Sunday in the Park with George Terry Hughes Digital Life DVD

Sunday in the Park with George
starring: Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Barbara Bryne, Mary D'Arcy, Sue Anne Gershenson
directed by: Terry Hughes

List Price: $24.98

Amazon.com's Price: $19.99

You Save: $4.99 (20%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: $12.99
Collectible Price: $29.99
Third Party New Price: $17.45

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 9786305302094
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 630530209X
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 23, 1999
Running Time: 146 minutes
Sales Rank: 5722
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1986

Digital Life
Related Items:

Digital Life
Editorial Review:

Description:
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat is one of the great paintings of the world, and in 'Sunday in the Park with George,' book writer James Lapine and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim bring a story based on the work brilliantly to life. While the painting depicts people gathered on an island in the Seine, the musical goes beyond simply describing their lives. It is an exploration of art, of love, of commitment. Seurat connected dots to create images; Lapine and Sondheim use connection as the heart of all our relationships. Winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Amazon.com essential video:
Stephen Sondheim's landmark 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George is a fictional representation of maverick French Impressionist painter Georges Seurat's efforts to create his masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte. Seurat, played by Mandy Patinkin, is obsessed with his work, to the frustration of his mistress, Dot (Bernadette Peters). Along the way, we meet many other characters--whoever happens to be in the park that Sunday--who eventually become part of the canvas.

Act 2 fast-forwards 100 years. Patinkin now plays Seurat's great-grandson, George, himself a frustrated artist. (Peters plays his grandmother--Seurat and Dot's daughter.) In the score's best-known song, 'Putting It Together,' George (and Sondheim himself) explains the hazards of trying to create art while also confronting the reality of having to pay for it. In a search for inspiration, George travels to the original island where Seurat created the painting. As with Sondheim and cocreator James Lapine's next collaboration, Into the Woods, Sunday is often criticized for redirecting its focus in the second act instead of letting the first act stand by itself as a complete work. The second act, however, is the emotional core of the show, as George confronts all the feelings his great-grandfather had repressed so many years ago.

Stephen Sondheim's brilliant score is remarkable for its combination of vivid colors (listen to his dots of sound that represent Seurat's pointillistic style of painting), character pieces, and sheer beauty. The cast is terrific, and the show, aced out of most of the 1984 Tony Awards by La Cage aux Folles, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Recorded before a live audience, Sunday is especially entertaining on video, as the staging elements bring out the full humor and inventiveness of the show, and it is astonishing to see the disparate characters form themselves into the elements of the familiar painting. So many great musicals are banished to the memories of those who attended live or--even worse--immortalized as inferior movies. Sunday in the Park with George is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in musical theatre, and a must-own for anyone with a passion for it. The DVD includes an audio track with commentary by Sondheim, Lapine, Patinkin, and Peters. --David Horiuchi

Digital Life Reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Sunday in the Park
I purchased this video to show in my art history class. The musical shows such beautiful set designs, and it gives the viewer an idea of the kind of art that Georges Seurat created. My students loved the video, and we enjoyed creating artwork using pointillism.

Rating:

- Mandy Patinkin is a god among men
This is a fabulous production. The quality of cinematography is much higher than earlier Sondheim video releases. This probably has to do with the way that the set design itself tells a story along with the characters. The environment itself is so malleable it's like another character. It's not a simple, straight forward story, though, like Into the Woods or Sweeney Todd, which can make it initially confusing and offputting to the general public. Definitely worth watching though.

Rating:

- A Priceless and Exquisite Rendition of Sunday in the Park
I can't tell you how much this DVD means to me. Since it is impossible to go back in time and watch Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters perform this beautiful musical live, this is literally the next best thing. Mandy, Bernadette, and all the cast does a magnificent job and, trust me, it translates on-screen. I have seen this DVD countless times and everyone of those times the story greatly moves me. Also, the commentary is wonderful as well. I've learned things about the show I would not have known otherwise and really got a glance into the minds of Stephen Sondheim, James Lapin, Mandy Patinkin, and Bernadette Peters. Like I said before, this DVD is priceless... and if you're a Sondheim fan, I'm sure you will think so too!

Rating:

- Look I made a hat, where there never was a hat
One of the most interesting shows in the modern musical era. Sondheim's lyrics shine here, and Peters and Patinkin are a great team. Visually stunning, and a good transfer from the original non-digital recording.

Digital Life

Digital Life is all about
CD's DVD's Music Video Concerts Movies and Software

DVD : Sunday in the Park with George
Digital Life Average Rating:

Digital Life is all about CD's DVD's Music Video Concerts Movies and Software

DVD : Sunday in the Park with George Digital Life Average Rating:

Digital Life is all about
CD's DVD's Music Video Concerts Movies and Software

DVD : Sunday in the Park with George
Digital Life Average Rating: