SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University (November 20, 2014)
Directed By Ken Savage
Music Direction by Joel Chapman
Costume Design by Asia Chiao
Lighting Design by Ariana Johnson
This minimal production of Sunday in the Park with George sold out two performances in Stanford's 700-seat Dinkelspiel Auditorium. Inspired by George's final line in the show, "White. A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities" the figures in the famous A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grand Jatte were costumed in white to represent the blank canvas upon which our artist George would paint characters and colors. In Act 2 our design shifted to black and splashes color, then culminated in white once again in the finale.
REVIEW: Sunday in the Park with George: In Concert - A Ken Savage Production
( The Stanford Daily - December 2, 2014)
"It is a difficult work to execute properly, but Savage’s cast and orchestra do justice to the highly acclaimed musical."
"the production transcended its limitations, epitomizing what student theater should look like. Under the careful guidance of Ken Savage, “Sunday in the Park with George: in concert” made me forget that I was in Dinkelspiel Auditorium and not on Broadway"
REVIEW: Art, and what it means: A look at Sunday in the Park with George in Concert (Stanford Arts Review - December 11, 2014)
"Ken Savage’s stark and haunting staging of this mammoth work left his viewers contemplating the cost of their passions while providing hope for the possibility of creating something permanently beautiful and valuable."
"There was very little that lacked in the piece, a testament to Savage’s precision in enacting a clear vision. Savage skillfully utilized timing, distance, and energy on the bare stage to achieve beautiful images and expose interesting power dynamics between actors."
George and his muse Dot © Frank Chen
Jules and Yvonne critiquing Seurat's work © Frank Chen
© Frank Chen
©Yuto Watanabe
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte © Frank Chen
Act 2 George overwhelmed by the pressures of the art world © Frank Chen
George and his grandmother Marie © Yuto Watanabe
Young George and Dot reunite © Frank Chen
George's living canvas comes back to inspire him © Frank Chen