In this episode, musician and editor Rob Weinert-Kendt joins hosts Isaac Butler and Catherine Nichols to discuss the musical "Sunday in the Park with George" with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The play focuses on the painter Georges Seurat and his common-law wife Dot, in the time when he was painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, but in its second act goes to Seurat's great grandson, also an artist, and his personal crisis. The conversation address issues of muses, second acts, artistic isolation and connection, and how the play is inevitably read through the lens of biography, especially in the wake of Sondheim's death.

Rob Weinert-Kendt is the editor of American Theatre and a frequent contributor to America magazine. He is also a musician.

Here are some of Rob's pieces on "Sunday in the Park with George" and Sondheim:

An interview with Sarna Lapine, who directed the 2017 SUNDAY revival:

https://www.americantheatre.org/2017/03/21/how-sarna-lapine-makes-sunday-in-the-park-sing/

A preview of the 2008 revival (not on Time Out's site anymore, but hosted on own janky website): http://robkendt.com/Features&News/sundayinpark.htm

Thoughts on Sondheim's death

https://www.americantheatre.org/2021/11/30/nothing-thats-not-been-said-on-sondheim/

An in-depth interview with him from 10 years ago

https://www.americantheatre.org/2011/04/01/stephen-sondheim-playwright-in-song/

Then two from Isaac:

https://slate.com/culture/2021/11/stephen-sondheim-dead-obituary-career-west-side-story.html

https://slate.com/podcasts/culture-gabfest/2021/12/review-spencer-yellowjackets-stephen-sondheim

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