Teacher's Guide

Target Audience:  9-12th Grade, Theatre Class Level 1

Activity: Pre-Show Viewing and Discussion
National Standards, Theatre (9-12)
Content Standard #2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions
Achievement Standard, Proficient:
a) Students analyze the physical, emotional, and social dimensions of characters found in dramatic texts from various genres and media

Have your students watch this short video on the life and times of George Seurat from YouTube.
Have them answer these questions while the video goes on.  

Question 1:  Who did George spend most of his time with as a kid, his mother of father?  His Mother
Question 2:  What art style is George Seurat best known for?  Pointillism
Question 3:  Where did George Seurat go after he left the military?  Paris


Activity 2:  Pre-Show Activity
National Standards, Theatre (9-12)
Content Standard #6: Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing traditional theatre, dance, music, visual arts, and new art forms
Achievement Standard, Advanced:
a) Students compare the interpretive and expressive natures of several art forms in a specific culture or historical period
What You Need:
enough note cards for entire class, the 5x8 kind work best
regular #2 pencils, enough for entire class

What You Do:

1. Begin by discussing Georges Seurat with students. Specifically, his use of dots to make pictures.
2. Hand out note cards and pencils.
3. Tell students to make a picture only using dots and small dashes on the note card.  It works best to do some kind of landscape but this is the time to let the kids be creative.  Some amazing things can be done with just dots on a page.
4. Have the students try to fill up as much of the paper as possible.

Activity:  Pre-Show Reading and Discussion
National Standards, Theatre (9-12)
Content Standard #2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions
Achievement Standard, Proficient:
a) Students analyze the physical, emotional, and social dimensions of characters found in dramatic texts from various genres and media

(This a brief discussion between George, the main character of the play and Jules an older, well respected artist.  Jules looks upon George as he is sketching in the park.)

JULES:  Working on Sunday again?  You should give yourself a day off. 
GEORGE:  Why?
JULES:  You must need time to replenish - or does your well never run dry?  Drawing my servants?  Certainly, you could find more colorful subjects.
GERGE:  Who should I be sketching?
JULES:  How about that pretty friend of yours.  Now why did I see her arm-in-arm with the baker today?  She is a pretty subject.
GEORGE:  Yes...
JULES:  Your life needs spice, George.  Go to some parties.  That is where you'll meet perspective buyers.  Have some fun.  The work is bound to reflect -
GEORGE:  You don't like my work, do you?
JULES:  I did once.
GEORGE:  You find it too tight.
JULES:  People are talking about your work.  You have your admirers, but you -
GEORGE:  I am using a different brushstroke.
JULES:  Always changing!  Why keep changing?
GEORGE:  Because I do not paint for your approval.
JULES:  And I suppose that is why I like you.

Discussion questions:
What does this except tell us about how George spends his life?  Would you say that his work consumes him?
From this excerpt what can you say about Jules as a person.  Does he seem relaxed in his life and art?
From this excerpt what can you say about the art world of the time?  Why would drawing servants be an odd thing?


Activity:  Post-Show Class Discussion
Content Standard #5: Researching by evaluating and synthesizing cultural and historical information to support artistic choices
Achievement Standard, Proficient:
a) Students identify and research cultural, historical, and symbolic clues in dramatic texts, and evaluate the validity and practicality of the information to assist in making artistic choices for informal and formal productions

Discussion:  Dot has a child outside of wedlock and gets together with another man.
Ask:  What kind of life would you expect Dot to live with a child outside of wedlock?  By going to America how her life might be easier of harder?

Discuss:  Some characters in the musical are rather one-dimensional and in some cases are portrayed
by cut-outs made of cardboard.
Ask: Are we meant to care about these characters? Why or why not?

Discuss: In the second act, George is showcasing his artwork and campaigning for money.  What does this say about the modern art world?
Ask:  Why is it so important to get money to continue working on your art?

Review Capsules

2008 Broadway Revival

• “Down by the Blue Purple Yellow Red Water” by Ben Brantley, New York Times.  2/22/2008  LINK  

My Summery:  A well-rounded review commenting on the set, acting and the relevance of the second act.  Nothing is said of the costumes.

