Jacobs - Twinkle, Shimmer, And Buzz

8/2/2019 Jacobs - Twinkle, Shimmer, And Buzz

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Twink le , sh immer and buzzThe stars of the Roundabout's Sunday talk Sondheim and art

W

e tcel like we re brinf^mfi ithome," sa\ 's British aetor DanielEvans of Sunday in the Park With

(Teorge. Stephen Sondheim ami James Lapine 's1">S4 Pulitzer IVize-winnini* musical thatKoundabout Theatre Company is re^^^'ing on

PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

Broadwiiy (Feb. 21-April 27, 2{)()S). Direeteii hySam Btmtroek. the prothietion beân .-uLondon's t iny Mcnier Choeolate Faetory in20(}f) before movinjí t o the W est Knd. Evans, asGcori^c, anti .lenna Rus.sell. playlnj; Dot/Marie,won Olivier Awards — the ct|iii\aleiit of Tonys— for their w<»rk. Both é""asp ho« profound thememories a re of SinuUiy's orig ina l s ta rs . Manih 'I ' ii t inkiii iuul Hcr nade tte I 'e ters . "W e ha\e jîâtrespect for it and them, but we have to tlirow itaround.'" Evans says.

Sumlay explores the life of (leoriês Scurat,the Frcneb Neo-lnipressionist painter wh<»scfaseination with the abili ty of the eye. instead

of the l)riish, to fuse eolor let! to his ereation opointil l isin. .\et 1 fiiul.s ( ieor;;e iie\elopiiit; hisn i a s t e rw o rk , A SwuUiy A /teniooii on the IsUind

of La Grande.latte. To expe dite th e story, the, ' iutliors de\ised a fietionnl eharaeter. the afdremeiitioned Dot, as ( îeorjie 's m istre ss. Aet I cli-ma.\es with the eharaeters forminfi a tableaureplieatinü Seurat 's finished painting. Aet IIleaps a eeiitury ahead as (ieorjie 's fictionallíreat-íiraiídson, also an artist i ianieti ( leorßc ,struiiriles to forjê a style ot' his own. His 98-year-old ¿raiuimother, Marie — the il leí>itiniatehild of th e earl ier (ieori>e anil Dot — ean Iielhim if onl\- hell listen.

"Wb started in Lontton at this t in\- theatrewith 150 seats," says E\aiis, who has aeted inth e V.K. sinee aê lH and been on Broadwayonee before, in the Ko\a! ShakespeareC o m p a n y ' s . \ Miiisunnncr Sifiht's Dream in1996, as Lysander. "It was sort of a — I don'twant to say a joke, but a madeap idea of put-tinji SnmUiy on with no money, no «injj sjiaeeami a eeiliiif» so low you eouliln t fly aintlnnü."Buntroek, he says, "was an animator in a different l ife , and he came up with the idea that tf)re-ereate the paintinji. you eoiilil use iUt>italteehnoloy)." Tluis K\ans has hati the bizarre

experienec of acting and sinînî while a \ i i ieoof liimsclf plays on a sereen.

l)istin¿uishintí their performances fromthose of I 'a tinkin, I 'e tcrs anti the main' otheracto rs wlio ha\e played ( ieor^c and Dot wasessential, they say. "Initial rehearsals were diffieult heeause I hail to ban my.self t'rom hearingthe original reeorLÜnji." sa\'s Kwins. "I'll nointerest in inipersoniilinii Mriuiiy PatiiiUin. Thisis ni>- resp ons e to the se p arts . It 's .le nna'sresponse. Hopefully, that 's what people enjoy."

Adds Kussell , who jouieil the Sundity eastinitlwax" through its London runs, "I supposemy fear of lookin;^ at the D\'l) is I nii^ht see

sonic fabulous eomedy business I have to stealor a moment I 've not done. Also, we're sti l l disco\erini^ stuff, beeaiise we've been pla\ inü atthis for a lonji time, .lust toila\'«e iliii our firstrun-throuííh, which was hijihly emotional.W e're siniti inö 'Mo\e O n,' and 1 thoiijílit, 'If thisroom was with the people we normally lia\e inrc i iea rsa l — th is t ime , the authors were there— I would ha%v had a few tears.'"

Canvassing characterslùans ami Kussell seem so iuteriuineJ. on

and off stage, they often finish eaeh other's

scntenees or offer jientle yet intuiti\r anal\-scs20 The Sondheim Review



BY LEONARD JACOBS

ot" c'lc'h otlicr's thoujihts. As Russell discussesher iietinii choices, Evans nods. At the appro-priate numieiit. his tiaiut on her arm. he SUN'S."W h i l l s ^ l o i i o i i . s ¡ i h o i i t , l e n i i ; i i s a l l h e r t i a u ^ í h -

tiiiess, her sen.se of fun. her emotional connec-tion to the role, lier seriousness — it all comesilin)U iili." They fiiiiÄl"-'. iind Russell nod s inkiiul.

