
gesture, movement, stillness?
 Which characters does he interact with most? Why? Do these characters impact on George?
 Now the American George – What is specific about the performer’s use of expressive skills to
create this George?
 Evaluate the similarities and differences between the two George’s? Performance wise?
Thematically? Narratively?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
 ‘George literally is what he does. He does not exist outside his work. It defines him. He sees
everything as his art, as colour and light.’ Scott Miller, author Deconstructing Harold Hill:
An Insider’s Guide to Musical Theatre

Discuss and analyse this comment based on your experience of the production.
 How would you describe the characteristics of each George?
 What qualities does each possess?
 Do you agree with the comment above?
 Discuss this comment in relation to the song ‘Colour and Light’

In Act 1, Song 5 - ‘The Day Off’, George is painting the dog. The challenge for the actor
portraying Georges is to take on characteristics of the dog he is painting.
 How do the lyrics and music allow the performer to create this moment?

Characters may introduce themselves directly to the audience through ‘I am’ songs. ‘I am’ songs
can also allow characters to express feely how they are feeling at that moment – The genre of
musical theatre
 Consider the songs: ‘Gossip’ from Act 1 and ‘Putting it together’ in Act 2.
 Discuss how these two songs or moments within them, introduced particular characters to
the audience
 Now discuss how ‘Colour and Light’ works to explore the relationship between George
and Dot, and how they feel about each other

The performer playing the dual roles of Dot and the grown up Marie is Christina O’Neil.
 How would you describe the characteristics and qualities of each of these characters?
 Discuss in detail how the performer used expressive skills – voice, facial expression,
gesture, movement, stillness, focus – to create each of these roles
 Evaluate the contrasts between the two roles, discuss any similarities.
 How does music and song assist in defining Dot? E.G. ‘Colour & Light’ and ‘Everybody
loves Louis’
 How does ‘Children and Art’ help to define Marie?

DOUBLING – Choose two of the minor characters in Act 1 and discuss how the performers used
their expressive skills to create their second role in Act 2.
 How did they manipulate their voice, facial expression, accent, gesture, movement etc. in
order to create a convincing new role?
 How did costume, hair and make-up contribute to the effectiveness of this?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Characterisation – status
As you are journeying through the discussion, analysis and evaluation of the production, now consider how
status between characters was evident in the show. How is status made evident in theatre? How do you
recognise high status, what is low status, when does status shift? What are the stakes for characters in these
moments?

A good example would be to examine the status between George and Dot in Act 1. Consider the
following moments:
 When George is painting Dot in the opening song. What is the status play here? Who is
higher, who is lower? How is tension created?
 When George and Dot are in the studio, Dot preparing to go to The Follies. What is the
status play here? What are the stakes?
 When Dot tells George she is leaving and going to America ‘We do not Belong Together’.
What is the status at play in this song? What are the stakes? How is tension created?
 Consider spatial relationship, physical proximity, focus, tone, interaction etc.

Another example worth exploring is the status between George and his artist friend, Jules, in Act 1.
 Consider the scene in the studio when Jules comes to see George’s work
 How would you describe the status between the two friends/colleagues? Does it change?
When? Why?

A fun way to examine status is by considering the two shop girls, Celeste 1 and Celeste 2 who are in
competition over the Soldier and his ‘friend’ (which is a cut out).
 Discuss the status play between these two characters and how it is generated through
expressive skills, the music, the use of space

Consider the scene in the park between Franz and his wife Frieda as they picnic. It is quite comic
and slightly exaggerated.
 What is their status? Do they like each other? No, how is this made obvious?

In Act 2, consider the status play between Marie and George as they argue over the story of
Georges Seurat and what the truth is.
 How is space used? How is voice used? How is tension created?

Characterisation – motivation
Explore the motivations of each of the following characters. Remember to use the elements of the production
to support your response.
 What motivates George to paint? Is he obsessive? Why does George let Dot go?
 What motivates Dot to a) to love George and c) to leave him and go to America?
 What motivates Marie to give George her mother’s writing book?
 What motivates the various art critics in Act 2? Why are they there? What is at stake for them?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Characterisation – use of acting space
The two acts of Sunday in the Park with George take place in two very different locations, 19 th century Paris
and 20th Century Chicago. Within these two broad locations there are more specific places.

Consider the creation of the Park in Act 1

 How does it create a very particular playing space? What are the limitations?
 What is the distinction between the ‘park’ as a painting and George’s world?
 How do the performers use the park space to go about their lives? Consider levels,
relationship to other characters, relationship to set items and pop-ups or cut-outs?

In Act 1, George’s studio includes Dot’s dressing table

 How does the design and use of the playing space create these two places?
 How does the existence of both places comment on the relationship between the characters?
 Does either character enter the other’s space? Why/Why not?

The modern art gallery in Act II is full of people and there are many entrances, exists and
conversations
 How do the performers use the modern art gallery space in Act 2?
 What are the limitations of the space? How does it contribute to the theatrical styles?
 As an audience, how did you respond to this scene? How did you navigate the ‘busyness’?

Comment on the use of any cut-outs and pop-ups in this production.

 How do they contribute to the use of space? Character interaction?

