Sunday in the Park with George
Kokandy Productions
Extended to Nov 29th @ Chopin Studio
Thu-Sat 7p, Sun 5p (2hr, 40m)
4 Stars - "Simply magical...a deeply moving performance."
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 9/1/26
Recommended - "Sula makes the score swoop and soar...a visual feast."
Catey Sullivan, Chicago Reader, 9/1/26
4 Stars - "Richly emotional, cleverly designed and musically vivid...truly immersive."
Steve Oxman, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/31/26
4 STARS — "Realistic, gripping performances...an invitation into the artist’s mind."
Laura Zornosa, 1 Minute Critic, 8/31/26
$40-$60 (Previews $25-35)
Tickets & More info: Scot@KokandyProductions.com
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8/13 - 11/29
"Such is my enthusiasm for Kokandy Productions' exquisite little Chicago staging of Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George" that I wrote down five different opening paragraphs, or organizing principles, if you will. They're crucial in the reviewing business but never more so when you believe in a show enough that you want the reader not just to keep reading your jottings but to actually go to the show.
My first involved three gentlemen sitting a few seats away from me last Friday in the basement of the Chopin Theatre. Clearly, they were musicians, given that their fingers played most every note of Sondheim's score ("Finishing the Hat," "We Do Not Belong Together," "Sunday") with their thighs serving as their pianos. Clearly, they knew this show backwards (as do I, in all immodesty). I watched them out of the corner of my eye as their eyes moistened as they came to see that director Derek Van Barham not only had a plethora of original ideas to invigorate those who have seen too many Act 1 recreations of the Georges Seurat painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jatte," a visual that the show suggests but does not demand, but that he understood far better than most the devastating emotional landscape of the show.
My second was to begin with the magic of the Chopin Theatre, a charmed space that seems to bless all who work there. Specifically here, thanks to this cast and the music director Nick Sula, but also to this room, you will be immersed in Sondheim's music as never before. The show is so well sung and played that you can just close your eyes and enjoy. But then you would not see what visual ideas — very much of the classic Chicago variety — Van Barham has up his sleeve in a show that seems not so much to be performed about the painting, although that is actually true, but from within the canvas, stretching out as it does across time.
My third was to note that of all the musicals in the world, "Sunday in the Park with George" contains the most advice for living. If you are pondering a big career decision, or wondering whether it is worth sacrificing a promising but unproven relationship for a big professional opportunity, then you could spend a fortune on therapy or just drop much less cash and head to the Chopin Theatre instead and listen to Sondheim, who was in this show speaking mostly to himself — but such was his level of genius that his advice simultaneously is universal.
Most specifically, the show is a reminder that you must keep moving on, keeping your eye on the next thing, banishing imposter syndrome and ignoring critics (I know, I know). They have their job and their place, he says in the show, but fear and stasis are the agents of the devil.
During a CBS television interview with Ed Bradley, playwright August Wilson once said that the work came first, even above his own family. I remember being shocked by that, but that is to a large extent what "Sunday in the Park" is about. It imparts the famous Sondheim truth that children and art are the only legacies worth having, but the famously precise lyricist does not say "art and children," so there is that. Either way, the central question of the night is whether George fails in life by failing to look up from his canvas. Sure, you might say. But we remember his art, not his personal life.
That brings me to my last idea, which was to make the whole thing revolve around Missy Wise Vanderzee's deeply moving performance as Dot/Marie. I mean no disrespect to Kevin Webb, who plays George and who captures precisely the dilemma of the character throughout, and who embodies just the right mix of insouciant determination, foolhardy arrogance and musical tenderness.
George, of course, is both Sondheim and the everyman artist. But Dot here is the teacher, the one who really carries both the wisdom and the pain, the consequences of loving a genius incapable of the ordinary, you might say. If you love someone whose head is often in the clouds, she's there to talk to you all night, and if you are that person, well, just the same.
Toward the end of Act 2, Van Barham intuits that all that now matters is Dot singing to George, surrounded by both music and an audience. That's what he simply delivers and it is a phenomenal scene in a deeply moving show.
Hey, Sondheim has people in Chicago. Not only is it safe to go and move your fingers, but it's a small revelation."
