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DVD-Video / Dual-Layer Disc / Region 1 DISC FEATURES Aspect Ratio(s): Dolby Digital Formats: Subtitles Closed
Captioning: Standard Features: Supplements: List Price: Released
On: CONFUSED BY TERMS? Visit the Glossary Of Terms for help on understanding disc features and specifications. |
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The Musical Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park With George," the musical that garnered the coveted Pulitzer prize for Drama in 1984, comes to DVD in style in this Image Entertainment release. The performance was videotaped on Broadway in front of an audience in 1985 with its original cast in tact. Given that "George" is seldom revived due to the enormous expense and difficulty of producing it on the scale required, this video becomes an important record of one of the landmark musicals of the 1980s The story is at once simple and complex, a bouquet to the creative process and a testament to the trials of creative genius, both to the artist and those who love him. Act One takes place over the course of several Sundays from 1884 to 1886 on the Island of La Grande Jatte as Georges Seurat (Mandy Patinkin) does the preliminary sketches, and eventually the full canvass, for his masterpiece "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." The set design is mind boggling: not the island as it was, but rather the island of the painting, as seen through Seurat's eyes. The story follows Seurat's emotionally complicated relationship with his principle model, Dot (Bernadette Peters). She adores Seurat in part because she recognizes his brilliance even though she doesn't understand it. She longs for him to invest the same kind of interest in her that he gives to his work, even though she knows that is impossible. Seurat, on the other hand, is ruled by his passion for his work, which keeps him at an emotional distance from everyone and everything, "watching the world through a window." The act culminates in a finale in which Seurat takes the chaos of people and conflicting emotions he's encountered on the island, and arranges them into his penultimate masterpiece. In one of those unforgettable moments of the theater, the cast (and the set) slowly and breathtakingly form into the magnificent painting before our eyes. Act Two takes place almost a hundred years later, in 1984, in an American museum at the debut of an electronic "statue" by an artist, also named George, who is a descendant of Seurat. It is a time when business and financial grants decide what art will be produced, rather than the passion of the artist (as George's grandmother points out, "Seurat didn't sell a single painting in his lifetime"). And it is this business aspect that has brought George to a crisis. Unable to find inspiration within himself, he travels to the La Grande Jatte in hopes of finding it. And he does, as he connects with his artistic heritage. "Sunday in the Park With George" is not a musical for everyone's taste. If you're looking for "Singin' in the Rain," you'll be disappointed. But it offers rich rewards for anyone interested in a truly great work of the theater. Video: How Does The Disc Look? Taping a live production presents some peculiar challenges. On the plus side, you get detailed closeups, allowing you to clearly see the actor's expression in a way a theater audience will never see them. I was especially impressed by Peters' performance. When she looks into Seurat's eyes and sings his praises, her adoration is written on her face. On the down side, long shots of a stage performance are problematic. The actors tend to look tiny and the stage exactly like what it is: a box. "George" is no exception. However, long shots are few and far between, and the one difference to the "long-shot" problem is at the close of the first act when the stage and the actors become the painting: the shot is framed so perfectly with the stage filling the screen, that it's almost as if the camera has framed the painting. Stage lighting can also cause some problems on film, but these are also few and far between here. There is some flickering during lighting changes, but nothing that is distracting. The full-frame image is beautifully clear, particularly in the close-ups, which are so lifelike that the actors seem to be in the room with you. For example, you can see the delicate shadings of color on Peters' face, which make her such a tantalizing subject for the painter. I noticed a "jitter" in a couple of spots that lasted for a matter of seconds, and I mean that literally. I don't know what caused them but they were seriously negligible. Also, this disc is RSDL, with the layer change taking place at the "Intermission," so that it is transparent (whether your machine pauses at layer changes or not!) Audio: How Does The Disc Sound? The audio is two channel stereo. Compared to the VHS tape, the sound is an absolute revelation. The vocals and orchestra are very well balanced so that the orchestra doesn't overpower the singers. And both the singing and speaking voices are clearer than I've ever heard in a taped stage production. You barely miss a word. Supplements: What Goodies Are There? There is a full length commentary featuring Sondheim, Patinkin, Peters, and James Lapine (who wrote the script). This commentary was recorded with the four of them around a table, watching the video sans audio. More than just chatting about the play, we get four interesting (and entertaining) people discussing the production, auditioning, casting, the creative process and the theater in general. It is a fascinating chance to sit in with these friends and get to know them. Without a doubt it's the most interesting commentary I've yet to hear. Parting Thoughts a must for anyone who loves the theater.
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