OLD LADY: Manners. Grace. Respect.
YVONNE (Beginning to spank LOUISE): How dare you, young lady!
LOUISE: (SOLDIER and CELESTE #2 reach CELESTE #1)
It’s true. It’s true!
CELESTE #1:
(JULES enters, somewhat sheepishly) What do you want?
SOLDIER:
We’ve come for a visit.
YVONNE:
Where the hell have you been? What are you doing here? CELESTE #1:
I don’t want to say hello to her. Cheap Christmas wrapping.
JULES:
Darling, I came out here looking for Louise. CELESTE #2:
Cheap! Look who is talking. You have the worst reputation of anyone in Paris.
LOUISE:
(Crying) CELESTE #1:
You came to tongue. At least I have a reputation. You could not draw a fly to flypaper!
(BOATMAN enters and begins chasing LOUISE around the stage. MR. and MRS. enter and are caught up in the frenzy. All hell breaks loose, everyone speaking at once, the stage erupting into total chaos)
YVONNE: SOLDIER:
How dare you, Jules! Ladies, you mustn’t fight.
(She goes to him and begins striking him)
CELESTE #2:
I seem to be doingjust fine.
JULES:
Nothing, I swear. CELESTE #1:
Hah. With a diseased soldier!
YVONNE:
Nothing. Look.
(FRANZ drags in FRIEDA) SOLDIER:
Wait just a minute.
Have you been with my husband?
CELESTE #1:
FRIEDA: Disgusting sores everywhere.
Madame, he gave me no choice.
CELESTE #2:
Don’t say that about him.
FRANZ:
What do you mean he gave you no choice?
SOLDIER:
Yes, don’t say that —
JULES: CELESTE #1:
(Letting go of LOUISE, who drifts off to the side) I’ll say whatever I like. You are both ungrateful, cheap, ugly, diseased, disgusting garbage ...
That is not so. Your wife lured me.
FRIEDA: SOLDIER:
Lured you! You all but forced me — Listen here, lady, if in fact there is anything ladylike about you. You should be glad to take what you can get, any way you can get it and I —
JULES:
You are both fired!
FRANZ:
FIRED! You think we would continue to work in your house? CELESTE #2:
You think you know everything. You are not so special, and far from as pretty as you think, and everyone that comes into the shop knows exactly what you are and what —
YVONNE:
Jules, you cannot change the subject. What were you doing?
(Everyone has slowly fought their way to the middle of the stage, creating one big fight. GEORGE and the OLD LADY have been watching the chaos. GEORGE begins to cross stage to exit. Arpeggiated chord, as at the beginning of the play. Everybody suddenly freezes in place)
OLD LADY: Remember, George.
(Another chord. GEORGE turns to the group)
GEORGE: Order.
(Another chord. Everyone turns simultaneously to GEORGE. As chords continue under, he nods to them, and they each take up a position on stage)
Design.
(Chord. GEORGE nods to FRIEDA and FRANZ, and they cross downstage right onto the apron. Chord. GEORGE nods to MR. and MRS., and they cross upstage)
Tension.
(Chord. GEORGE nods to CELESTE #1 and CELESTE #2, and they cross downstage. Another chord. JULES and YVONNE cross upstage)
Balance.
(Chord. OLD LADY crosses right as DOT and LOUIS cross center.GEORGE signals LOUIS away from DOT. Another chord. SOLDIER crosses upstage left; LOUISE, upstage right. Chord. GEORGE gestures to the BOATMAN, who crosses downstage right)
Harmony.
(The music becomes calm, stately, triumphant. GEORGE turns front. The promenade begins. Throughout the song, GEORGE is moving about, setting trees, cut-outs, and figures — making a perfect picture)
ALL (Sing):
Sunday,
By the blue
Purple yellow red water
On the green
Purple yellow red grass,
Let us pass
Through our perfect park,
Pausing on a Sunday
By the cool
Blue triangular water
On the soft
Green elliptical grass
As we pass
Through arrangements of shadows
Towards the verticals of trees
Forever...
(The horn sounds)
By the blue
Purple yellow red water
On the green
Orange violet mass
Of the grass
In our perfect park,
GEORGE (To DOT):
Made of flecks of light
And dark,
And parasols:
Bumbum bum bumbumbum
Bumbum bum ...
ALL:
People strolling through the trees
Of a small suburban park
On an island in the river
On an ordinary Sunday ...
(The horn sounds. Chimes. They all reach their positions)
Sunday...
(The horn again. Everyone assumes the final pose of the painting. GEORGE comes out to the apron)
Sunday...
(At the last moment, GEORGE rushes back and removes LOUISE’s eyeglasses. He dashes back on to the apron and freezes the picture. Final chord. The completed canvas flies in. Very slow fade, as the image of the characters fades behind the painting with GEORGE in front. Blackout)
George (Mandy Patinkin) and Dot (Bernadette Peters)
George (Mandy Patinkin)
GEORGE: “White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to the whole.” George (Mandy Patinkin)
“Sunday in the Park with George” Dot (Bernadette Peters)
DOT: “I’d be in the Follies” Dot (Bernadette Peters)
Seurat’s “Jeune Femme se Poudrant” (“Woman Powdering Herself”)
“Everybody Loves Louis ” Louis (Cris Groenendaal) and Dot (Bernadette Peters)
Mr. and Mrs. (Kurt Knudson and Judith Moore)
Freida (Nancy Opel) and Franz (Brent Spiner); in background, Nurse (Judith Moore) Companion, Soldier (Robert Westenberg)
Celeste #1 (Melanie Vaughan), Celeste #2 (Mary D’Arcy), and Jules (Charles Kimbrough)
“Putting It Together”
George (Mandy Patinkin), Elaine (Mary D’Arcy) and Marie
(Bernadette Peters), with a cut-out of George at far left
George (Mandy Patinkin) sketching the Boatman (William Parry); in background, Yvonne (Dana Ivey), Louise (Danielle Ferland, Jules (Charles Kimbrough), Nurse (Judith Moore), Old Lady (Barbara Bryne), Louis (Cris Groenendaal) and Dot (Bernadette Peters)
ACT II
Lights fade up slowly, and we see everyone in the tableau. There is a very long pause before we begin. The audience should feel the tension. Finally, music begins. One by one, they sing.
DOT:
It’s hot up here.
YVONNE:
It’s hot and it’s monotonous.
LOUISE:
I want my glasses.
FRANZ:
This is not my good profile.
NURSE: Nobody can even see my profile.
CELESTE #1:
I hate this dress.
CELESTE #2:
The soldiers have forgotten us.
FRIEDA:
The boatman schwitzes.
JULES: I am completely out of proportion.
SOLDIER:
These helmets weigh a lot on us.
OLD LADY:
This tree is blocking my view.
LOUISE:
I can’t see anything.
BOATMAN:
Why are they complaini
ng?
It could have been raining.
DOT:
I hate these people.
ALL:
It’s hot up here
A lot up here.
It’s hot up here
Forever.
A lot of fun
It’s not up here.
It’s hot up here,
No matter what.
There’s not a breath
Of air up here,
And they’re up here
Forever.
It’s not my fault
I got up here.
I’ll rot up here,
I am so hot up here.
YVONNE (To LOUISE): Darling, don’t clutch mother’s hand quite so tightly. Thank you.
CELESTE#1:
It’s hot up here.
FRIEDA:
At least you have a parasol.
SOLDIER, NURSE, YVONNE, and LOUISE:
Well, look who’s talking,
Sitting in the shade.
JULES (To DOT): I trust my cigar is not bothering you —unfortunately, it never goes out.
(She pays him no attention)
You have excellent concentration.
SOLDIER (To COMPANION):
It’s good to be together again.
CELESTE #2 (To CELESTE #1):
See, I told you they were odd.
CELESTE #1:
Don’t slouch.
LOUISE:
He took my glasses!
YVONNE:
You’ve been eating something sticky.
NURSE:
I put on rouge today, too ...
FRIEDA (To BOATMAN):
Don’t you ever take a bath?
OLD LADY:
Nurse! Hand me my fan.
NURSE:
I can’t.
FRANZ:
At least the brat is with her mother.
LOUISE:
I heard that!
JULES (To DOT):
Do you like tall grass?
FRIEDA:
Hah!
YVONNE:
Jules!
BOATMAN:
Bunch of animals ...
DOT:
I hate these people.
ALL:
It’s hot up here
And strange up here,
No change up here
Forever.
How still it is,
How odd it is,
And God, it is
So hot!
SOLDIER: I like the one in the light hat.
DOT:
Hello, George.
I do not wish to be remembered
Like this, George,
With them, George.
My hem, George:
Three inches off the ground
And then this monkey
And these people, George —
They’ll argue till they fade
And whisper things and grunt.
But thank you for the shade,
And putting me in front.
Yes, thank you, George, for that ...
And for the hat ...
CELESTE #1:
It’s hot up here.
YVONNE:
It’s hot and it’s monotonous.
LOUISE:
I want my glasses!
FRANZ:
This is not my good profile.
CELESTE #1:
I hate this dress.
(Overlapping)
CELESTE #2:
The soldiers have forgotten us.