Recommended - Art isn't easy, but Kokandy frames it well with Sunday in the Park With George: The company does wonders with Stephen Sondheim once again in the Chopin basement studio. – Catey Sullivan, Chicago Reader 9/1/26
"Director Derek Van Barham, music director Nick Sula, and leading man Kevin Webb are the reigning triumvirate in the land of off-Loop Sondheim. They teamed up for Kokandy Productions' 2024 Into the Woods, and 2022's Sweeney Todd, to thrilling effect. Now, they've taken on Stephen Sondheim's epic Sunday in the Park With George (book by James Lapine) to continue the winning streak.
Running through November 1 in the Chopin Theatre's ultra-challenging subterranean downstairs studio (the space has big square pillars that pose an eternal blocking conundrum when it comes to audience sight lines), Sunday in the Park paints an intricate picture.
A brief bit of art history: Georges Seurat basically invented pointillism, the method of painting with thousands of colored dots that trick the eye into seeing colors that aren't actually on the canvas. His masterpiece A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—the piece he's feverishly working on through the first act of Sunday in the Park—hangs on the second floor of the Art Institute. Look closely at the purple-flowered hat and you'll see it's a mass of blue and red dots. Back up, and the eye insists it sees purple. The whole painting is a magnificent, shimmering color illusion.
With Sunday in the Park, Sondheim puts together a portrait of its brilliant, damaged creator. George (Webb), as the name is Anglicized in the musical, is fully capable of love, yet wholly incapable of commitment, except to his work. The musical unfolds in two centuries—in 1884 as Seurat labors on La Grande Jatte and in 1984, when his grandson (also named George and also played by Webb) exhibits a sculpture painted with light.
There are two notable problems with the show, but they don't diminish from Webb's feverishly charismatic take on Seurat, or powerhouse Missy Wise Vanderzee as Dot, the woman Seurat loves with a passion almost as great as the passion he has for his art. The chemistry between the two sizzles. Vanderzee's Dot is at once vulnerable and strong-minded, deeply in love but clear in heart and mind that George will never be fully emotionally available. When Vanderzee and Webb lace their voices together on the alternately frenetic and sweetly chiming "Color and Light," they create a sonic paean to the all-consuming drive to create art.
Webb captures George's obsessive artistic drive with a fervor that's palpable, pulling the audience into his orbit and keeping it rapt throughout. With "Putting it Together"—a song about the inescapable, soul-sucking necessity of fundraising to pay for your art—Webb embodies the exhausting collision of glad-handing and artistic vision.
Sula makes the complex, surprising, unhummable score swoop and soar. A six-person pocket band conducted by pianist Evelyn Ryan renders her orchestrations layered and lush.
And watch for Nathe Rowbotham, who plays two supporting characters to memorable effect. As Yvonne, the wife of Seurat's rival/colleague Jules, she has a line about rejection that's quietly, memorably heartrending. And as Naomi—a self-assured sound artist who composes the music for grandson George's sculptures—she blends a regal bearing with commanding, wryly incisive humor.
It all comes together through G. "Max" Maxin IV's immersive set, projections, and lighting design. Those infernal pillars are papered with sketches of various elements of A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—one of the best uses of those sight blockades I've seen in that space over the past quarter-century. There's also an ingenious climactic moment when a platform that's served as the primary playing space is hoisted aloft for a stunning reveal as it morphs into a giant canvas.
The lighting is crucial in the story of an artist who wanted to paint with light. Maxin makes them twinkle and sparkle like gemstones, a visual feast that literally illuminates the magical beguiling properties of pointillism.
For all its positives, Kokandy's Sunday in the Park doesn't quite hit all the marks.
There are two notable issues: Aesthetically, it looks like Rachel Sypniewski's first-act costume budget was egregiously underfunded. The all-important bustles are in dire shape, the military uniforms are bedraggled. Second, many in the young supporting cast err on the side of overacting. A bit of subtlety would go a long way as the denizens of the titular park bicker and tryst and fish.
Even so. When Kokandy's triumvirate of Sula, Barham, and Webb take on Sondheim, it's worth your while".
