See it if You love Sondheim, great directing, and acting.
Don't see it if You don't like the show to begin with.
See it if you love Sondheim and this classic play. Jake Gyllenhaal\ Annaleigh Ashford are fantastic singers/actors. What an imaginative/magical play.
Don't see it if you don't like Sondheim nor want to be swept up in the creation of art and its meaning for all of us. Go anyway and be converted!
See it if If you love high art and songs that are more avent-garde. Also if you are a Sondheim fanatic!
Don't see it if If you prefer a more traditional score and show. It
See it if Lookin 4 fresh take of contemporary classic led by amazingly talented duo who pay homage 2 roots yet make iconic roles their own & stay true
Don't see it if You'd be crazy to miss this production, even if not a fan of Sondheim or particular actor...this show will make u a believer
See it if You enjoy seeing a stage full of performers all operating at the top of their game. True ensemble cast wonderfully directed.
Don't see it if You don't like musicals.
See it if I saw George, not knowing the show and was completely BLOWN AWAY by Jake, Annaleigh and the cast. Remarkable!!!!!
Don't see it if If you don't like sondheim
See it if You love Sondheim, musical theatre, or interested in the classics.
Don't see it if You don't like Sondheim or intellectual, sophisticated theatre.
See it if Stephen Sondheim's genius, glorious music/lyrics + fine acting from Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford. The simple staging works great,
Don't see it if You have to see it!
"Something deeper than love — closer to religious gratitude — is the sentiment you may experience in the finale that concludes the first act of the marvelous revival...This interpretation comes across with more personal, in-the-moment intimacy than any I’ve seen...Mr. Gyllenhaal invests every note he sings with the rapt determination of someone trying to capture and pin down the elusive...Ashford's performance at City Center was charming; this time, it’s much more than that."
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"Sondheim’s plangent, soaring score sounds marvelous. If Sarna Lapine’s budget staging reminds you that this version began as a concert, at least you can get lost in the music...You will be suitably swept away by Gyllenhaal’s passionately acted, exquisitely articulated George, the most psychologically cohesive and sympathetic rendition I’ve witnessed live...'Sunday' remains a masterpiece that affirms the painful, isolating joys of creation, and the need to learn new lessons."
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"Bare-bones but beautiful...Sondheim’s songs are so profound that they feel as if they had left the realm of lived experience and entered a Keatsian plane of absolute truth-beauty...It’s hard to keep your eyes off Gyllenhaal. But the performance is not as effortless as it might be...He is unable in Act Two to escape the interiority of the writing of modern-day George, and so the drama, always tenuous by this point, leaches out. Or would, were it not for the compensating talents of Ashford."
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"The production has elevated an affecting work into something quite rare and exquisite. Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford bring richer shadings and startling emotional candor to their dual roles, supported by a gifted ensemble...Staged with grace and fluidity by Sarna Lapine...I don't recall ever experiencing the binding unity of creative vigor and purpose with such piercing solitude that Gyllenhaal brings to the two parts."
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"One need not know Seurat to enjoy this enchanting production. Jake Gyllenhaal, bearded and intense with a rich singing voice, makes the character understood immediately...This production is smartly directed by Sarna Lapine, with an economical staging based on her 2016 concert version...This stripped down 'Sunday' doesn’t lack for its own theatrical delight and instead lets the characters’ yearnings fill the frame."
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"Under the direction of Sarna Lapine, the staging is more theatrically structured than it was at City Center, with its stools and lecterns. But even as retooled, the show retains the quality of serene simplicity that heightens the poignant beauty of the score...If it weren’t for Gyllenhaal’s inherent charm and the affection of Ashford’s doting Dot, the artist’s commitment to his art ('I cannot look up from my pad') might not compensate for his overwhelming self-absorption."
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"I felt unconstrained by the show’s built-in artifice and was swept up by the vitality and simplicity of this production...Jake Gyllenhaal as George is thoroughly convincing, his singing and acting of a piece...The production itself, directed by Sarna Lapine, avoids letting Mr. Sondheim’s self-grandiosity seem grandiose...This fervent, enticing production also reveals something latent in the musical that is more intriguing and all-too-rare: an abiding faith in the powers of art."
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"Revelatory...This is a spectacular revival and the principals are simply breathtakingly good. The performances are assured – indeed, they’ve only grown in confidence. Moreover, the semi-staging by Sarna Lapine reveals (as if we needed reminding), one of the most beautiful, moving and endlessly inventive scores ever written, not to mention the equally ambitious and rewarding book that frames it."
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