CELESTE #1:
Don’t slouch!
BOATMAN:
Animals ...
JULES:
Are you sure you don’t like tall grass?
NURSE:
I put on rouge today, too ...
FRIEDA:
Don’t you ever take a bath?
SOLDIER:
It’s good to be together again.
OLD LADY:
Nurse, hand me my fan.
DOT:
It’s hot up here.
YVONNE:
It’s hot and it’s monotonous.
LOUISE:
He took my glasses, I want my glasses!
FRANZ:
This is not my good profile.
ALL:
And furthermore,
Finding you’re
Fading
Is very degrading
And God, I am so hot!
Well, there are worse things than sweating
By a river on a Sunday.
There are worse things than sweating by a river
BOATMAN:
When you’re sweating in a picture
That was painted by a genius
FRANZ:
And you know that you’re immortal
FRIEDA:
And you’ll always be remembered
NURSE:
Even if they never see you
OLD LADY:
And you’re listening to drivel
SOLDIER:
And you’re part of your companion
LOUISE:
And your glasses have been stolen
YVONNE:
And you’re bored beyond endurance
LOUIS:
And the baby has no diapers
CELESTE #1 (To CELESTE #2):
And you’re slouching
CELESTE #2:
I am not!
JULES:
And you are out of all proportion!
DOT:
And I hate these people!
ALL:
You never get
A breeze up here,
And she’s (he’s) up here
Forever.
You cannot run
Amok up here,
You’re stuck up here
In this gavotte.
Perspectives don’t
Make sense up here.
It’s tense up here
Forever.
The outward show
Of bliss up here
Is disappear-
Ing dot by dot.
(Long pause. Music continues for a long moment)
And it’s hot!
(They shake themselves loose from the pose for a brief moment, but at the last beat of the music resume their positions. GEORGE enters downstage and stands on the apron in front of the tableau)
GEORGE: A fascination with light. The bedroom where I slept as a child — it had a window. At night, the reflection of the light — that is, the light outside the window — created a shadow-show on my wall. So it was, lying in my bed, looking at the wall, I was able to make out shapes of night activity from the street. These images were not rich in detail, so my mind’s eye filled in the shapes to bring them to life. Straying from the point. The point? Light and sleep. I didn’t sleep. Well, of course I slept, but always when there was a choice, when I might fight the urge, I would lie awake, eyes fixed on the wall, sometimes until the bright sunlight of the morning washed the image away. Off and running. Off and running. First into the morning light. Last on the gas-lit streets. Energy that had no time for sleep. A mission to see, to record impressions. Seeing ... recording ... seeing the record, then feeling the experience. Connect the dots, George. Slowing to a screeching halt — in one week. Fighting to wake up. “Wake up, Georgie.” I can still feel her cool hand on my warm cheek. Could darkness be an inviting place? Could sleep surpass off and running? No. Lying still, I can see the boys swimming in the Seine. I can see them all, on a sunny Sunday in the park.
(He exits. During the following, the characters break from their poses when they speak. Accompanying their exits, pieces of scenery disappear; by the time the BOATMAN exits at the end of the sequence, the set is returned to its original white configuration)
CELESTE #2: Thirty-one ...
CELESTE #1: It is hard to believe.
CELESTE #2: Yes.
CELESTE #1: It seems like only yesterday we were posing for him.
CELESTE #2: We never posed for him!
&
nbsp; CELESTE #1: Certainly we did! We are in a painting, aren’t we?
CELESTE #2: It’s not as if he asked us to sit!
CELESTE #1: If you had sat up —
SOLDIER: Will you two just keep QUIET!
(He steps downstage. The CELESTES exit)
I hardly knew the man. I would spend my Sundays here, and I would see him sketching, so I was surprised when he stopped showing up. Of course, I did not notice right away. But one day, I realized, something was different —like a flash of light, right through me, the way that man would stare at you when he sketched — I knew, he was no longer.
(SOLDIER exits. LOUISE breaks away from her mother and dashes downstage)
LOUISE: I am going to be a painter when I grow up!
BOATMAN: If you live.
(LOUISE runs off)
FRIEDA : Honestly!
BOATMAN: Keep your mouth shut!
FRIEDA: It is my mouth and I shall do as I please!
FRANZ: Quiet! George was a gentleman.
FRIEDA: Soft spoken.
FRANZ: And he was a far superior artist to Monsieur.
FRIEDA: George had beautiful eyes.
FRANZ: Ja, he — beautiful eyes?
FRIEDA: Ja ... well ... eyes that captured beauty.
FRANZ (Suspicious): Ja ... he chose his subjects well.
(They exit)
Four by Sondheim Page 43