4 STARS - Review: Kokandy's Sunday in the Park with George Is a Portrait of Art and Connection – Emily Werner, ThirdCoastReview.com 9/1/26
"One of the most beloved paintings to see in Chicago is French post-impressionist painter Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte at the Art Institute of Chicago. Some may not know the pointillist painting was the inspiration for Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George. In Kokandy Productions' staging of the musical, the company welcomes the audience into a mesmerizing experience that will engulf them into the show's artistry and emotions.
George (Kevin Webb) is an artist in 1884 Paris, struggling to balance his desire to have his work recognized with his relationship with his mistress, Dot (Missy Wise Vanderzee). He is often ridiculed by art critics and the wealthy for choosing members of the lower-class community as models for his art. As a pregnant Dot leaves for America with her new husband, George presents his new painting, which will soon become one of the most iconic paintings of the late 19th century. The musical then moves forward to explore how the painting continues to capture the minds of the 20th century through Seurat's daughter, Marie, and great-grandson, George (also played by Wise Vanderzee and Webb). Ultimately, the musical captures the never-ending struggle of an artist trying to be understood while challenging audiences to focus on the present rather than becoming consumed by the past or future.
Currently balancing Sunday and the current remount of Kokandy's 2025 successful Jekyll & Hyde musical are Derek Van Barham (director), Nick Sula (music director) and Kevin Webb (George). Van Barham and Sula once again are a proven dynamic duo bringing the musical to life in a unique and immersive experience for the cast and audience. Having the production performed at the Chopin Theatre's Downstairs Studio causes the viewer to really feel the emotions of the actors and catch every action taking place.
Adding to his Kokandy-Sondheim credits (previously the Baker in Into the Woods and the title role in Sweeney Todd), Webb shines as George. He wonderfully depicts the energetic frenzy to capture creativity and showcases a wide range of vocal talent—listen to great moments from "The Dog Song," "Finishing the Hat" and "Putting It Together." Wise Vanderee gives a captivating performance in the dual characters of Dot and Marie. Balancing a sharp wit, style of fashion, and determined insight of her goal, she captures Dot's persona in numbers like "Sunday in the Park with George" and "Everybody Loves Louis." Webb and Wise Vanderee also bring a rare, loving affection to George and Dot that was not always noticeable in past productions. Their singing blends beautifully together in numbers such as "Color and Light," "We Do Not Belong Together," "Children and Art" and "Move On."
The entire company of Sunday in the Park with George comes together to bring a performance filled with vocal, comedic and dramatic talent. Notable numbers include "Gossip," "It's Hot Up Here" and "Putting It Together," and "Sunday," which gives a breathtaking reveal of the painting. The cast also succeeds in even reenacting some of Seurat's iconic paintings through Van Barham's direction and Rachel Sypniewski's incredible costuming. Their performance is a terrific example of art coming to life.
In their unique perspective, Kokandy Productions brings Sunday in the Park with George into an original light, creating a production that feels both intimate and visually striking. The company successfully captures Sondheim and Lapine's exploration of art, relationships and the importance of being present while allowing the audience to experience Seurat's world from a new perspective. For a musical centered around the idea of making something beautiful that will outlast its creator, Kokandy's production proves that great art can continue to find new ways to connect with audiences".
4 STARS - Review: Kokandy Productions' 'Sunday in the Park with George' paints a vivid picture of Seurat and his masterpiece: The lead performances anchor this richly emotional and cleverly designed production about the creation of painter Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," underappreciated in its time but eventually recognized as revolutionary. – Steve Oxman, Chicago Sun Times 8/31/26
"Director Derek Van Barham and Kokandy Productions stage another Stephen Sondheim masterwork — following their much-praised "Sweeney Todd" and "Into the Woods" — in the cramped basement space of the Chopin Theatre.
This time, it's a richly emotional, cleverly designed and musically vivid "Sunday in the Park with George," about the creation of painter Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," the large neo-impressionist masterpiece that — so very lucky for us! — hangs a few miles away in the Art Institute.
This show premiered in 1984 and earned Sondheim and his collaborator James Lapine the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a rarity for a musical. That said, this show about art underappreciated in its time lost out to "La Cage aux Folles" for most of the Tony Awards, including Best Original Score; no offense to the immortal "I Am What I Am," but this was, shall we say, a memorable error.