Then Kiis.scll coiitiinics: "Stephen Sondheimtold me how his characters sing is how thc>'speak, aiul I think Siniday is a really ¿ood illus-tration dt' soineiiiie s mental state of mind." Inihe openinji (and title) niiniher. for example.Dot. posiiiî l'or (leorjïe. resists beinji station-ary, "There she is. still, yet her mind is raeinfl,"Russell says. "She feels her sweat: she has a

cheeky. l:iii]i;liin]i;-at-lierself inonieiit: she ha.sthese beautiful, hrical hits on how wonderful(leorfie is, then her hraiti races to somcthinjêlse. There's ;i Uit of tlie eliiki in Dot. .\nd I'vealwa\s ihiiutiht her nile is to l(i\e (leoriê aluindred iiiillion billion pereent. Marie's job isto love (icoriic for all his mistakes, to wantwhat's liest tor him. 1 thhiU Do t's like a firefly:Slie's all o\cr tlie plaee. lint when ealleil upon,she's a íírcat. stronj^. e.xtraordinary woman.Like e\eryone. she wants someone to love her.to liivc her a huíí, tell her she's oorjicous."

That i.s what the .\et I (leor;ie, olisesscd withhis work, cannot do. The actors say their per-

forniaiiecs ph'ot at times on a tension theyrelish. I'laxinji a distant figure. K\ans sa\*s. ispeihap.s his hartlcst task. "(îeoriie can beeoki." he says. "( )ne of my ehallenjics is playinjisoineniic sceniin^ly diseonneetcd so that theaiulicnce can empathize, so they think, 'Oh, Iiiiulerstaiul ÍÍeorüe. I hate liim for not ¿ivinjíDot wh.it she ileeils. hut I underMaiui him a lit-tle.' We all ean niulerstaiul obsession, acklie-tioii. I think (leortie ean be warm and funny,tíenenms, nau^hty and dirty. I think he and Dotlia\e ill! aniaziiiii private life tojict her I thinkthey ha\e a wonderful sexual relationship."

"Wiien slie ean peel him away from hispaintintí.' Russell says.

"And once he starts." K\ans eontinues,"what happens for me is the warmth ;iets trans-ferred to the paintinji. It iiets all the waniithand passion, whieh Dot thinks is cold. Me does-n't think lie's cold. [ think he thinks it's hardfor him to sa>\ 'I lo\e von: I need you.'

••.\nd that iiri\es her mental," Russell says."It drives/liiii mental," Kvans adds. "When

we were sinß in^ 'We Do N iit Belon î̂ To gether,' 1.'itirec with almost c\erythin(i she sinjis. (ieoriieantl Dot .should have bcloiiiied tííjiether yet heean't brillo himself to say, 'Don't é"' Thepaintinji is a sort of rcparatiiui. In the painting.

she's in the shade; she has a hat and a parasol.He takes care of her in the painting, whiehhecoiiies world-famous, t think of ihat when weperform, (¡eorjie can't exjîress his lo\e. hut heeaii in his art."

Making the connectionRussell has thoiijiht a lot about Aet 11 of

Swulay. which niaii>' critics consider a slo^.She agrees that the narrative is less linear:Wliereas Act I con cern s S eur at's neeii to finishhis masterwork. Aet II eoiieerns the latter-dayCïeorgc's inability to define his aesthetic voice,liitrodueinji new, eontemporary characters, shesays, makes the actors' jobs harder.

"As at the end of Act I. you have the lo\elv'

paintinii. all the people upthere in their lovelyoutfits, and they ¿o offsuddenly, and it's alt a biteold," Russell says. "It's,AMio are these newpeople? Wiiat about thesecharacters we'\e spent allthis time with, that we'rein lo\-c with?' It takes agood five minutes whereyou feel the audienee

*, "No. stay in thecentury.' Hut they

warm up." After (îeorgeSintis "Putting ItTo;iether." she S in's.Sunday "starts to shrink,in a way; the writing*becomes beautiful, honestand niovin¿. Soon it's really Just (ie(ir;ie ;itulMarie, then just (;cor>;e after she dies."

"Aet II CJcor^c is the other side of the eoin,"adds Eviins. ".lames Lapine said that in Act 1,(ieoriie knows himself, but no one else uniler-staiuls him. In Aet II, everyone understandsCleorê but himself. I think that's rijjht. Themode m George is a brilliant artist who soldout: he's repeating the same okl shit. Mariesays he has a conncetion with his í^rcat-îrand-father, a jireat artist he's e\iiical about. Thenhe lias an epipliany where he reeonneets withhis past. He realizes what he m ust do as a rtist,yes. but also what he must dn as a person." tTSW

LEONARD JACOBS is the national theatre editor of

Back Stage, v/vhere this feature was originally pub-

lished on Jan. 24, 2008. TSR is gratefu l for Back

Stage's permission to repr int.

DANIEL EVANS & JENNA RUSSELL

Evans, who was born in Wales, won his f i rst

Olivier Award in 2001 for playing Charley Kringas

in the London p roduct ion of Sondheim's Merrily

We Roll Along. Evans' other credits include U.K.

product ions of Henry V. Cardiff East, Peter Pan,

Candide, Grand Hotel, The Merchant of Venice,

and Troilus and Cressida.

Russell's credits include three productions at

London's Bridewell Theatre (On a Clear Day You

Can See Forever, Hello Again and The CuttingEdge), playing Sarah Brown in the 2005 West End

revival of Guys and Dolls, and Born and Bred and

Doctor Who on TV.

The Sondheim Review 21

Jacobs - Twinkle, Shimmer, And Buzz

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