Sunday In The Park With George

You know, reviewing this DVD made me feel like a staff writer for Penthouse magazine; no matter how well the article was written and prepared or how enthusiastic the author, it would be lost to the general readership. Everyone clamours for the big blockbuster movies and ignores the sometimes more artistic side of film. So what is Warner Vision's "Sunday In The Park With George" about?

It is a play which is a fictional tale about real life Parisian artist George Seurat who lived in the later half of the 1800's. His greatest work is called 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jette'. It is quite seminal piece of work; it uses a then unique style which is discussed at length in the film. The piece itself is a quasi-Impressionist 'slice of life' picture of a lazy Sunday afternoon on an island on the Seine which is a drawcard for the rich and working class alike. An idyllic view of post-revolutionary, egalitarian France?

Seurat lived a lonely life by choice - his 31 years on this earth only allowed him a handful of paintings; however he seems to be regarded as quite influential in this period.

There are two acts to this play - Act 1 details the two years it took to complete this painting and the toll it took on his personal life and the people he loved. Ultimately it would kill him and alienate those who loved him.

In quite a remarkable turn, Act 2 details the modern era, with Seurat's daughter and grandson paying homage to Seurat's work by their own sacrifices for art. The audience is asked to compare and contrast art and the compromises needed to create it then and now. The price of their art, both in dollar terms and personal costs is startlingly apparent.

It is quite remarkable in that the same ensemble of actors play both eras (differing roles of course). Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope's Dr. Geiger) plays both Seurat and Seurat's grandson. Stage and film veteran Bernadette Peters plays Dot (Seurat's neglected lover). She also plays Seurat's elderly daughter in the modern era.

This play is written and directed by James Lapine, scored by Stephen Sondheim; both recognisable even by a theater neophyte like myself. It must be noted that this is a very unconventional play - it has little dancing or singing and the whole thrust of the play might seem a bit specious and esoteric at times. It is also quite long at 146 minutes, however this is quite normal for a stage production. You might want to use that intermission.

In essense, this DVD brings the 'theater' back into 'home theater'. It must be noted that this is a fictional account of Seurat's like - very little known about him and like all good artists, he never sold a single piece of work and he died penniless and in sickness. His work was not well regarded in its time. Only in death does he receive recognition...

I would hazard a guess that this was recorded on low-end professional analog video tape/cameras as the age of the film is quite visible. There seems to be an omnipresent 'schmear' of vaseline - the borders of colours seems to blend together. Perhaps the pastel colours emphasises this. The colours seem a little drab as well with decent blacks and shadows. I think you'll find the lowish stage lighting is causing this effect.

There is nothing here that would cause problems for the PAL MPEG2 compression - there's little fast movement, the age of the film, the limited depth of view of the stage and the rather even contrast means that there is nothing here that would make DVD better than the VHS if it existed. It is 4:3 as well and not 16:9 as the case says.

This a live analog recording of a play performed way back in the mid 80's. It is Dolby 2.0 at 256k/s. The dynamic range is quite good with the tinkles of triangles and the bass of tympany drums quite palpable. Vocal intelligibility is also quite good, a must for material of this nature.

You can forget about standards which you might be used to - this is a simple and unobtrusive rendition of a live play - you get a stereo soundstage of the actors on stage but the music seems to be disembodied; understandable when the orchestra pit is away from the microphones' focus.

All in all, the old style presentation works here - the music is of hi-fidelity and it sounds like a play should. You would not expect a full blown dts 5.1 presentation because that would be incredibly fake.

There is also a commentary done by Lapine, Sondheim, Patinkin and Peters. It is done without a muted background soundtrack so you get the four voices and the silent picture. Strangely, this commentary style works in this medium. Perhaps the rather simple storyline helps?

The commentary took place in 1998 which is over a decade after the play so there are a lot of insights into the theater process if that floats your boat. I would say that the principals have aged and matured quite a bit.

In any case their enthusiasm and affection for this particular production is very apparent in the participants' obvious candour - remarkable after that period of time.

In essense the audio and video presentation is fine because the base material is quite undemanding of the MPEG2 compression process. All you could hope for is that the DVD does not get in the way and it presents the play as faithfully as possible - which it does.

Skimpy. Very skimpy. I would think that a simple biography of the subject matter and perhaps some dates of when this play was actually performed would be nice. I think this is par for the course for Warner Vision. I think their idea is that music DVD's are an extension of music CD's so little in the way of extras is required or expect. Wrong.

Perhaps a still frame gallery of Seurat and his short body of work? No.

There's no cast bios or anything you might expect on other discs. There is an awards menu however (yawn) and the usual subtitles/audio menu. This is rather strange as the production dates on this disc are from last year and the play dates back to 1986... so this is all the extra material they could come up with?

Look, the only people I can see buying this DVD are Patinkin/Peters/Sondheim fans or diehard theater buffs. To be honest, the material is too much 'art' for most people (a fictional play based on the life of a impressionist?)

However I feel that if chardonnay and showtunes and American Playhouse and Broadway musicals and $100+ theater tickets are a part of your life, you'll love this disc...

If there's one thing that disappointed me it was the fact that Mandy Patinkin's incredibly fine singing voice was underutilised. I drew this DVD out of the review basket because every time Patinkin exercises his lungs, I cannot but help but be mesmerised by his distinctive singing voice - and this is from a beginner classical/opera/theater fan. I am currently listening to Eminem so my tastes are rather strange.

All in all, I got more out of this simple play than I expected.