And if you have any doubt about that, by all means catch this version, where music director Nick Sula, helped by a six-member orchestra and a startlingly effective sound design by Matt Reich, achieve at key moments a truly immersive swelling of Sondheim's gorgeous songs, in which each note frequently represents a brush stroke, or rather a dot or dab in Seurat's pointillist approach to painting, all adding up to something far bigger and evocative.
Anchored by two beautifully performed lead performances from Kevin Webb and Missy Wise Vanderzee, the show foregrounds the rich inner lives of the central characters, giving dimension to the external and internal conflicts that drive the highly fictionalized story.
Act I follows George and his mistress and model Dot (see what the creators did there?) as they bicker and ultimately split ("We Do Not Belong Together"), all while George works toward completing an oversized work that will never sell during his lifetime but will be recognized as revolutionary in the bigger picture.
George and Dot's mutual attraction here comes across strongly, but so does their incompatibility. Webb's George isn't just obsessed with his art. Here, and uniquely in my experience, we can see painting brings him an inner joy, a quality that makes the character's choices far more sympathetic. Vanderzee, also highly compelling, brings her own specific take on Dot: firmly grounded, non-conformist in her own right, confident from the start in what she needs.
Notably, Van Barham finds a way to make Act II — which can feel like a whole different show — seem far more of a natural continuation, even after it skips forward a hundred years to a 1980s art museum. He infuses this often static second act with the same emotional detail and precision, just focused on an artist who fears his best work may be behind him.
Now Webb's George is a modern artist playing with color and light — like his namesake ancestor before him — but this time using technology. His artistic rut, exacerbated by his need to please funders, finds great expression in Van Barham's staging of "Putting It Together," in which Webb seems constantly about to fall off the edge of the canvas/stage.
His elderly grandmother Marie (Vanderzee again as the daughter of Act I's George and Dot and, again, very down-to-Earth, although now, amusingly, quirkily dotty) understands she needs to help him "Move On," a number that here, as always, comes across as deeply affecting.
The overflowing creativity at work here begins early, when George's opening lines proclaim, "White. A blank page or canvas." In this version, with a set and lighting design by G "Max" Maxin IV, he describes the stage itself: a large, blank rectangular canvas, lying flat, raised a foot or so off the ground. As he summons the other characters who represent the ordinary visitors to a public Parisian park in the 1890s, George steps onto this canvas, which becomes the central playing area.
This is evocative in and of itself — emphasizing the ordering of chaos into art, and live theater as an art always in the process of creation. But the design concept also provides a giant payoff as Act I crescendos into its finale "Sunday." Solving the problem the confined space and in-the-round configuration don't allow for a living re-creation of the Seurat painting, Van Barham finds a creative alternative to that and then amusingly begins Act II ("It's Hot Up Here") by stuffing nearly the entire cast of 14 onto that rectangular platform.
There are inconsistencies, unsurprising for a show with this size cast and variety of small subplots. But for every unfulfilled moment — the scenes involving the soldier, for example — there's a surprisingly deep one, with a special call out to actress Lauren Miller, so poignant as George's nostalgic mother, who not only misremembers the past but laments the new construction she can see from her park bench. It will become the Eiffel Tower".
4 STARS - Kokandy makes its point with an intimate 'Sunday in the Park with George' – Laura Zornosa, 1MinuteCritic.com 8/31/26
"Even those unfamiliar with Sunday in the Park with George may have seen the musical in the news lately: Jonathan Bailey is slated to star as George Seurat at London's Barbican Theatre next summer. (Ariana Grande was supposed to appear opposite him, but withdrew suddenly.) The news was top of mind as I considered what —or who—draws us to the theater.
Kokandy Productions' revival, presented in Chopin Theatre's wonderfully kitchy Downstairs Studio in Chicago's Wicker Park, aims to raise the profile of the city's non-union musical theater community. It follows in the footsteps of its five-star revival of Hair and Jekyll & Hyde, which returns this fall for a return engagement after a sold-out run.
Kokandy distinguishes itself once again. This is Chicago's non-union theater scene at full strength.
Inside the painting, up close
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, directed and choreographed by Derek Van Barham, is inspired by the French pointillist painter's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," housed in Chicago's Art Institute. Act I follows a fictionalized version of Seurat as he sets about creating his masterpiece. Act II takes place a century later, following the artist's great-grandson as he struggles with his own artistic identity.
The theater-in-the-round immerses the audience deep into the act of creation. A boatman, nurse, and soldiers depicted in the painting flit to and fro between seats; a baker offers imaginary bread to theatergoers. On opening night, some ensemble members chewed the scenery, delivering lines with perhaps too much force than the space requires. But maybe that's to be expected from characters so much larger than life that they leap off a painting.
Any melodramatic notes, though, are counterweighted by realistic, gripping performances from its two central characters: Kevin Webb as Seurat (and later his descendant) and Missy Wise Vanderzee as his lover and muse, Dot. Webb humanizes Seurat's complexities—an artist fully consumed by his work, unable to take Dot out on the town, but self-aware and ultimately lovable. Vanderzee's Dot, frustrated by George's lack of attention while trying to remain compassionate, ultimately finds the agency to take charge of her own life, leaving him for a baker who whisks her to America.
This production reveals something a splashier one might not: "Order. Design. Tension. Balance. Harmony," George declares in the Act I finale, "Sunday." This production might add: "Immersive. Intimate. Human."
Is 'Sunday in the Park with George' worth seeing?
Kokandy's Sunday in the Park with George gets inside Seurat's famous work, using proximity most productions can't offer to make the painting's final tableau feel like an invitation into the artist's mind".
An Immersive Sunday in the Park with George at Kokandy Productions – John Accrocco, BuzzNews.net 8/31/26
"Composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony come together seamlessly in Kokandy Productions' revival of Sondheim's opus, 'Sunday in the Park with George'. Director Derek Van Barham transforms the basement of the Chopin Theatre into a three dimensional reproduction of Georges Seurat's 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' for this beloved musical's return to Chicago.
Sondheim was never known to write ordinary musicals. His smash hit 'Company' is considered the first "concept" musical. Wherein, the story has no real plot, instead themes are explored through song. 'Sunday in the Park with George' with whom he worked with James Lapin is similar in that it's hard to describe exactly what it's about, per se. In succinct terms, it's a fictionalized account of how Georges Seurat painted his pointillism masterpiece while trying to balance interpersonal relationships. Specifically, his flailing relationship with the painting's focal point, Dot. It's as if Sondheim was exploring his own obsessiveness and how it hindered him in many ways.
'Sunday in the Park with George', which won the 1985 Pulitzer for drama, has a special connection to Chicago as the famed painting hangs in the Art Institute. The last time a local storefront theatre revived it was 2010. However, longtime Chicago theatre lovers are unlikely to forget Gary Griffin's production at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2004, later remounted in 2012. Though it's a favored musical by many, it's not one often produced because you really need all the right ingredients to do this one justice.
Kokandy has gathered those ingredients for this imaginatively staged new version. Derek Van Barham, who also serves as artistic director has been noodling on this show for the near decade he's been working with Kokandy and the result is simply gorgeous.
A large and talented ensemble is led by Kevin Webb as Georges and Missy Wise Vanderzee as Dot. The two are not only incredible vocalists but each are wonderful in bringing their characters off the canvas and into real life. Webb's take on Georges is vulnerable, less stoic, less cold, less fixed. Vanderzee is also much warmer and less shrill than the original cast recordings. Going from 1800s Dot to 1980s elderly Marie can prove to be tricky for some actors but Vanderzee does a great job of bridging the gap with humor and pathos.
Perhaps no other adjective is more apt to describe this production than bittersweet. Nearly devoid of melodrama and yet cuts right to the emotional bone. Under Nick Sula's music direction Sondheim's orchestrations are performed with such attention to detail that audiences hang around well past the curtain call. Some of the best choral arrangements ever composed for the stage finds their stride as the company and music moves fluidly through G "Max" Maxin IV's brilliant staging.