Application of Stagecraft
In this section, you are asked to consider the contribution stagecraft makes to the world, the story and the
characters in Sunday in the Park with George

‘Music - Sondheim brings the same intense, systematic intellectual precision to the
composition of his words and music that the Seurat brought to his paintings.’
Stuart Maunder, Director

 Discuss how the music created to world of the Park in 1884

 Discuss how the music created Chicago in 1984
 Were there particular songs? Vamps? Chords?
 Discuss Stuart Maunder’s comment with regard to ‘intense, systematic intellectual precision’
 How would you apply it to your own experience of the production?
 How does the music contribute thematically?

‘Sondheim delights in breaking the rules. When one reads the libretto of Sunday it is often
difficult to see where the songs finish and the words take over.’ Stuart Maunder, Director

 Do you agree with this comment?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Application of Stagecraft (cont.)

‘SET - Act 1 of the musical is set in Paris. Seurat’s version of the Eiffel Tower and the
costumes showcased in A Sunday on La Grande Jatte are in evidence. Act 2 is set in the
modern day in Chicago…but it could be any art gallery, anywhere. Peopled with ‘beautiful’
A-list people.’ Stuart Maunder, Director

The director made this comment early in the rehearsal period. Consider it now and comment on how each of
these elements were present in the set design.
 For instance, Eiffel Tower, the island of Le Grand Jatte, modern day Chicago, an art gallery?
 How would you describe the aesthetic and style of the overall set? Stylized? Representational? Realistic?
Non-naturalistic?

Mechanics
Consider how the mechanics of the set worked in the theatre to create the different locations
required. For instance:
 How was the ‘painting’ set up using any of flies, trucks, projection, pop-ups?
 How was the chromolume art work performance generated?
 How was George’s studio and Dot’s dressing table created on stage?
 How was the dog that George paints created on stage?
 How did the mechanics contribute to overall aesthetic of the production?

Costume
Costume is a very large part of the production. It is particularly important for creating era or period,
class, fashion, and character.
 Take TWO characters from Act 1 and their doubled role in Act 2 and carefully examine the
costumes they wore as each character
 Sketch each costume and annotate it for colour, silhouette, texture, period or era, class, and
other references you feel assist in enhancing its contribution to creating CHARACTER
 Would you consider the costumes to be intimate or public? Meant to be seen or only worn in
private?
 Consider in your discussion the inclusion of ACCESSORIES – hats, gloves, bags, parasols
 CHARACTERISATION – discuss how the costumes enhanced the qualities of each character,
enhanced or inhibited their movement, determined their class, did they look comfortable?
 COMPARE the fashions in the painting with those worn in the production – how are they
referenced?
 CONSIDER the comment that the gallery is ‘peopled with beautiful A-listed people’ by the
director. Do the costumes in this scene reflect this? Do they reference the 1980s?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
Application of Stagecraft (cont.)

Makeup & Hair

Again, this is a large part of the production, particularly because the performers are doubling character.
As you are discussing costume in detail, consider how make-up and hair contributed to: Era/period, the
overall aesthetic, age, class, occupation, and to the creation of each CHARACTER.

Properties
Among many properties, there are two significant props in Sunday in the Park with George
 George’s sketch book
 Dot’s grammar book
 Discuss the significance of each of these props and how they contributed to the story and to the
development of the characters
 List other props you saw in the show and comment on their relevance to the characters who
used them E.G. Louise’s glasses, the Old Lady’s parasol

Intended meaning of the production

‘Some of the ideas explored in Sunday in the Park with George include - science and colour,
the artist’s role, art, love, obsession, perfection, moving on. Sunday in the Park with George
shows us that ordered passion of the creative artist can be just as fulfilling as traditional
romantic passion. In addition ‘Sunday’ delights in arguing that one must ‘move on’, past
recreation of the familiar, the safe.’ Stuart Maunder, Director

 Discuss the first part of this comment in relation to your analysis of the show
 How does George’s story, across 100 years comment on artistic passion being as fulfilling as romantic
passion?
 Now consider the second part of this comment
 How does George’s story explore what it means to move beyond the familiar and the safe?
 How is this reflected in Dot’s story?

Critics and academics discuss the production as being one that explores art and politics.
 Do you agree?
 Which scene or moments do you think explore these as opposing or complementary ideas?

‘There are only two worthwhile things you leave behind when you depart this earth –
children and art.’ Marie, Act II, Sunday in the Park with George

 Consider this line from the production by the old Marie

 What do you think she means?
 How do both these ‘worthwhile’ things relate to her character?
 How do they relate to George?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
When George returns to Paris and to the Jardin la Gatte, he experiences a ‘visitation’ by Dot. She sings to
him the song ‘Move On’.
 What does George need to move on from?
 How might this song capture an essential idea in the story?

Discuss other ideas and meanings that you discovered in the production or that have occurred you as you
have been analysing and evaluating the production. Remember to use the LIVE PERFORMANCE as your
‘text’ and draw on specific examples from it to emphasise and support your arguments.

Monologue Performances
 How will your exploration of key characters in this production relate to your own monologue
performance?
 What performance styles did you see being explored that could be useful?
 Which performers use of expressive skills were examples of excellence?
 What did you learn about the establishment of particular actor/audience relationships that could be
helpful?
 How did costume and props assist in establishing a world or place or location?

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera
With thanks to Meg Upton for the research and preparation of this resource pack.

For enquiries about our 2013 Education Program contact:

Melissa Harris, Education Manager
E: melissah@victorianopera.com.au
P: 03 9012 6652

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Victorian Opera Education Program is generously supported by the Victorian Opera Education Syndicate.

Sunday in the Park with George Education Resources – Theatre Studies © Victorian Opera