What does it mean to be an artist? How do you stay true to your work while toeing the line between art and business? How do you create without hurting the ones you love?
The Pasadena Playhouse’s stellar new production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” sets out to answer these very questions. Set on the literal backdrop of Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” the first act follows Graham Phillips as the renowned painter and Krystina Alabado as Dot, his muse, as he sketches people sitting by the water on the island — all of whom become still images in the painting.
The show, which opened on Sunday as the first mainstage production of the Playhouse’s season-long “Sondheim Celebration,” is a continuation of the 2017 Broadway production, which originally starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford. Directed by Sarna Lapine, who also directed the 2017 show and is the niece of James Lapine, the production takes a somewhat minimalist approach to the musical. The staging is simple, the set pieces are minimal and many of the costumes — although they use traditional period silhouettes — are more color blocked instead of ornately detailed like the original 1984 production’s costumes.
The production’s austere direction also makes stunning use of projection, designed by projection designer Tal Yarden, to show Seurat sketching, erasing and painting in real time. As he messes up, black and white sketches fade away behind the actors, and in numbers like the phenomenally performed “Color and Light,” the audience sees Seurat’s infamous Pointillist dots appear as he paints on stage.
This kind of staging also allows for a fascinating new look at James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s 1984 work from a modern lens. In 2023, it’s quite possibly more difficult than ever to create art and make a living from it, and Phillips perfectly captures Seurat’s tortured artist persona that rings all the more true today, especially to any theatre artist in the audience. However, unlike other actors who have played Seurat, Phillips allows more empathy for the character than he sometimes gets in productions of “Sunday.” The sadness and difficulty that comes with being an artist’s muse shine through in this production as well — Alabado’s performance as Dot is heart-wrenching and powerful. Audience members audibly gasp upon hearing the news that Dot is pregnant or when it’s revealed that George has painted over her sketch with a different model.
In act two, Seurat’s great-grandson struggles with the same issues faced 100 years prior as he speaks at the Art Institute of Chicago (where the real “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” resides today). This century, he deals with a boring, corporate art world as he struggles to balance taking on commissions to live while also creating something new and exciting.
This act is particularly where scenic designer Beowulf Boritt and lighting designer Ken Billington’s work shines through. When George reveals his “chromolume” (or rather, his seventh chromolume as he struggles to come up with something new and his assistant considers leaving him to work at NASA), all the stage lights dim to reveal a fantastic light show, where rigs descend from the ceiling from all sides of the Playhouse’s theater. The display is stunning — until it’s shut down in a smokey explosion.
This production revitalizes and adds new conversations to an already fascinating work of theatre, particularly because of the newly reinvigorated love for Sondheim since his passing, as well as the fact that it’s being produced in Los Angeles in 2023. As the show argues, corporate culture and art are constantly at odds with each other, but in a city such as this where so many people must try to make a living, creating art is what can keep you going.
“Sunday in the Park with George” is on stage at the Pasadena Playhouse now through March 19.