On August 3, Christine Baranski, who was in the original off-Broadway production of Sunday In the Park with George at Playwrights Horizons, moderated an intimate digital conversation event with playwright and director James Lapine and composer Stephen Sondheim to celebrate the release of Lapine’s new book Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I created “Sunday In The Park With George” (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux). Mandy Patinkin  and  Bernadette Peters also joined as special guests. These Broadway legends came together to discuss the book and the musical that commenced their decades-long working relationship.

The Town Hall will now make the event available to view through Video on Demand  from  August 5-12, 2021.

for tickets, visit The Town Hall
$45 ticket/book bundle for domestic audiences
$60 ticket/book bundle for international audiences
$25 ticket for livestream without book
copies of Putting It Together  provided by Strand Book Store

Because this is a virtual gathering, patrons worldwide can witness two of the greatest masters of the American Musical Theater discussing their art — an event normally reserved just for a live audience. In Putting It Together, Lapine tells the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, the first of his collaborations with Sondheim. The new book takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this iconic musical and chronicles the two-year odyssey of its creation.

In 1982, James Lapine, at the beginning of his career as a playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, nineteen years his senior and already a legendary Broadway composer and lyricist. Shortly thereafter, the two decided to write a musical inspired by Georges Seurat’s nineteenth-century painting  A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical.  Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friendship and the highs and lows of that journey.

James Lapine  is a preeminent director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He is the recipient of three Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Passion,  Falsettos,  Into the Woods), as well as nine Tony Award nominations, five Drama Desk Awards, a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and a Peabody Award, among other honors. He has also been inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Mr. Abbott Award for lifetime achievement in theater.

Stephen Sondheim  is a composer, lyricist, and Broadway icon. He is the recipient of eight Tony Awards (including a Tony for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, an Academy Award for Best Song, eight Grammy Awards, eight Drama Desk Awards, and many other honors. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015.

One of the entertainment industry’s most honored actresses,  Christine Baranski  is an Emmy, two-time Tony, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Drama Desk and American Comedy Award winner. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Baranski received her big break in Tom Stoppard’s hit Broadway comedy “The Real Thing.” She currently stars as “Diane Lockhart” in the critically-acclaimed “The Good Fight” on Paramount+, and next year will star in the highly-anticipated HBO limited series, “Gilded Age.” She received an Honorary Doctorate from Juilliard and in 2018, she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.