Sunday in the Park with George Case Study

Sunday in the Park with George

Theatrical Design

Sunday in the Park with George is a musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine in which a painting by George Seurat is brought to life on stage.

Creative Director Timothy Bird worked in collaboration with set and costume designer David Farley to create the design for Sam Buntrock’s Chocolate Factory production. The show transferred to the West End, where it won six Olivier Awards, including Best Design for Timothy and David.

Buntrock's show then moved on to New York's Broadway, playing at Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54, where it was nominated for 9 Tony Awards, including Best Design of a Musical. The show made a fourth appearance at the 5th Avenue Theater Seattle to great critical acclaim.

The animation work created by Knifedge comes in at around 1 hour's worth of material, one of the largest quantities of content created for a live theatrical piece. The visual engineering to make projection, set and lighting blend seamlessly together was provided Sam Hopkins (and Simon Pugsley for the Chocolate Factory run) in collaboration with Natasha Chivers and Mike Robertson (UK Lighting Designers) and Ken Billington (US Lighting Designer).

Timothy and David and the Knifedge team won all three major British Design Awards for their work on the show and received several more in the US.