James Lapine, Librettist
Interestingly enough, James Lapine originally majored in
History at the Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He went on to get an MFA in Design from the
California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. After grad school he moved to New York where
he held an assortment of part time and freelance jobs. He eventually got a teaching position at Yale
as an advertising design professor.
There he had the experience to direct a play during the annual January
period when both faculty and students undertook a project outside of their
areas of study or expertise. He then
changes his career to peruse theatre full time.
His credits span far and wide as a playwright, a director in both film
and theatre. He has been nominated for a
Tony Award a total or 10 times, winning 3 of them.
IBDB.com JamesLapine.com
Sunday in the Park
with George, a Book Musical in Two Acts
Synopsis
Act I. A Sunday in
Paris in 1884. Georges, an artist, is seated in a park on the island of La
Grande Jatte. Georges starts to draw. For Dot, his model and long-suffering
lover, standing in the sun, it's just another day.
In the painter's studio, Dot sits at a vanity mirror
powdering her face, while, in an identical rhythm, Georges dabs spots of red
and purple and white on his new painting. She is preparing to go to the Follies
with him, but his painting proves more important -he has to stay to finish a
hat. Dot leaves in a rage, realizing that for Georges, his art will always come
first.
Returning to the park on another Sunday sometime later,
Georges. paints two women called Celeste as gossip about these poor deluded
artists. Dot, pregnant, has a new lover, a baker called Louis. True, he's not
what she had in mind, but, in a way, his pastries are works of art.
Georges is sorry Dot has left, but that is his life: he
watches the world go by, while he sits at his easel, lost in some tiny detail.
When she comes by with their child, he does not even look up. Dot and Louis
will take the baby to America.
In the park, the Old Lady - Georges' mother - urges him to
paint, and preserve, everything that is beautiful before it disappears, before
new buildings obliterate the trees. Even as Georges insists that change is
beautiful, his mother pines for the old view. Around him, the park fills with
characters, squabbling and fighting until Georges calls for "order"
and "balance". He commences to re-arrange the people and the trees
and, from the chaos, assembles a peaceful promenade on La Grande Jatte. Harmony
at last. As the fractious ensemble comes together to form his painting, Georges
freezes his models in their final poses.
Act II. It is now
1984 and Georges' work is on exhibition in America, where his and Dot's
daughter Marie, as old as the painting, have come to see it.
With her is her grandson, another George, another artist.
Although he's never really believed that the woman in the picture is his
grandmother, his latest commission, a big white electrical machine with a
sphere on top called Chromolume #7, is his own way of commemorating the famous
painting. George and Marie narrate the history of Georges Seurat. After the
performance the museum's Director announces that the new condominium
development above the gallery is now open for viewing. The inconsequential
chit-chat is depressing, but necessary. George is making connections which can
lead to exhibitions. As the glittering guests drift off to dinner, Marie looks
at her mother in the painting, and trying to relate her to her young grandson.
But Marie dies and George is invited to present his
Chromolume in Paris. The island of La Grande Jatte is now a cacophony of
concrete towers and the park his supposed great-grandfather painted has
dwindled away to a tiny patch of grass. George misses Marie. And, as he thinks
of her, Dot appears.
Despite his protestations that he has nothing more to say in
his art, she urges him to move on and, as he reads the words Dot's Georges
scribbled in her book a century ago, the original promenaders re-convene for
one more perfect Sunday. George looks again at the book: "A black page or
canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities . . . " The stage fades to
white, and Dot slowly disappears.
SOURCE
CHARACTERS
Act 1, 1884:
Georges - An artist, bearded and brooding, and determined to
perfect a new technique of painting
Dot - Georges' model, mistress and the mother of his child
Jules - Another painter, popular and wealthy at the time
Yvonne - Jules' wife
Louise - Their daughter
An Old Lady - A regular stroller in the park and also Georges'
mother, though she's not eager to advertise the relationship
The Old Lady's Nurse
Celeste #1, Celeste #2 - Two pretty gossips
Louis - A baker who kneads dough and needs Dot
Mr and Mrs - Two crass tourists from the United States
Franz - A servant
Frieda - A cook
A Boatman - The owner of a black dog, Spot
Act 2, 1984:
George - An artist, but one who spends more time massaging
potential sources of commissions than his predecessor.
Marie - Dot's daughter by the first Georges, now old and
wheelchair-bound
Bob Greenberg - A museum director, preoccupied keeping up
with the new
Naomi Eisen - Composer of the music for Georges' Chromolume
presentations
Blair Daniels - An art critic who once championed George but
now thinks he's just repeating himself
Harriet Pawling - A wealthy patron of the arts
Elaine - Georges' ex-wife
Billy Webster - A friend of Harriet's
Lee Randolph - The museum's publicist
Dennis - A technician at the museum
Betty and Alex - Other artists
Charles Redmond - A visiting curator of the County commissions
to dispense
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
·
Gottfried, Martin. "Everybody's Got The Right To
Be Different." Sondheim. New
York: H.N. Abrams, 1993. 155-66. Print.
This is a great book which
includes a brief description of the making of the show as well as an in depth analysis
of the piece as a whole. (I own this book, I found it very helpful but could not find it for free online.) Amazon.com
·
Swain, Joseph P. "Sondheim's Broadway
Musicals." Music & Letters 76.1 (1995): 132-35.Oxford University Press. Web.
A critical analysis of
Sondheim’s shows on Broadway also including opinions from other reviews and
essays written. PDF
·
Sondheim’s Sunday: Art, Broadway Musicals, and
Personal Relationships by Sandor Goodhart, Ph.D.
This is a transcript of a
lecture delivered at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on October 19, 2012. It goes into detail about what the show is
about and how all the themes of the show fit together as a whole. PDF
·
Sunday In The park With George: A Musical Curation By Amy
Riordan
This analysis serves to
reveal the strong interconnectedness between museums and theatre ... Sondheim
redirects the focus from Seurat's innovative pointillist style to a focus on
the relationship between artist and artwork, allowing for artist and painting
to converse. PDF
