Sunday in the Park with George [Original Cast Recording]

by Sunday In The Park With George / O.C.R.

Overview

Stephen Sondheim's musical, inspired by the life and work of the French pointillist (or, as he preferred to be known, chromo-luminarist) painter Georges Seurat (1859-1991), is one of his most beguiling and challenging works, but one that won't necessarily appeal to every taste. The music is, on one level, an homage to Seurat's most celebrated painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," and could easily be the finest dramatization of a work of art and the life of an artist this side of Alexander Korda's film Rembrandt. But this is also a sweet, sad, profound, and ultimately elevating meditation on life and the creative process. Sunday in the Park with George moves with lightning swiftness between brittle passages, many centered on frustration, and soaring, achingly beautiful sections. It engages in a fair amount of wry comedy in the process, mostly at the expense of its characters, and, more importantly, the worlds of modern art, multimedia art, and new age music, among other '80s cultural fixtures. Clearly we're not talking about Gypsy or A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum here, in terms of entertainment (though there are a few broad moments for the ensemble, which include Charles Kimbrough and Brent Spiner), but Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters turn in brilliant performances together on "Color and Light," "We Do Not Belong Together," "Move On," "Children and Art"; the entire ensemble excels in "Sunday," and "Finishing the Hat" is worth the price of the CD by itself. The sound is clean, although the quiet passages could have been mastered at a slightly higher volume level. (Note: Along with Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George is one of a pair of Sondheim musicals that exist in complete form as commercial video releases featuring their original casts). ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	05/31/2011
Label:	Masterworks / Masterworks Broadway / Sony Classical
UPC:	0886979025929
Rank:	101547

Tracks

1. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Sunday in the Park with George
2. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. No Life
3. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Color and Light
4. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Gossip
5. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. The Day Off
6. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Everybody Loves Louis
7. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Finishing the Hat
8. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. We Do Not Belong Together
9. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Beautiful
10. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 1. Sunday
11. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 2. It's Hot up Here
12. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 2. Chromolume #7 / Putting It Together
13. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 2. Children and Art
14. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 2. Lesson #8
15. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 2. Move On
16. Sunday in the Park with George~Act 2. Sunday
17. Sunday in the Park with George~Putting It Together
18. Sunday in the Park with George~Sunday

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bernadette Peters   Primary Artist,Vocals
Mandy Patinkin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Brent Spiner   Primary Artist,Vocals
Julie Andrews   Primary Artist,Vocals
Christopher Durand   Primary Artist,Vocals
Stephen Collins   Primary Artist,Vocals
Scott Frankel   Primary Artist,Vocals,Musical Director
Charles Kimbrough   Primary Artist,Vocals
Robert Westenberg   Primary Artist,Vocals
Michael Rupert   Primary Artist,Vocals
William Parry   Primary Artist,Vocals
Melanie Vaughan   Primary Artist,Vocals
Cris Groenendaal   Primary Artist,Vocals
Dana Ivey   Primary Artist,Vocals
Nancy Opel   Primary Artist,Vocals
Mary d'Arcy   Primary Artist,Vocals
Rachel York   Primary Artist,Vocals
Broadway Chorus   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Judith Moore   Primary Artist,Vocals
The American Theatre Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Barbara Bryne   Primary Artist,Vocals
Christopher Durang   Vocals
Paul Gemignani   Conductor,Musical Direction
Kurt Knudson   Vocals
James Lapine   Director
Sunday in the Park with George Cast Ensemble   Choir/Chorus
Sunday in the Park with George Pit Orchestra   Orchestra

Technical Credits

Paul Goodman   Audio Engineer,Engineer
Thomas Z. Shepard   Audio Production,Producer
Steven Berkowitz   A&R
Wilmer Wise   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Gregory K. Squires   Editing
Eileen Folson   Performer
Darcy Proper   Reissue Producer,Mastering Engineer
Leslie Scott   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Richard Henrickson   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Jay David Saks   Producer
Didier C. Deutsch   Reissue Producer
Peter Jones   A&R,A&R Assistance
Matt Kelly   Tape Research
Matthew Kelly   Tape Research
Anthony Salvatore   Engineer
Marilyn Reynolds   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Ted Sperling   Performer
Stephen Sondheim   Composer,Lyricist,Tape Research
Darren Salmieri   A&R
Eugene J. Moye   Performer
Maxine Roach   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Patti Matheny   A&R
Les Scott   Performer
Ronald Carbone   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Cecilia Hobbs   Performer
Gayle Dixon   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Michael Starobin   Programming,Orchestration
Sandra Billingslea   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Michael Hinton   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Sheila Reinhold   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Jane T. Brier   Literary Supervision,Editorial Supervision
James Lapine   Book,Dialogue
Mathilde Pincus   Music Preparation Supervisor
Veronica Salas   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Robert Kimball   Liner Notes
Roxanne Slimak   Art Direction
Richard Jay-Alexander   Liner Notes
Ron Sell   Performer
John Jellison   Cast
Joy Gilbert Monfried   Project Director
Al Hunt   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Michelle Rigan   Cast
Robert Ayers   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Karl Bargen   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Elizabeth A. Wright   Editorial Director
Ronald Sell   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Georges Seurat   Cover Art
Nancy Lee Swift   Literary Supervision,Editorial Supervision
Marian Guest   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Tom Morse   Engineer
Paul Ford   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role,Performer
Cecelia Hobbs   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Beth Schwartz Robinson   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Sydney Kaufman   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Katsuko Esaki   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Sue Anne Gershenson   Cast
Sidney Kaufman   Performer
Joseph J. Stelmach   Art Direction
Martha Swope   Photography
Beth Schwartz-Robinson   Performer
Steve Berkowitz   A&R
Christine Ambrose   Music Preparation Supervisor
Richard Henrikson   Performer
Eugene Moye   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Sunday in the Park with George Cast Ensemble   Cast
Theodore Sperling   Performer,Unknown Contributor Role
Eileen M. Rolson   Unknown Contributor Role
Frank Dikinson   Consultant
Mike Kull   Tape Research
Joy Gilbert Manfried   Project Director
Danielle Ferland   Cast
Evan Paris   Musician,Performer,Unknown Contributor Role