A review by kurtwombat
Putting It Together by James Lapine

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

 I have had an attachment to the musical SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE since seeing the PBS broadcast of the original play almost 40 years ago. It single handedly broadened my expectations of music and theater and art. Thus my expectations were pretty high approaching this book. They were mostly met. Second to Sondheim, the author of the book and the play James Lapine would seem the person to deliver such a story. Mostly I am happy with his execution—it can be a difficult play to understand and discuss—but in the end I was hungry for an outside voice. Sometimes the narrative feels insulated—as I imagine theater people can be.  There are brief interviews with many of the people involved but would have loved deeper dives. (I listened to the audio version where they had different actors voicing each of those being interviewed—nice but most of the women sounded the same with the same hint of aristocratic snob. Len Cariou as Stephen Sondheim was sublime). That being said I enjoyed the nuts and bolts building the play from the ground up structure of the book. Easy to be swept up in the magic of a painting come to life without wondering how that was achieved. The story behind that alchemy is definitely worth reading if you are interested in any creative art.