Aaron Galligan-Stierle as George and Saige Smith as Dot in Front Porch Theatricals' 'Sunday in the Park with George,' running through Aug. 24 at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side
Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Art Institute of Chicago. It's an amazing collection that contains artifacts and art from all over the world, both old and new. But one of the most mesmerizing pieces in the whole museum is the massive "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat.
It's a fairly famous piece -- many may know it from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," in a scene where Cameron stands frozen as he stares at one of the figures in the painting. Seurat began creating the pointillist work in 1884. A century later, a composer named Stephen Sondheim wrote a musical about it.
"Sunday in the Park with George" has music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by James Lapine. It premiered on Broadway in 1984 with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters as its leads. And it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama that year. Front Porch Theatricals is mounting this masterpiece-about-a-masterpiece at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side through Aug. 24.
The musical begins with George (Aaron Galligan-Stierle) as he begins his new project. He and model/mistress Dot (Saige Smith) are on the Island of La Grande Jatte, where she poses uncomfortably and he sketches. But later, as he attempts to get the painting right, he struggles with the color and light. Dot laments her love for him, as he's completely addicted to his work.
Throughout Act One, the audience watches as a parade of park-goers are drawn by George as their dramas and entanglements play out. Included among them are his cantaknerous mother (Daphne Alderson), a fellow artist and competitor, Jules (Brad Smoak) and Jules' wife, Yvonne (Becki Toth).
Dot eventually leaves George, though it's later discovered that she is pregnant with his child and has decided to marry baker Louis (Robert Frankenberry) and move to the United States. As intermission looms, George is finally able to quiet his mind and finish his masterpiece.
In Act Two, we zoom into the future where George's great-grandson, who is also an artist named George. is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the painting with his grandmother -- Dot's child, Marie -- and a futuristic art installation of his own. He finds himself lost and stuck in the art world of trends, critics and fundraising. He must find a way to take his family's past as inspiration for his own future path.
Most of the cast does double duty, including Galligan-Stierle -- who plays both Georges -- and Smith, who portrays both Dot and Marie. Galligan-Stierle has a gentle sincerity to his voice that fits in well with the show's often softer score, and his physicality was truly impressive. Smith was a delight. She gets to explore the most emotional range, from sarcasm to anger to excitement, and both her acting and her gorgeous singing fit each beat perfectly.
Alderson and Galligan-Stierle sing a particularly poignant number together towards the end of Act One, and Alderson's performance is both funny and sympathetic as the grumpy "Old Lady."
Being about art, it's no surprise that this production is a visual feast, thanks to a strong production team. George is often in search of color and light, and both are featured heavily onstage. Forrest Trimble's lighting design is a major part of the play's success, dappling sections of the island set (by scenic designer Johnmichael Bohach) and lending emphasis and color to heavier scenes. The costumes actually have a concrete template to work from, but making them fit the painting perfectly is a big task. Costume designer Michelle Nowakowski whipped up bustles, huge hats and period-appropriate suits galore.
George has the ability to "freeze" figures in place onstage, sometimes actors and sometimes props. At the beginning of Act Two, many of the emsemble members perform a number as if they are frozen in the painting behind a trasparent screen, and it's one of the best parts of the show. That, amongst other examples of a deft hand, displayed the mastery and vision of director Rob James -- and the whole cast.
Sondhiem isn't easy on his actors or musicians, and "Sunday in the Park with George" is certainly no exception. The score can go from soothing to fraught with anxious staccato in a second, and many of the actors have to memorize and sing tongue-twisters of rapid-fire lyrics for whole verses of songs. But there was nary a trip of the tongue at Friday's opening night performance, and music director Camille Villalpando Rolla conducted an orchestra that played the challenging tunes with verve.
More than 40 years after its premiere -- and 140 years after the inception of the painting at its core -- this is a musical that still reflects the very real need to create art, to be remembered and to pass on knowledge and legacy to a new generation. It may not have big, flashy dance numbers, but like good art, this is a production that will make you think and feel long after the curtain call.