Performance Quote:  “…what’s especially evident in Mr. Evans’s performance, which suggests the angry longing of an autistic child to play nicely with others, is that he does connect to people through re-imagining them in his painting. […]  Ms. Russell gives Dot an intuitive wisdom about life that mixes resignation with regret, genuine pain with a leveling sense of humor.”

Design/Tech Quote:  “This approach allows the audience to envision the world as the George of the first act sees it, with landscapes and people, projected on scrims and small canvases, that alter as he sketches them on the island of La Grande Jatte, the scene of his most famous painting. (The animated dogs, in particular, are delightful.)”

• “By George, Revival’s Pretty as a Picture” by Clive Barnes, New York Post.  2/22/2008  LINK  

My Summery:  A review focusing on the libretto itself and author's own personal beliefs about it with some small talk about the set and the two leads thrown in.

Performance Quote:  “Evans' George nails the reserve and flame-like intensity of the loner artist, a creator personally short on relationships. […]Evans gives a precisely nuanced, very funny and expressively sung musical portrait. Other splendid vignettes come from Michael Cumpsty and Alexander Gemignani.”

Design/Tech Quote:  The results, built into the designs by David Farley and the lighting by Ken Billington, and based on pointillist Georges Seurat's iconic painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte," is one of the most visually amazing shows ever to reach Broadway.”

2012 Chicago Shakespeare Theatre Production

• “In ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ love and work are no walk in the park” by Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune. 10/04/2012  LINK 

Review Summary:  A great review concentrating on the acting of the piece seems to be the only reviewer around who enjoys the second act better than the first.  Goes into detail on director’s past works as well as specific moments in the show that really worked.

Performance Quotes:  Carmen Cusack, whose superb work dominates [...] a dazzling performance that gets better and better, but its zenith comes during the song "Children and Art" [... Jason Danieley] actually is more comfortable and vulnerable as the historic George, which is a more deeply realized characterization than the Act 2 model, which he has yet to fully figure out."

Design/Tech Quote:  “In essence, Griffin, videographer Mike Tutaj and set designer Kevin Depinet all decided to create an Act 1 dominated by the Seurat painting [... a] lack of any feeling of the actual La Grand Jatte locale [...] the look of Act 2, with its wonky contemporary art, makes more visual sense to me here than ever before.”

• “Hats Off to Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s ‘Sunday in the Park’” by Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times.  10/04/2012  LINK 

Review Summary:  A generally positive review going in depth on how the set works as well as character motivations, though no great short to the point quotes to pull out."

Performance Quotes:  “The Sondheim score is gloriously sung […] with Danieley and Cusack (delicate, beautiful and fiery) bringing real ferocity to their duet, “We Do Not Belong Together,” and Linda Stephens (as Georges’ cranky mother) joining Danieley for a transcendent version of “Beautiful,” a song about change whose exquisite echo in the second act comes in the form of “Move On.”

Design/Tech Quote:  “Griffin and his collaborators have brought countless subtle insights as well as innovations both large and small to this production”

2013 Theatre du Chatelet Production

• "Pointillism dotted" by Jean-Marcel Humbert, Forum Opera.  04/15/2013  LINK

Review Summary:  A review originally written in French, quotes translated by Google.  A general overview of the original source material, commenting on its comedic effects.  Also mentioned is the glory of the scenery and costumes with little talk of acting.

Performance Quotes:  "Julian Ovenden is excellent in both roles of Georges and George and Sophie-Louise Dann is in Dot and Marie, quite amazing, nothing but a rabble without vulgarity.  All other characters are great, the distribution is flawless."

Design/Tech Quote:  "All this takes place in extraordinary scenery William Dudley, dissociated between spinners and amazing projections, it is a feast of the eyes [...] costumes Adrian Linford are quite successful […] and the staging of Lee Blakeley without a single dead time: it is a machine to Broadway, perfectly oiled."

• "Sunday in the Park with George, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris" by Francis Carlin, Financial Times.  04/19/2013  LINK

Review Summary:  A review with a brief synopsis of the show as well as comments on the original libretto, scenic design and acting.  One of few reviews of this production that you do not have to translate the page to read.

