Compassionate Curmudgeon

Sunday Love Song

In Craig Zadan's book Sondheim & Co., Stephen Sondheim is quoted on the subject of the music in Sunday in the Park with George:

The way the score was constructed was based on the relationship of the two central characters. Theirs is a continuous and continuing love song that isn't completed until the end of the show. In the song "Sunday in the Park with George", Dot, in one section, begins a lyrical theme, which is her affection and her love for George. This is picked up later in "Color and Light", and it develops and starts to reach a climax, and just at that point, they break off and they speak.

Then in "We Do Not Belong Together" it's picked up and further developed as if it's almost where they left off, and ends with an unrhymed line where she sings, "I have to move on." And when their love is finally consummated, which is the end of the second act, it all comes together and becomes a completed song in "Move On". "Move On" is a combination of all the themes involving their relationship, including every harmony and every accompaniment; it's where everything culminates. Only it's over a period of four major scenes covering a hundred years. It's one way of threading the theme through time.

I thought it would be fun to edit those parts together. I ran into some problems because of the Youtube limit of ten minutes, so some material that I would have liked to include is cut, but here is the Love Music of George and Dot.

Posted by jt at March 19, 2008 09:22 AM