Van Barham has made something special here. Moving the staging from the traditional proscenium to an in-the-round black box provides so much more room to play around with the spectacle of live theatre. Rather than aiming for utmost fidelity to the 'Sundays' that have come before it, Kokandy opts to create their own signature production that will be remembered as one of Chicago's best"
Review: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at Kokandy – Rachel Weinberg, RachelWeinbergReviews.com 8/31/26
"Sunday in the Park with George is an immense vocal and visual masterpiece from composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist James Lapine — and simultaneously an intimate portrait of two artists (both named George), struggling with creation and craft. It was a bold choice for Kokandy's artistic director Derek Van Barham to stage such a huge musical in the tiny cabaret space at the Chopin Theater. Fortunately, Sondheim's brilliant score and lyrics are gorgeously delivered in Kokandy's version. And while most productions of Sunday have large pit orchestras, music director Nick Sula has beautifully arranged this Sunday for only five musicians — and it doesn't feel like they miss a note. This production preserves the live music so integral to Sunday, and notably, the pattering, dot-like orchestrations in much of the music — a clever and powerful nod to George Seurat's pointillist painting style.
Sunday is incredibly difficult to sing. Luckily, Kokandy's ensemble sings this challenging score beautifully. The harmonies feel lush and resonate in the intimate space at the Chopin. I was deeply emotional during the show's finale, a reprise of the title song "Sunday." The voices of this ensemble blend together gorgeously.
The individual performances are delightful, too. Sunday can't succeed without a talented performer in the role of George — and Kevin Webb answers the call. I was particularly struck by Webb's performance of "The Day Off," a number in which George observes his neighbors in the park — from the perspective of two dogs there. The song's a little silly, but Webb leans into the impressions of his furry friends without becoming too much of a caricature. The number also speaks to George's keen ability to observe his environment, while sometimes ignoring the people right in front of him. To that end, Missy Wise Vanderzee is spectacular as George's frustrated lover and muse Dot. She plays Dot's exasperation gorgeously, and she has a clear and resonant singing voice. Webb and Wise Vanderzee sound incredible together on the duets "We Do Not Belong Together" and "Move On" — two delectable bookends in Sondheim's score.
Webb and Wise Vanderzee also make the convincing transformation from George/Dot to George II and his great grandmother Marie in the second act. I was extremely charmed by Wise Vanderzee's commitment to playing Marie with a Southern accent. Wise Vanderzee transforms herself vocally and physically for the role. While Webb adopts many of the same mannerisms across both parts, he brings on a unique exasperation as George II struggles to navigate the contemporary art world.
The ensemble colorfully renders the quirky characters in George and George II's orbits.. Rachel Carreras has an especially beautiful voice, which she keenly deploys as the Nurse. Lauren Miller is lovely as the Old Lady and later art critic Blair Daniels. With a mannequin friend in tow, Jack Saunders is delightful as the Soldier. Since his friend never speaks, Saunders instead brings the mannequin almost everywhere with him.
While there's a lot of invention and whimsy in this Sunday, the staging could use refinement. The main play space is a white platform, representative of a blank canvas. George and George II almost never move off the platform — a metaphor for artist's block. While I understood the idea, it seemed too literal — particularly when Webb teeters off the edge of the platform. Likewise, the ensemble wanders about the stage for most of the show. Establishing George's environment is key, but I wished for more solo moments onstage for George. This is profoundly a show about an artist's interiority and the creation process, and I think more standalone moments for Webb would have hit that home.
Overall, I'm immensely impressed by the quality of the singing here. Sondheim's score is complex, but for Sunday in the Park with George to really deliver on its emotional resonance, it needs to be note-perfect. The lead vocals and harmonies don't disappoint. Hearing this ensemble come together in harmony is a transcendent experience, reminiscent of the art that George and George II desperately long to create".
Finding Art in Life: Sunday in the Park with George at Chopin Theatre – Mira Temkin, Splashmags.com 8/30/26
"There are musicals that entertain you and then there are musicals that make you look at the world a little differently. "Sunday in the Park with George," Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's sophisticated and deeply moving masterpiece, belongs firmly in the second category.
Now playing at the intimate Chopin Theatre in Wicker Park, Kokandy Productions brings this challenging musical to life with a strong cast, thoughtful direction and an appreciation for the questions at its heart: What does it mean to create something lasting? Does art come before love? And perhaps most importantly, how do we find meaning in the moments right in front of us?
