Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created "Sunday in the Park with George" *(Epub)
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the iconic musical Sunday in the Park with George Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. In 1982, James Lapine, at the beginning of his career as a playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, nineteen years his senior and already a legendary Broadway composer and lyricist. Shortly thereafter, the two decided to write a musical inspired by Georges Seurat’s nineteenth-century painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friend - ship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning classic. Read more
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Why Must Read Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created "Sunday in the Park with George"?
I have longed and hoped for the creation of this book. Sunday in the Park with George opens a window on the very real and timeless conflict that exists between genius imaginative creativity and day to day life and relationships. I saw original production, twice, with the original stellar Mandy Patinkin / Bernadette Peters cast. I once lived down the block from Mr Sondheim; my late brother’s family produced Broadway hits until the 1940s; and, lastly, when I was 4 years old my Dad lied about my age so that the usher would let me in to see my first musical. We felt a failure as a family if we didn’t see a new musical in its first weeks of performance. So I clapped my hands in glee when this wonderful book arrived. But here’s the downside. I had to return it. The production quality is abysmal; the reproduction of images is as if someone sloppily took photos of the originals with their phone. I am shocked one of the very best and most reliable publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux let this book leave its warehouse in this condition. Especially as we all would have been happy to pay double, triple or more for higher quality paper and image reproduction. I feel awful for Mr Sondheim and Mr Lapine and for everyone interviewed by Mr Lapine and for the FSG editing team. They deserved better than for this historic book to fall victim to a terrible print job.
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