MARIE: Many people say that. George and I are going back to France next month to visit the island where the painting was made, and George is going to bring the Lomo-chrome.
(Music)
GEORGE: Chromolume. I’ve been invited by the government to do a presentation of the machine on the island.
MARIE: George has never been to France.
GEORGE (Front, sings):
Art isn’t easy —
(He raises a cut-out of himself in front of BILLY and HARRIET and comes downstage)
Even when you’re hot.
BILLY (To cut-out): Are these inventions of yours one of a kind?
GEORGE:
Advancing art is easy —
(To BILLY, but front)
Yes.
Financing it is not.
MARIE: They take a year to make.
GEORGE (Front):
A vision’s just a vision
If it’s only in your head.
MARIE: The minute he finishes one, he starts raising money for the next.
GEORGE:
If no one gets to see it,
It’s as good as dead.
MARIE: Work. Work. Work.
GEORGE:
It has to come to light!
(Music continues under. GEORGE speaks as if to BILLY and HARRIET, but away from them, and front)
I put the names of my contributors on the side of each machine.
ELAINE: Some very impressive people!
HARRIET: Well, we must speak further. My family has a foundation and we are always looking for new projects.
GEORGE (Front, sings):
Bit by bit,
Putting it together ...
MARIE: Family — it’s all you really have.
GEORGE:
Piece by piece —
Only way to make a work of art.
Every moment makes a contribution,
Every little detail plays a part.
Having just the vision’s no solution,
Everything depends on execution:
Putting it together —
That’s what counts.
HARRIET (To cut-out): Actually, the Board of the Foundation is meeting next week ...
GEORGE:
Ounce by ounce
Putting it together ...
HARRIET: You’ll come to lunch.
GEORGE:
Small amounts,
Adding up to make a work of art.
First of all, you need a good foundation,
Otherwise it’s risky from the start.
Takes a little cocktail conversation,
But without the proper preparation,
Having just the vision’s no solution,
Everything depends on execution.
The art of making art
Is putting it together
Bit by bit ...
(The cut-out remains, as BILLY and HARRIET talk to it;
GEORGE, working away, is cornered by CHARLES REDMOND. Music continues under)
REDMOND: We have been hearing about you for some time. We haven’t met. Charles Redmond. County Museum of Texas.
GEORGE: Nice to meet you.
REDMOND: Your work is just tremendous.
GEORGE: Thank you.
REDMOND: I don’t mean to bring business up during a social occasion, but I wanted you to know we’re in the process of giving out some very sizable commissions —
GREENBERG: You’re not going to steal him away, are you?
(GEORGE signals and another cut-out of himself slides in from the wings. He leaves his drink in its hand, then steps forward)
GEORGE:
Link by link,
Making the connections...
Drink by drink,
Fixing and perfecting the design.
Adding just a dab of politician
(Always knowing where to draw the line),
Lining up the funds but in addition
Lining up a prominent commission,
Otherwise your perfect composition
Isn’t going to get much exhibition.
Art isn’t easy.
Every minor detail
Is a major decision.
Have to keep things in scale,
Have to hold to your vision —
(Pauses for a split second)
Every time I start to feel defensive,
I remember lasers are expensive.
What’s a little cocktail conversation
If it’s going to get you your foundation,
Leading to a prominent commission
And an exhibition in addition?
(The guests promenade briefly, working the room, then sing)
ALL (Except MARIE):
Art isn’t easy—
ALEX and BETTY:
Trying to make connections —
ALL:
Who understands it — ?
HARRIET and BILLY:
Difficult to evaluate —
ALL:
Art isn’t easy —
GREENBERG and REDMOND:
Trying to form collections —
ALL:
Always in transit —
NAOMI (To whoever will listen):
And then when you have to collaborate — !
ALL:
Art isn’t easy,
Any way you look at it...
(Chord. Cocktail piano. During the above, BLAIR DANIELS, an art critic, has entered. GEORGE is approached by LEE RANDOLPH with MARIE)
MARIE: George, you have to meet Mr. Randolph!
RANDOLPH: Hello! Lee Randolph. I handle the public relations for the museum.
GEORGE: How do you do.
(NAOMI joins them)
NAOMI: There you are, George! Hi, Marie.
(To RANDOLPH)
Naomi Eisen.
RANDOLPH: Delighted. You kids made quite a stir tonight.
NAOMI: You see, George — that electrical foul-up didn’t hurt our reception.
RANDOLPH: There’s a lot of opportunity for some nice press here.