Directed and choreographed by Derek Van Barham, with music direction by Nick Sula, the production is inspired by Georges Seurat's famous painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." If you haven't seen it, the original is hanging in the Art Institute, beloved by all Chicagoans.
The first act takes us into the world of 19th-century Paris, where the meticulous and somewhat emotionally distant painter Georges Seurat is working on his masterpiece. His model and lover, Dot, longs for more, while George is consumed by his work.
Kevin Webb brings an intriguing intensity to George, portraying him as a man who can see the world in extraordinary detail, but struggles to connect with the people closest to him. His performance of the tormented artist is multi-layered. Missy Wise Vanderzee gives Dot both warmth and strength, making her more than simply the woman standing beside the artist. And her lovely vocals are an added bonus.
Act Two Skips Ahead Generations
Suddenly, we are in the 1980s, where George's great-grandson, also named George, is a contemporary artist struggling with many of the same issues. The shift is fascinating: Generations, technology and artistic styles change, but the questions about our lives remain remarkably similar.
The score is unmistakably Sondheim—complex, lyrical and sometimes deceptively simple. Songs such as "Finishing the Hat," "Move On" and "Children and Art" have become standards, but hearing them performed in the close quarters of the Chopin Studio gives them depth.
The intimate downstairs studio is particularly well suited to this production. The Chopin Theatre itself, an historic Wicker Park venue dating to 1918, provides an atmospheric setting, while the smaller studio space allows the audience to feel like they're part of the creative process.
Van Barham's staging embraces the theatrical challenge of turning a painting into a living, breathing world where the characters become real. Isn't that what makes great art so powerful? When the masterpiece is finally revealed, the audience applauds in appreciation.
The musical's title may suggest a leisurely afternoon in the park, but underneath its beautiful surface is a surprisingly serious examination of the choices artists make. George chooses his art. Dot chooses a life beyond him.
The second act also gives the audience an opportunity to consider the price of success. Creating something meaningful can require sacrifice, but Sondheim and Lapine ask whether that sacrifice is always worth it.
That's what makes Sunday in the Park with George continue to resonate more than four decades after its Broadway debut. The struggle to balance work, relationships, family and personal fulfillment remains timeless.
It's also worth noting how pointillism, the painting technique pioneered by Georges Seurat, is woven throughout the production, beginning with the female protagonist, Dot. Sondheim takes the concept a step further, translating Seurat's distinctive use of individual points of color into the music through the score's crisp, staccato movements.
Most of the actors take on several roles, giving you a glimpse of their artistry. Vanderzee as both Dot and Marie is exceptional as is Lauren Miller as the Old Lady and Blair Daniels. Their versatility will blow you away.
Kudos must also be given to Rachel Sypniewski for her magnificent costume designs, classic couture in 19th century France, while the costumes in Act 2 are contemporary and also filled with "points."
After seeing the show and learning about all of the the characters, you'll never look at this painting the same way again".
Five STARS - Sunday In The Park With George" – Alan Bresloff, AroundTheTownChicago.com 8/29/26
"If you are familiar with the painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by George Seurat, with its amazing color and style, you might find the musical piece written by James Lapine ( book) and Stephen Sondheim ( music & lyrics), a story that will capture your interest into what might have been the "back story" to this work of art. The musical work, takes us into the past and present, containing some truths about life, love, and the creation of art itself. I must tell you that I was concerned about how Kokandy Productions, one of the city's most creative, would pull it off.
Kokandy has been known for their chamber musicals in the past, and over the last few years, they have produced some powerful works in their Chopin Downstairs Studio Theatre. Part of the chemistry in this venue is the proximity between performers and audience members. In many cases, audience members feel that they are in the show. I have seen a great number of productions of "Sunday in the Park With George", and had my doubts that director (Derek Van Barham) and set designer (G "Max" Maxin IV) could make the all sides available concept work. They worked it to absolute perfection, including the Act One ending where the painting comes to life! WOW!
