This is my last post of the year.  Have to concentrate on vacation and paper.

All about the beauty of pointillism and modern art tried to convey.  Modern art set out to try to capture light in art.  Not like Baroque with its theatrical light, but more in a scientific way, and Sondheim lovingly captures that in this musical.

The story revolves around an affair between Georges Seurat, his model Dot, as he creates Sunday in the Park on the Island of La Grande Jatte.  The play has a multitude of subplots involving the people found in the painting.  We do not know who these people, but Sondheim gave them their own lives and stories.  On the character of Dot, the real Georges Seurat had a relationship with a lady named Madeleine Knobloch and they had a child together who sadly died.  However, I will let that slide since the name Dot references the Pointillist method Seurat practically invented.  As the musical moves forward, Dot grows impatient with George’s artistic temperament and leaves for a nice, boring man.  A little trite, but the story quickly moves past that to present day in the eighties with Seurat’s descendant Henry (they leave this somewhat ambiguous over whether Dot bore a child with the painter).  The lives of the two artists parallel each other as they wrestle with their art and the art business.  Whereas Seurat had very little success during his lifetime (the musical devotes a subplot to that), his contemporary art descendant has instant recognition.  The theme of dots continue as Seurat’s descendant creates a “Chromolume” that remakes La Grande Jatte with technology.  The name Chromolume references Seurat’s original term for Pointillism, known as “Chromo luminarism”.  Reading the final act with the museum and the gab between artists and visitors just reminded me so much of real life.  Not to mention how fleeting fame can feel for an artist.  Sondheim did excellently in creating realistic scenes of museum politics and networking.  Scenes that still happen today.

I have only seen clips of this PBS version, but I read the script and listened to the soundtrack.  I found it very moving and I enjoyed the songs.  From what I have seen of the PBS play and hearing the songs, Mandy Patinkin made a wonderful Seurat with his piercing eyes and passion.  While Sondheim gave the descendants of Seurat a happy ending, it still leaves you in a bittersweet mood.

ETA: Rewrote some sentences.