Sunday in the Park with George

White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to the whole.

So begins Stephen Sondheim’s daring attempt to re-invent musicals by telling the story of a painter who attempts to re-invent painting. Complexities abound: Sunday in the Park with George has distinct halves that are set a hundred years apart and in separate countries; it tells the story of two artists with the same name but it has hardly any plot; it offers nothing simple in its characterisations or themes; it requires aspects of the set to simply appear and disappear; and its music – which attempts to create an aural version of art’s pointillism – is unusually demanding. A lot could have gone wrong, but our ambitiousness in choosing such a difficult show was a challenge met bravely by the talent and determination of our cast, orchestra and crew.

Pictured: Kayla Harris as Dot and Charlie Carroll (VI) as George

Blazing the way were our three brilliant lead performers. As painter Georges Seurat, Archer McBurney (IV) skilfully crafted an aloof, obsessive artist whose brooding intensity (‘Colour and Light’) was softened by moments of childish playfulness (‘The Day Off’)’ and bursts of poetic idealism (‘Finishing the Hat’). As Georges’ greatgrandson, a sculptor also called George, Charlie Carroll (VI) moved with impressive ease from Broadway-style showmanship (‘Putting It Together’) to moments of affecting sensitivity (‘Lesson #8’). And tying all this together was the extraordinary Kayla Harris from Willoughby Girls High, whose soaring voice and resplendent stage presence offset the first George’s coldness with raw emotion (‘We Do Not Belong Together’) and met the second George’s sadness with kindness and warmth (‘Move On’).

Pictured: ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’

These three travelled across an elaborate social backdrop made vivid by the cast’s wonderfully detailed characterisations. In the Paris scenes, Georges’ mother (Emily Emmett) and her nurse (Olivia Pryor) were an unhappy but enjoyable pairing; aristocratic artist Jules (Mark Bergman, VI) and his wife Yvonne (Tiffany Zeng) were a striking mix of goodwill and condescension; and their servants, Franz (Elliott Razavi, V) and Frieda (Eva Johnston), were amusingly resentful and mischievous. Taj Macé (VI) and Benjamin Allton (IV) gave us a pair of comically absurd soldiers, coupled nicely with the playful rambunctiousness of Celeste #1 (Ivy Smith) and Celeste #2 (Evie Young); and, as bewildered and insufferable American tourists, Jonny Davidson (V) and Ollie Bailey (IV) introduced a brief but effective touch of farce. Peter Jones’ (IV) impressively gruff boatman was set in contrast with the exuberantly annoying young Louise (Jasmine Zhang), and Alexander Davidson (V) gave us an endearingly overawed baker.

Pictured: Mark Bergman (VI) as Jules with Archer McBurney (IV) as George

In the New York scenes, in addition to those actors who had already appeared, Angus Sharpe (III) gave us a likeable if oleaginous museum director; Varvara Moldavska was an appropriately prickly art critic; and Kiran Gallego Sivaraman (IV) and Dominic Wee (VI) helped to flesh-out an art gallery crowd that was required to constantly alternate between naturalistic chit-chat and rapid bursts of song. As George’s frail grandmother, Ace Kozak was touchingly sweet, and Freya McIsaac was kind and gracious as George’s ex-wife. Further enriching the show’s two settings was a chorus of sixteen.

Pictured: Mark Bergman with Tiffany Zeng as Yvonne

Also central to the success of Sunday in the Park was the remarkably high standard of its music. Musical Director Dr Nicholas Vines made it clear from the beginning that he had high expectations, and, while the amount of work required to master the score was significant and at times testing, this relentless pursuit of excellence was evident in the quality and precision of every musical item. Mr Anthony Chen and Ben Andronos (VI) played a vital role as our tireless repetiteurs, and, playing a similarly important but much less visible part, the show’s endless practical and technical difficulties were adeptly wrangled by Stage Manager Zain Lutfi (V) and Assistant Stage Manager Rafael Macneall Chapman (IV).

Pictured: Ollie Bailey (IV) and Jonny Davidson (V) as Mrs and Mr

Pictured: Charlie Carroll with Ace Kozak as Marie

There are many moments from Sunday in the Park with George that will linger in the audience’s collective memory – the intricacy and humour of the park scenes, the moving reflections on change and loss - but, fittingly, the show’s most stirring sequence was the ensemble’s singing of ‘Sunday’ at the close of both acts – a song that begins with the dissonance and unhappiness of chaos but magically evolves into a grand and triumphant demonstration of the power of beauty and art.

And so it ends: White – a blank page or canvas. So many possibilities.

Pictured: Peter Jones (IV) as the Boatman and Jasmine Zhang as Louise

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