Performance Quote:  "The cast is simply terrific, led by Julian Ovenden’s stunning Georges/George, a fresh and tuneful light baritone who turns on a faultless US accent for the second act [...] Sophie-Louise Dann does a nice common touch as Dot, the artist’s mistress, and Rebecca de Pont Davies, as his mother, gives her song the grand Handelian contralto treatment."

Design/Tech Quote:  “The cast move confidently through William Dudley’s revolving set amid state-of-the-art video backdrops. In these de luxe conditions, the house amplification system is only a minor irritation.”

2006 Reprise Theatre Production

• “Sunday in the Park with George” by Terri Roberts, Theater Mania.  LINK 

Review Summary:  Fascinating review of a seemingly misguided production, Produced on a limited budget, they avoided the use of a breakaway dress in Act 1 and showing the Chromolume in Act 2, exactly how is talked about in this review.

Performance Quotes:  “…rising Broadway stars Manoel Felciano and Kelli O'Hara, who headline the show, both fare much better in their Act II personas than they do as the disconnected, frustrated lovers in the colorless Act I, where they tend to come across as too young and immature to be fully believable.”

Design/Tech Quote:  “The Act I white concept has also been applied to Bethany Jane Bohatila's and Heather Carleton's costumes, which have been completely rendered in shades of white, cream and beige, as well as scenic designer Bradley Kaye's moveable, three-sided panels, featuring the urbanized "La Grande Jatte" of Act II on one side, and the inviting, demanding white canvas of Act I -- as well as the preliminary sketches for the painting on the remaining two sides.”

• "Sunday in the park with George" by Sharon Perlmutter, Talking Broadway  LINK

Review Summary:  Good review detailing this production exactly and what does not work with it.  Why Act 1 was played to a grey set and costumes, I’ll never know.

Performance Quotes:  “Manoel Felciano's take on George is that of a fairly decent soul. He is definitely obsessed by his work, but there's an element of self-awareness to it. He knows that he is frequently overlooking Dot's needs […] Kelli O'Hara's Dot is a bit flighty, but she certainly isn't someone easily ignored. She's a very strong character who will not allow herself to be bullied by George […]Musically, Felciano and O'Hara are solid, although O'Hara sometimes misses a beat or hits a wrong note in the complex Sondheim score […]Everyone else is, more or less, scenery.

Design/Tech Quote:  “For a show that depends so strongly on the visual elements, the production falls flat on this count […] the actors are all dressed in shades of white, tan, and light grey. The picture they've created is colorless […]Lighting is also misused in the piece.

2004 Ravinia festival Concert Version

• “Layers of meaning reveal themselves in vivid 'George'” by Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times.  09/06/2004  LINK

Review Summary:  Review focusing mainly on acting and the actors involved.  This was a concert version so the set is mentioned and how they went about doing it.

Performance Quotes:  “Cerveris was a model of concentration and earnestness both as Seurat and the artist's great-grandson […]McDonald, with her golden voice and precise diction, is full of surprises. And Price has used the fact that she is African American to fine effect […] Patti LuPone added some lovely touches as the wife of Seurat's competitor

Design/Tech Quote:  “With James Noone's clever two-level ramped stage [where the orchestra sits] and with superb lighting by Kevin Adams and projection design by John Boesche, the actors could be moved into forced perspective […]Cross-cutting videotape of the actors in rehearsal, and of theatergoers strolling the grounds of Ravinia, [Lonny Price] brought us into the picture. Images of Sondheim and Lapine provided the ultimate homage.

• “For the most part Ravinia's Sunday is on Point” by Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune.  09/08/2004  LINK

Review Summary:  Review focusing mainly on Audra McDonald, loving her singing voice but questioning whether Dot was the right role to play.  Other actors as well as some of the director’s choices were mentioned.

Performance Quotes:  “Cerveris' Seurat was technically formidable, though in terms of character detail, only about two-thirds of the way there. Some of the comedy in Price's ensemble arrived on the obvious side [… Audra McDonald] is a force of nature with a dazzling dramatic and musical range, and the rarest ability among divas: the ability to know when to say when.

Design/Tech Quote:  “[Lonnie Price] filled the stage with six fantasy Seurats, sketching in their pads […] alongside a couple of fantasy Dots […] these were fussy additions. Likewise, the video montage on the blank-canvas screen during the finale, depicting the cast in rehearsal, came off like artists patting themselves on the back.

Production Reviews

• 2008 Broadway Revival

“Down by the Blue Purple Yellow Red Water” by Ben Brantley, New York Times.  2/22/2008  LINK  

“By George, Revival’s Pretty as a Picture” by Clive Barnes, New York Post.  2/22/2008  LINK  

• 2006 Reprise Theatre Production

“Sunday in the Park with George” by Terri Roberts, Theater Mania.  LINK 
"Sunday in the park with George" by Sharon Perlmutter, Talking Broadway  LINK

• 2012 Chicago Shakespeare Theatre Production

“In ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ love and work are no walk in the park” by Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune. 10/04/2012  LINK 

“Hats Off to Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s ‘Sunday in the Park’” by Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times.  10/04/2012  LINK 

• 2013 Théâtre du Châtelet Production

"Pointillism dotted" by Jean-Marcel Humbert, Forum Opera.  04/15/2013  LINK

"Sunday in the Park with George, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris" by Francis Carlin, Financial Times.  04/19/2013  LINK

• 2004 Ravinia Festival Staged Concert

“Layers of meaning reveal themselves in vivid 'George'” by Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times.  09/06/2004  LINK

“For the most part Ravinia's Sunday is on Point” by Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune.  09/08/2004  LINK

Production History

Original Broadway Production

Booth Theatre, (5/02/1984 - 10/13/1985)

New York, New York

Lames Lapine, Director

Tony Straiges, Scenic Designer

Mandy Patinkin as GEORGE

Bernadette Peters as DOT/MARIE

Regional Theatre Premiere, American

Terrace Theatre of the Long Beach Civic Light Opera Company, (10/16/1986 – 11/02/1986)

Long Beach, California

Fran Soeder, Director

Tony Straiges, Scenic Designer

Robert Yacko as GEORGE

Pamela Myers as DOT/MARIE

Original London Production

Lyttelton Theatre of the Royal National Theatre, (3/15/1990 – 6/16/1990)

London, England

Steven Pimlott, Director

Tom Cairns, Scenic and Costume Designer

Philip Quast as GEORGE

Maria Friedman as DOT/MARIE

Regional Theatre Premiere, London

Haymarket Theatre, (10/15/1999 - 11/13/1999)

Leicester, England

Paul Kerryson, Director

Adrian Rees, Scenic and Costume Designer

Dave Willetts as GEORGE

Josefina Gabrielle as DOT/MARIE

Notable American Regional Production

Eisenhower Theater of the Kennedy Center, (5/21/2002 – 6/28/2002)

Washington, DC

Eric Schaeffer, Director

Derek McLane, Scenic Designer

Raul Esparza as GEORGE

Melissa Errico as DOT/MARIE

Notable Concert Version

Ravinia Festival Pavilion, (9/3/2004 – 9/4/2004)

Highkand Park, Illinois

Lonnie Price, Director

James Doone, Scenic Designer

Michael Cerveris as GEORGE

Audra McDonald as DOT/MARIE

            Patti LuPone as YVONNE/BLAIR DANIELS

Notable American Regional Production

UCLA Freud Playhouse of the Reprise Theatre Company, (01/30/07 - 02/11/07)

Los Angeles, California

Jason Alexander (yes that one), Director

Bradley Kaye, Scenic Designer

Manoel Feliciano as GEORGE

Kelli O'Hara as DOT/MARIE

Most Recent Broadway Production

Studio 54, (2/21/2008 - 6/29/2008)

New York, New York

Sam Buntrock, Director

David Farley, Scenic Design

Daniel Evans as GEORGE

Jenna Russel as DOT/MARIE

Most Recent American Regional Production

Chicago Shakesphere’s Courtyard Theater, (9/26/2012 – 11/11/2012)

Chicago, Illinois

Gary Griffin, Director

Kevin Depinet, Scenic Designer

Jason Danieley as GOERGE

Carmen Cusack as DOT/MARIE

Most Recent International Production

Theatre du Chatlet, (4/15/2013 – 4/25/2013)

Paris, France

Lee Blakeley, Director

William Dudley, Scenic Design and Video Projections

Julian Ovenden as GEORGE

Sophie-Louise Dann as DOT/MARIE