Theatrical Tour de Force
From the opening hush to the final chords, Shotgun Players’ Sunday in the Park with George unfolds as a fully realized theatrical experience. The production gathers itself with intention — moment by moment, layer by layer — the way a painting slowly sharpens into view. Characters step forward, the music warms, the design begins to breathe, and suddenly the whole world onstage has taken shape around you.
Georges Seurat painted A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte in 1884–86, using a revolutionary technique of tiny dots of pure color placed side by side so the viewer’s eye—not the brush—would blend them. This meticulous pointillist method demanded precision, patience, and an almost architectural approach to art.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine built their musical on that idea: Act I imagines Seurat creating the painting; Act II jumps a century forward to a modern artist wrestling with innovation, technology, and the pressure to make something meaningful.
Shotgun Players’ production echoes this lineage—crafted detail by detail, moment by moment—much like Seurat building an image from countless deliberate choices.
What rises from this steady build is performance with purpose, music with lift, and staging that doesn’t simply present the material but animates it. This Sunday moves with confidence and clarity — a tour de force assembled through detail, rhythm, and heart.
The story spans two eras: Georges Seurat creating his masterpiece in 1884, and a modern artist navigating the pressures of contemporary creation. Across time, the musical traces what it takes to make something that lasts.
A Sunday worth spending — tender, attentive, and beautifully crafted.
A George Worth Watching — and a Dot Who Brings the Spark
Kevin Singer, gives George an interior pulse — a man who sees the world in pieces, then tries to assemble a whole out of the fragments. His stillness draws focus; his concentration shapes the stage.
Marah Sotelo’s Dot brings the momentum. Her wit, warmth, and grounded immediacy infuse Act I with emotional clarity. She makes every scene count.
Kevin Singer and Marah Sotelo deliver a George and Dot you genuinely care about.
Together, their dynamic creates the kind of tension that feels lived rather than staged — two lives moving at different tempos, brushing past and circling back.
An Ensemble That Colors the World
The ensemble fills in the world with well-placed strokes. Lucy Swinson, William Broshnan, Laura Domingo, Kevin Rebulián, and Alex Rodriguez each contribute beats that land cleanly — flashes of character, humor, and rhythm that animate the park and give the stage its texture.
This production paints with intention — every detail earns its place.
Their collective work creates a picture in motion.
Music That Lifts the Story
David Möschler leads a small orchestra that plays with warmth, shape, and balance. The music fits the contours of the storytelling, supporting the performers while giving the score room to breathe.
One of the best-sounding small-theater Sondheim ensembles in the Bay Area.
The sound has presence without weight — a musical world fully in sync with the dramatic one.
Design That Draws You In
Nina Ball’s scenic design, Sophia Craven’s lighting, and Madeline Berger’s costumes work together to guide the eye naturally. The space shifts like the brushstrokes of a living canvas: soft hues, quiet transitions, clean silhouettes.
The design choices expand the world without calling attention to themselves.
A Unique Feature: Onstage Seating
Shotgun Players onstage seating diagram. Audience members may sit within Seurat’s landscape.
The onstage seating option deepens the experience. Audience members sit inside the perimeter of the painting, giving certain scenes a front-row intimacy and others a surprising sense of shared space. This proximity reinforces the production’s theme of stepping into the act of creation itself.
Act II: A Shift in Time That Finds Its Mark
The move to the modern era in Act II lands with clarity and lift. Imri Tate brings humor and heart as Marie, and the production handles the shift in style and tempo with a sure hand.
A production that listens as much as it sings
Connections across the century emerge naturally, through tone and rhythm rather than explanation.
A Production in Conversation With Its Audience
Susannah Martin’s direction leans into relationships — the small gestures, the pauses, the glances that say what words don’t. The production’s strength comes from this attention: scenes breathe, characters listen, and the larger themes grow organically from the smallest moments.
Sondheim, distilled and alive.
The result is a story that feels fully inhabited rather than interpreted.
Final Thoughts
Sunday in the Park with George endures because its questions endure:
What does it take to make something true?
What does it cost?
And what remains after the work is done?
Shotgun Players leans into those questions with a balance of clarity and heart. The production builds its world with care, lets emotion rise on its own timing, and trusts the final image to speak plainly.
When the last words arrive —
White. A blank page or canvas… so many possibilities.
— the moment feels earned.
Quiet boldness, beautifully executed.
A vivid, resonant, and fully realized production.
A Sunday worth spending.
TO SEE
Shotgun Players
The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley
Dates: Now through January 25, 2026
Run time: Approx. 2 hours 50 minutes, including intermission
Tickets:
shotgunplayers.org/show/sunday
Box Office: (510) 841-6500
Accessibility: Onstage seating available.
ASL-interpreted and audio-described performances listed on the show page.
Each review is created through my proprietary FocusLens℠ method—an original editorial process shaped by firsthand experience, critical insight, and structured narrative design. Original photography, graphics, director quotes, and animated elements are incorporated to enhance reader engagement and visual impact. State-of-the-art scaffolding systems support organization and phrasing, but every sentence and decision reflects my own voice and judgment. These are not AI-generated reviews—they are authored, shaped, and published by me.
