Chutzpah and Genius

Sunday in the Park with George

San Jose Playhouse

December 3, 2022

“Writing about music is like dancing about furniture.” *

I would have loved to be in on that meeting between Stephen Sondheim, writer James Lapine and their producers, sometime in the early ‘80s. It would have been very “It’s a show about nothing!” Or “It’s a hip-hop biography of Alexander Hamilton!”

Or, perhaps “It’s a musical about a painting!”

You couldn’t have blamed the committee of angels for questioning the mental health of their artist friends. And perhaps it’s fitting, because Georges Seurat likely got the same reaction to his idea: using a gazillion tiny dots to represent Parisians recreating in a park.

For that matter, perhaps an element of meshuggeneh is needed for works of genius. Lucky for us, the angels wrote the checks, the off-off-Broadway production made it to the stage (with future stars Kelsey Grammer, Christine Baranski and Brent Spiner playing small roles), and eventually the show about a painting became one of the most esteemed works in musical theater.

Fortunately for South Bay theatergoers, San Jose Playhouse is just crazy and talented enough to take on this nearly impossible work, and to succeed with great flair. Just take the principal role of Seurat, which demands a vocal range from low baritone to falsetto alto, to go with Sondheim’s already-challenging arsenal of quirky intervals, artful repetitions and tongue-cramping patter. Fortunately, local treasure Stephen Guggenheim is up to these demands, and additionally has just the right bearing for the stern, obsessive artist. As imagined here, Georges can cruelly cut loose his lover one minute and the next playfully narrate the voices of his painting’s dogs, a goofy Labrador and frisky terrier. He also demonstrates an egalitarian devotion to his more blue-collar models and an utter dedication to his vision. Guggenheim covers all this ground with aplomb, showing Seurat’s great humanity and imagination.

The heart of the play is Seurat’s whimsically named muse and model, Dot, and here the match is absolutely perfect. Opera San Jose alum Julia Wade, returning from the East Coast to play the part, has the same red hair, fair complexion and clarion soprano that Bernadette Peters brought to the original role. Wade wastes no time in demonstrating her skills with the opening number, “Sunday in the Park with George,” which offers lightning-fast Rossinian patter. She rolls through them like a pro, and gives Dot a fetchingly naive, optimistic twist, no matter how many obstacles her artist lover throws in her way.

The figures in the painting also offer talents a-plenty. Susan Gundunas plays Georges’ mother and gives a poignant account of “Beautiful,” a grief-filled reflection on change. F. James Raasch plays distinct opposites as the oddly gentle Soldier and the brutish Boatman. Krista Wigle lends her particular brand of sunshine to Yvonne and the hugely amusing ugly American tourist, “Mrs.” (to Jim Ambler’s “Mr.”). Jackson Davis gives a particularly rich account of Jules, the older artist who dislikes Georges’ art but respects his talent and ambition.

The sense of ensemble - and the combined directorial skills of the brothers Guggenheim (musical director Stephen and stage director Scott Evan) - are on full display in the famed second-act opener “It’s Hot Up Here.” The painting’s immortalized figures take turns kvetching from their wall in a Chicago museum, and the sheer coordination is stunning to watch. Playing off a recorded soundtrack, the unmoving performers pass lines of song from left to right with the synchronization of a drill team. It’s not just brilliant, it’s also really, really funny.

Another kind of delight comes from the projections by Rick Frendt, Jon Gourdine and Shannon Guggenheim, which create the sensation of traveling through Seurat’s mind as the painting takes form. Later, the projections deliver a dazzling facsimile of the Chromolume, a more technological exploration of light and color developed by Seurat’s great grandson. I remember thinking, back in the mid-nineties, that the second, time-traveling act seemed gimmicky, but computer-produced art has come a long way since then, and the act now seems more relevant.

In the end, it’s still hard to pin down what makes this musical work, but Sondheim works do not come with easy explanations. The themes include the creative process, the idea that sometimes an artist’s most dangerous addiction is art itself, the curse of being ahead of one’s time, the conflict between love and the artistic life, and the desire to reach back through the decades in a search for ancestral connections. But one thing’s for sure: you will leave the theater with your brain buzzing, your eyes newly energized, and the lovely anthem “Sunday” rolling through your head like the green purple yellow red grass. The musical about a painting is just that brilliant, and so is this production.

Through Dec. 11 at 3Below Theatres, 288 S. Second Street, San Jose, $25-$55, 408/404-7711, sanjoseplayhouse.org.

*This is an ever-evolving quote, variously attributed to Martin Mull, Jackson Browne and probably Mark Twain. The furniture is my contribution.

Image: F. James Raasch, MaryTheresa Capriles, Stephen Guggenheim and Osher Fire. Photo by Dave Lepori.

Michael J. Vaughn is the author of 28 novels, including A Painting Called Sylvia, available at Amazon.com. He is also a painter, exhibiting occasionally with Works San Jose and continually at Philz Coffee in Campbell and Los Gatos.