Connecting the Dots: How "Sunday" Draws on Seurat (today's MARQUEE)
Student video illustrates Sondheim’s “hat’s off” to pointillism
Shalom, Broadway lovers!
In today’s FREE edition of MARQUEE: The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast: a Student Video Essay illustrating the connections between Sondheim’s score in Sunday in the Park with George and the painting style of the artist whose work was the basis for the show; a recommendation of a new, Sondheim-oriented substack; the first 90 seconds of a Piano Talk about Carousel; and a Last Blast about Falsettos.
This week, Premium subscribers also get a Broadway Blast about Hair; the rest of the Piano Talk about Carousel; a Broadway Blast about My Fair Lady; a Broadway Maven YouTube Gem that is a 10-minute version of In the Heights; and a quiz about unusual last names in the Broadway canon.
Sheva Schwartz, a 20-year-old University of Ottawa cello performance student, created this video as her final project. A Maven Scholar studying with David and Mateo since early April, Sheva's video explores her interests in music theory, harmony, and analysis. She connects the technical aspects of Sondheim’s score for Sunday in the Park with George with Georges Seurat’s pointillistic technique, the inspiration for the show's title character. The video features Sheva’s cello and piano excerpts from the show, demonstrating how the two artists’ works inform each other.
RECOMMENDATION: I’m pleased to welcome a new substack to the platform’s (small) collection of Broadway newsletters. “The Sondheim Hub” is a brand-new twice-weekly newsletter that offers interviews, reviews, and commentary about all things Stephen Sondheim. Examples of topics in the first few weeks are interviews with two Sondheim actresses; a detailed review of the first song to be released from Sondheim’s last show (Here We Are); and commentary on Into the Woods, Assassins, and Merrily We Roll Along. It’s a perfect companion to MARQUEE for fans of The Master, and I recommend it highly.
PIANO TALK: This week, music educator Mateo Chavez Lewis (from the “Music Theatre Theory” YouTube channel) tackles “If I Loved You” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel by Rodgers & Hammerstein. He identifies two bars in the latter song that have an interesting chord transition that links it with the earlier song. It’s easy to miss – unless you watch this video! Here are the first 90 seconds.
Note: links to register for ALL classes are always available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Sunday, May 19 4 pm ET: History and Harmony: A Broadway MasterClass: session 7 (registration closed)
• Sunday, May 26 4 pm ET: History and Harmony: A Broadway MasterClass: session 8 (registration closed)
• Sunday, June 2 4 pm ET: History and Harmony: A Broadway MasterClass: BONUS session (registration closed)
• Sunday, June 2 5 pm ET: Discussion section for History and Harmony: A Broadway MasterClass (ALL-ACCESS Only)
• Sunday, June 16 Tonys Watch Party (ALL-ACCESS Only)
• Monday, July 1 FREE class on Gypsy Noon and 7 pm ET(Registration opens next month!)
• Monday, July 15 FREE class on Into the Woods Noon and 7 pm ET(Registration opens next month!)
• Friday, July 26-Sunday, July 28 BroadwayCon in Times Square (three panels hosted by The Broadway Maven)
• Mondays in August: Noon and 7 pm ET Rodgers and Hammerstein series
• Tuesdays in August: Noon ET Stephen Schwartz series
• Mondays in September: Noon and 7 pm ET Jewish Broadway series
• Tuesdays in September: Noon ET Sondheim Academy Act Three
NOTE: As always, ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not have to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!
LAST BLAST: The hilarious, outré song “Four Jews in a Room Bitching,” which kicks off Falsettos with a punch, plays a very specific role in the show. Released in 1981, March of the Falsettos (which became the first half of the Broadway hit) faced an audience with many attendees uncomfortable with same-sex relationships. So composer-lyricist William Finn first pointed his baton toward Jews, a group known for theatricality and humor. This strategy prepares the audience for the next song, “Tight-Knit Family,” which reflects Marvin’s desire to “have it all”: both a traditional family with his wife and son, and a same-sex love relationship with Whizzer. Somehow the revelation of gay love is less threatening when presented in the context of a silly-sounding number about Jews. But here’s the tricky part: that silly song is peppered with foreshadowing language that DOES key into the coming themes, such as “We are manipulating people and we need to know our worst sides aren’t ignored” and “What do they do for love?”
QUIZ ANSWERS: Christine Daaé (The Phantom of the Opera); Angel Dumott Schunard (Rent); Jud Fry (Oklahoma!); Melchior Gabor (Spring Awakening); Anna Leonowens (The King and I); Augustin Magaldi, (Evita); Marius Pontmercy (Les Misérables); Herbie Sommers (Gypsy); Elphaba Thropp (Wicked); Horace Vandergelder (Hello, Dolly!)
Broadway Maven David Benkof helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube channel, and MARQUEE: the Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.