(GEORGE gestures; a third cut-out of himself rises in front of NAOMI and RANDOLPH. GEORGE steps forward and sings)
GEORGE:
Dot by dot,
Building up the image.
(Flash. PHOTOGRAPHER starts taking pictures of the cut-out)
Shot by shot,
Keeping at a distance doesn’t pay.
Still, if you remember your objective,
Not give all your privacy away —
(Flash. Beat; he glances at the first cut-out)
A little bit of hype can be effective,
Long as you can keep it in perspective.
After all, without some recognition
No one’s going to give you a commission,
Which will cause a crack in the foundation.
You’ll have wasted all that conversation.
(Music stops suddenly as DENNIS comes over, disheveled and apologetic. DENNIS is something of a nerd)
DENNIS: I am really sorry, George.
(Cocktail music)
I spoke with Naomi in great detail about how much electricity her synthesizer was going to use — I computed the exact voltage —
GEORGE: Dennis! It’s okay.
DENNIS: The laser was beautiful, George.
GEORGE: It was, wasn’t it? Now go get yourself a drink, Dennis. Mingle.
DENNIS: George. I have one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. I was going to wait — no, I’ll wait —
GEORGE: What?
DENNIS: I’m quitting.
(Music stops suddenly)
GEORGE: Quitting?
DENNIS: I’m going back to NASA. There is just too much pressure in this line of work.
GEORGE: Dennis, don’t make any rash decisions. Relax, sleep on it, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.
DENNIS: Okay, George.
GEORGE (Front, sings, music under):
Art isn’t easy...
(ALEX and BETTY approach)
BETTY: Hey, it’s the brains.
GEORGE:
Even if you’re smart...
ALEX: Little technical screw-up tonight, Dennis?
(DENNIS exits)
GEORGE:
You think it’s all together,
And something falls apart...
(Music continues under)
BETTY: I love the new machine, George.
GEORGE: Thanks. That means a lot to me.
ALEX: We saw you talking to Redmond from Texas.
GEORGE: Yeah.
BETTY: Did you get one of the commissions?
GEORGE: We talked about it. You guys?
ALEX: Her. My stuff is a little too inaccessible.
GEORGE: I love your work, Alex. I’ll put in a good word for you.
ALEX (Defensive): He knows my work!
GEORGE (Uncomfortable): It’s all politics, Alex. Maybe if you just lightened up once in a while.
BETTY (Mollifying): Texas would be fun!
(GEORGE beckons and a fourth cut-out slides in and heads toward BETTY and ALEX)
GEORGE (Front, sings):
Art isn’t easy.
(Gesturing towards ALEX)
Overnight you’re a trend,
You’re the right combination —
(Behind him, cut-out #1 begins sinking slowly into the floor)
Then the trend’s at an end,
You’re suddenly last year’s sensation...
(Notices the cut-out, goes to raise it during the following)
So you should support the competition,
Try to set aside your own ambition,
Even while you jockey for position —
(Cut-out #4 has slid in too far, and BETTY and ALEX have turned away; GEORGE, unflustered, spins it back around towards BETTY and ALEX, who resume talking to it)
If you feel a sense of coalition,
Then you never really stand alone.
If you want your work to reach fruition,
What you need’s a link with your tradition,
And of course a prominent commission,
(Cut-out #1 starts to sink again; GEORGE hastens to fix it)
Plus a little formal recognition,
So that you can go on exhibit —
( Getting flustered)
So that your work can go on exhibition —
(Loud promenade, very brief, during which cut-out #1 starts to go again, but stops just as GEORGE reaches it. As he does so, BLAIR DANIELS comes up to him. Chords under)
BLAIR: There’s the man of the hour.
GEORGE: Blair. Hello. I just read your piece on Neo-Expressionism —
BLAIR: Just what the world needs — another piece on NeoExpressionism.
GEORGE: Well, I enjoyed it.
(Chords continue under, irregularly)
BLAIR: Good for you! Now, I had no idea you might be related to nineteenth-century France.
GEORGE: It’s a cloudy ancestral line at best.
BLAIR: I’m dying to meet your grandmother. It was fun seeing the two of you onstage with your invention. It added a certain humanity to the proceedings.
GEORGE: Humanity?
BLAIR: George. Chromolume Number Seven?
GEORGE (Sings to himself):
Be nice, George...
(Gestures for a cut-out; it doesn’t rise)
BLAIR: I was hoping it would be series of three — four at the most.
GEORGE:
You have to pay a price, George . . .
(Gestures again; nothing)
BLAIR: We have been there before, you know.
