The legend that was Stephen Sondheim was continually putting musical theater on notice. In one moment, the complexities of his lyrics and melodies were taking audiences’ imagination to yet-unexplored worlds. But in the next moment, his songs became instant classics, though never at the expense of the stories being told.
In the 1970s, Sondheim explored the Americanization of Japan ("Pacific Overtures"), a deconstruction of modern show business ("Follies") and the urbanization of American relationships ("Company"). But in 1984, in perhaps his most inspired work, Sondheim asked us to rethink art itself and, as he put it, “the art of making art,” in "Sunday in the Park With George."
Indeed, "Sunday in the Park" concerns George Seurat’s iconic masterpiece, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island La Grande Jatte,” but the musical is much more about the process than the product.
“In ‘Sunday in the Park with George,’ the new show about Seurat … Sondheim demands that an audience radically change its whole way at the Broadway musical,” wrote the New York Times in its opening night review in May 1984. “’Sunday in the Park’ is setting the stage for even more sustained theatrical innovations yet to come.”
“I was 15 years old when I first saw a PBS recording of the original Broadway show,” said Alex Sylek, who portrays George Seurat in the Idaho Shakespeare Festival production of "Sunday in the Park." “From the moment it started until it ended, I didn’t move. And it was the first time I cried at a piece of theater.”
Sylek will be joined by Jillian Kates in the ISF production of "Sunday in the Park." And they’ve performed together before on the ISF stage –something Kates says is a big plus.
“Our chemistry and our comfortability … it’s right there in those moments,” said Kates. “So, the audience can get a sense that they really love each other. Because we do.”
Kates and Sylek visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about preparations for their big opening night, weathering the elements on warm summer nights and the “art of making art.”
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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