04 Oct 2025
Deborah Heath is at the Abbey Theatre for Ever After Productions’ regional premiere of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece.
It takes time to create the perfect picture, a problem that artist George Seurat must have encountered in the two years it took to perfect ‘Sunday Afternoon on The Island
of La Grande Jatte’.
Yet in this semi-biographical musical, which must have only been a few months in rehearsal, Ever After Productions achieved a mesmerising blend of sound, visuals and technical realisation which transported us straight to a Parisian island in the late 1800s.
‘Sunday in the Park with George’ is an exciting concept for a musical. It tells the story of everyone featured in this classic post-impressionist painting, alongside the journey of George and his model/mistress Dot. It is at times a poignant tale but always peppered with the humour of everyday people trying to live their lives – this makes it appealing to a wide audience in some way.
Seurat’s signature style of painting with dots takes on a particular significance in this play where all the tiny parts of the story and the characters combine to form a larger narrative. Like ‘Into The Woods’, Sondheim and Lapine give us a slightly surprising second half which after a time shift, deepens and give resonance to Act I. It is in my opinion one of their masterpieces; a clever set-up accompanied by a catchy score and some well observed dialogue.
Dom O’Hanlon (George) and Elise Allanson (Dot/Marie) were mesmerising to watch throughout. As well as being supremely strong singers and actors, they had great interplay. The talented team of supporting actors were all impressive in their roles, however small. This is integral to the success of a show such as this where the action zooms in the lives of everyone, telling their interconnected stories. Youngest cast member Gabriella Brancazio played brat Louise with great humour. Guy Conroy-Smith was a joy to watch as the Soldier and Dennis. Cam Wilson’s Louis too was another particular delight. If only I had space to mention everyone because they all deserve it!
The execution of this production was quite simply on a professional level and in fact it felt superior to the West End version I saw 20 years ago! Everyone was at the top of their game from the actors and musicians to the technical and creative team.
The sheer scale of the orchestra was breathtaking and they gave an impressive performance under the leadership of Emma Fraser. I appreciated the execution of the piano/reed staccato accompaniments to George’s signature dotty brush stokes.
The thoughtful technical design was extremely impressive (Stuart Barry: Sound, Paul Davidson: Lighting, Billy Gregory: Animations) and really brought the artist’s studio into the auditorium. The set was a blank canvas with a moveable picture frame but make no mistake on the design challenges involved in this. There was such elegance in its simplicity, in the clean lines and at times translucent feel. There were some good humoured touches including the lowering of smaller picture frames, the 2D dog and non-verbal solider.
Matt Fowler’s direction was spot on with a clear overall vision and marvellous attention to the small details of his company’s acting that make a superior show work. A great example of this was the opening to Act II when the masks lift. I applaud Ever After Productions for choosing a musical that isn’t staged very often but certainly deserves to be.
As an audience member, it requires a bit more thought and engagement than most and is justly rewarding.
‘Sunday in the Park with George’ may only have two shows left at the time of writing but I do urge you to make the trip for a truly enchanting evening. Failing this, do try as I will, to get tickets for the next Ever After Production show. Well done to everyone involved; can’t wait to see what you bring us next!
Photos by Martin C Smith