The play is a wonderful story being told, live, as it appears to be happening. Act one has us in France observing George Seurat (Kevin Webb is an artist that continues to prove just how talented he is and how he truly understands Sondheim and his creations). He is primarily drawing Dot (an incredible performance by Missy Wise Vanderzee), but all of the other characters that end up in the painting are also a part of the act, allowing us to watch the work of art come to life and having a back story to go with each of them. The musical pieces are very unique and special, helping to bring the story to us. "Color and Light", "Finishing The Hat", "We Do Not Belong Together", "Sunday In The Park With George", and "Sunday" are its highlights.
The second act begins with all of the painting's characters filing their complaints, "It's Hot Up Here", and slowly leaves that period, taking us to more modern times and a different George ( still portrayed by Webb) who might be the great-grandson of the Seurat. He is more of a scientist using light and lasers to create his art and he is appearing with his grandmother Marie (Vanderzee again). During this act we learn a great deal about what took place when Dot left France with the baker and had her child. We also get to meet a lot of new people, played by the ensemble who were members of the painting itself, and as the second act progresses, we learn a great deal more about those people and love and life itself. The second act is shorter and has fewer songs but I must say, the reprises make more sense once you get deeper into the characters, so you will enjoy "Sunday", "Gossip", and "Move On', and one of my favorites, "Putting it Together".
Here is my tip of the hat to an ensemble that truly understands this wonderful work and how to bring this art to life in the basement of The Chopin Theatre:
Nick Arceo, Danny Andrew Bennett, Rachel Carreras, Ella Carson, Emily Holland, Lauren Miller, Z Moore, Kyrajo Petit-Walla, Samantha Ringor, Nathe Rowbothan, Jack Saunders, Abraham Shaw, Elexis Selan, Sarah Seidler, Halli Morgan, Brady Magruder, David Gordon-Johnson, Brittney Brown, and Gabriel Levy. Great work!
The musicians under the direction of Evelyn Ryan ( grand piano)were magnificent ( this is not easy music as Sondheim knows no bounds). Thanks to: Fernando Chapa ( French Horn), Andrew Milliken ( Keyboards 2), Adam Nigh (woodwinds), Matt Wolf ( cello) and Mickey York ( keyboards 3). The Music Director was Nick Sula.The tech people did some clever work as well. The props ( Julian Weslander), Costumes (Rachel Sypniewski), Sound ( Matt Reich), lighting (G "Max" Maxin IV) and stage manager ( Kendyl Meyer) and their workers kept the flow going where no time was ever lost in space.
I know there are many theater people who are not into Sondheim (I for one can't understand that) but this is one that you need to put on your MUST SEE list. Once again Kokandy Productions has created a masterpiece of a masterpeice in a place where I did not think it could be done, THEY DID IT!"
Author
Book by James Lapine
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Director
Directed by Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham
Music Direction by Nick Sula
Performers
Nick Arceo, Danny Andrew Bennett, Rachel Carreras, Ella Carson, Emily Holland, Lauren Miller, Z Moore, Kyrajo Petit-Walla, Samantha Ringor, Nathe Rowbothan, Jack Saunders, Abraham Shaw, Elexis Selan, Sarah Seidler, Halli Morgan, Brady Magruder, David Gordon-Johnson, Brittney Brown, and Gabriel Levy.
Orchestra: Evelyn Ryan (Grand piano), Fernando Chapa (French Horn) , Andrew Milliken (Keyboards 2), Adam Nigh (Woodwinds), Matt Wolf (Cello) and Mickey York (Keyboards 3).
Production
Madeleine Bigler (A2), Peter Boenish (Associate Projection Designer/Lead Electrician), Christine Burquest (A1), Ethan Colish (Assistant Stage Manager), Michael Coppola (Stage Management Intern), Alanna Chavez (Assistant Director), Syd Genco (Makeup Design), Hannah Kwak (Production Sound Engineer), G “Max” Maxin IV (Scenic, Projection and Lighting Design), Kendyl Meyer (Stage Manager), David Moreland (Technical Director), Amelia Osborn (Associate Production Manager),
Matt Reich (Sound Design), Nicholas Reinhart (Production Manager), Shane Roberie (Casting Director), Evelyn Ryan (Orchestrations), Keith Ryan (Wig & Hair Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), Stone TeSelle (Associate Scenic Designer, Scenic Charge), Julian Weslander (Properties Design)