GEORGE: You never suffer from a shortage of opinions, do you, Blair?
BLAIR: You never minded my opinions when they were in your favor!
BLAIR: GEORGE:
I have touted your work from the beginning, you know that. You were really on to something with these light machines — once. Now they’re just becoming more and more about less and less. They like to give
Advice, George —
(Gestures offstage; nothing)
Don’t think about it
Twice, George ...
(Gestures again; nothing)
GEORGE: I disagree.
(Music. BLAIR turns briefly away from him, rummaging through her purse for a cigarette. GEORGE takes advantage of this to rush offstage and bring on cut-out #5, which he sets up in front of her during the following)
BLAIR: Don’t get me wrong. You’re a talented guy. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t waste our time with my opinions. I think you are capable of far more. Not that you couldn’t succeed by doing Chromolume after Chromolume — but there are new discoveries to be made, George.
(She holds up her cigarette and waits for a light from the cut-out)
GEORGE (Increasingly upset):
Be new, George.
They tell you till they’re blue, George:
You’re new or else you’re through, George,
And even if it’s true, George —
You do what you can do ...
(Wandering among cut-outs, checking them)
Bit by bit,
Putting it together.
Piece by piece,
Working out the vision night and day.
All it takes is time and perseverance,
With a little luck along the way,
Putting in a personal appearance,
Gathering supporters and adherents...
(Music stops. BLAIR, getting impatient for her light, leaves the cut-out to join another group. GEORGE notices. Beat)
HARRIET (To BILLY):
... But he combines all these different trends...
(Beat. The cut-out with HARRIET and BILLY falters)
GEORGE (Moving to it smoothly as music resumes):
Mapping out the right configuration,
(Adjusting it)
Starting with a suitable foundation...
BETTY:
... He’s an original . . .
ALEX:
...Was...
(During the following, all the cut-outs falter sporadically, causing GEORGE to move more and more rapidly among them)
GEORGE:
Lining up a prominent commission —
And an exhibition in addition —
Here a little dab of politician —
There a little touch of publication —
Till you have a balanced composition —
Everything depends on preparation —
Even if you do have the suspicion
That it’s taking all your concentration —
(Simultaneously, with GEORGE)
BETTY:
I like those images.
ALEX:
Some.
BETTY:
They’re just his personal response.
ALEX:
To what?
BETTY:
The painting!
ALEX:
Bullshit. Anyway, the painting’s overrated . . .
BETTY:
Overrated? It’s a masterpiece!
ALEX:
A masterpiece? Historically important, maybe —
BETTY:
Oh, now you’re judging Seurat, are you?
ALEX:
All it is is pleasant, just like George’s work.
BETTY:
It’s just your jealousy of George’s work.
ALEX:
No nuance, no resonance, no relevance —
BETTY:
There’s nuance and there’s resonance, there’s relevance —
ALEX:
There’s not much point in arguing.
Besides, it’s all promotion, but then —
BETTY:
There’s not much point in arguing.
You say it’s all promotion, but then —
GREENBERG:
It’s only new, though, for now,
And yesterday’s forgotten.
Today it’s all a matter of promotion,
But then —
&
nbsp; REDMOND:
Nouveau.
And yesterday’s forgotten
And you can’t tell good from rotten
And today it’s all a matter of promotion,
But then —
HARRIET:
You can’t divide art today.
Go with it!
What will they think of next?
BILLY:
I’m not surprised.
What will they think of next?
OTHERS:
Most art today
Is a matter of promotion, but then —
GEORGE:
The art of making art ALL:
Is putting it together — That is the state of the art —
Bit by bit —
Link by link —
Drink by drink —
Mink by mink — And art isn’t easy.
And that
Is the state
Of the
ALL:
Art!
(GEORGE frames the successfully completed picture of the guests and cut-outs with his hands, as at the end of Act I. As soon as he exits, however, the cut-outs collapse and disappear , MARIE is over at the painting; She is joined by HARRIET and BILLY)
GREENBERG: Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served.
(Most of the party exits)
HARRIET (To MARIE): Excuse me, could you please tell me: what is that square form up there?
BLAIR (Who has been standing nearby): That is a baby carriage.
MARIE: Who told you that?!
BLAIR: I’m sorry to butt in. I’m Blair Daniels and I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing you on stage.
MARIE: Why, thank you. But, my dear, that is not a baby carriage. That is Louis’ waffle stove.
BLAIR: Waffle stove? I’ve read all there is to read about this work, and there’s never been any mention of a waffle stove!
Four by Sondheim Page 45