An Extraordinary SUNDAY...In Paris

This weekend, I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon listening online to the broadcast of Stephen Sondheim's SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE that was performed last Thursday evening at the Theatre Du Chatelet in Paris. The broadcast is available on Radio France's website until May 25th and is well worth checking out. It helps to have a knowledge of the show, as this is only radio, but it's a remarkable recording of Sondheim's now classic show about the making of art.

This is a particularly extraordinary production  as it has a super-sized orchestra of more than 40 instruments. That's nearly quadruple the pit of 11 that the show was written for as a chamber musical. But, this being Sondheim, it certainly holds up to the upsizing, especially when it gets to the sumptuous and triumphant arrangement of the first act closing number. The show, which had an equally extravagant visual production, was taped live though there is no word on when it might be seen stateside. Hopefully, it will make it to PBS where it would make a wonderful bookend to the original production which made such an impression on me years ago when I first saw it on AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE, starring Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin.