Sunday in the Park with George Reviews

Broadway World- Highly Recommended

"...Phillips brings an easy blend of moodiness and awkwardness to the titular artist. You get why the ladies of Paris find this George alluring and mysterious as well as inaccessible. With the original Broadway production immortalized on American Playhouse, George's first portrayer, Mandy Patinkin, is a brutally tough act for any actor to follow. But Phillips, who sings powerfully and has been upping his southland stage game recently, carries the show quite ably."

Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended

"...Phillips, whom I recently reviewed in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, transforms wonderfully as the dual Georges. As Seurat, Phillips - except when voicing dogs to comedic effect - is focused, confined. His physicality is limited, and his voice, though strong and resplendent, has a sharp tonality that reflects George's lasered attention: cold to all except his artistry. On the other hand, Seurat's mistress and model, the aptly named Dot (a lovely Krystina Alabado), radiates with warmth."

LA Splash- Highly Recommended

"...Carefully helmed by director Sarna LaPine, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a vivid picture-perfect rendition which could have been designed by Sondheim himself. Lyrics are witty, clever - and, of equal importance - audible and understandable - with the aid of gently lilting tunes rising from a live orchestra located at the back of the stage and nearly invisible. Talented vocalists are experts in acting - and enunciation (a vital combination for the show). This is a very well-selected ensemble cast who keep to the spirit of Seurat's vision."

Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended

"...Stephen Sondheim’s most personal musical, Sunday In The Park With George, finally gets what L.A. Sondheim lovers have long prayed for, a superbly performed, stunningly designed, rarer-than-rare big-stage revival that had its Pasadena Playhouse opening night audience swooning with joy."

ArtsBeatLA- Somewhat Recommended

"...Director Sarna Lapine’s decision to place the musicians upstage behind a gauzy scrim affects at least of two aspects of the show negatively. The first is that the scrim, not pulled taut and see-through, makes a poor screen, and designer Tal Yarden’s projections can only be dimly seen upon it. The second and more crucial problem is that the musicians take up stage space that is needed for the classic Act One ending in which the ensemble recreates the painting in a living tableau, and what should be a coup de théâtre ends up looking like a squashed version of the art. It’s still a solid rendition of a brilliant play, but these decisions end up damaging the overall quality of the production."

TheatreMania- Highly Recommended

"...Everything works in this production. There may not be anything groundbreaking about it, but then again, why reinvent something already so good? It gives Angelenos the gift of Sondheim, and there are few greater gifts for theatergoers."

Entertainment Weekly- Highly Recommended

"...Sondheim was not one for sentimentality, and in many ways, Sunday essays that, acknowledging the complex costs of artistry while also surmising that finishing the hat is worth it in the end. This production, which runs through March 19, is a resounding endorsement of that belief."

Haines His Way- Recommended

"...The Pasadena Playhouse is presenting a five-month Sondheim Festival and their first major offering is Sunday, in a scaled-down version that was originally seen in New York’s Encore series of staged concerts that later transferred to Broadway for a short run. Director Sarna Lapine, with all her tech collaborators on board, has re-created the show for Southern California audiences. The masterstroke was using Michael Starobin’s original orchestrations for a 13-piece chamber orchestra. The musical score, conducted by Andy Einhorn, sounds glorious, also aided by the pitch-perfect sound design by Danny Erdberg & Ursula Kwong-Brown. The cast of 22, led by Graham Phillips as painter George and Krystina Alabado as his model and mistress Dot, sound heavenly in the group numbers."

Ticket Holders LA- Recommended

"...What Pasadena Playhouse and Miss Lapine have managed to create here is an enormously well-appointed effort featuring a large and gifted cast, Alison Solomon's smoothly fluid choreography, and exquisite production designs including Clint Ramos' glorious costuming and Tal Yarden's impressive projections depicting gigantic renderings of Seurat's canvas in various stages of completion. Every aspect is further enhanced by a glorious 14-piece orchestra under the award-worthy leadership of orchestrator and musical director Andy Einhorn."

Its Not About Me- Recommended

"...I’m totally grateful to the Pasadena Playhouse for giving me (and all of us SoCal denizens,) the opportunity to finally see this very celebrated Stephen Sondheim musical! Sunday In The Park With George was first produced on Broadway in 1984 and I can’t believe that my uber-cultured self had never seen it. How did that happen? Growing up in New York, I’ve rarely missed a professional musical since I was four! So this was a treat."

The Hollywood Times- Highly Recommended

"...Without question, Pasadena Playhouse has gone all out to put on a lavish production of Sunday in the Park with George. From costumes to scenery, music to company size, everything is nothing less than top-notch. If you are considering attending a musical this year in Southern California, you cannot go wrong with this admirable celebration of Stephen Sondheim."