Sunday, which opens Thursday night, presents a fictional account of pointillist painter Georges Seurat’s life while he creates his signature work, ”A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” Bienen fifth-year senior Seth Dhonau portrays Seurat, who has an intense concentration and commitment to his work. These allow him to ignore those who criticize his unorthodox style of painting but also damage his personal relationships. Communication senior Laura Huizenga plays Seurat’s lover Dot, an astute woman who is fascinated by the artist’s passion for his work but frustrated by the artist’s reserved approach to their relationship.

“It’s about creating art, but it’s also a love story,” Maltby says. “It’s about a man and a woman in a relationship that is perfect but ultimately, because of its perfection, can not work. I think for people who are artists, and even those who aren’t, that idea of life versus art is an interesting one, and an interesting one to see in an artistic setting.”

Maltby says it was Sondheim himself who reminded her not to lose sight of the fact that the show is first and foremost a love story. ”I asked what about this painting inspired you to write a show about art and he said ‘I had no intention to write a story about art. The main character was an artist so that inevitably came out in the writing.’ I thought that was so interesting because everybody thinks the show is about art and it’s not. It’s about a man who is an artist,” she explained.

Sunday features an emotive score and complex narrative that touches on a multitude of themes, including creation, inspiration and trust. The second act moves the story ahead 100 years to an American museum where Georges’ and Dot’s artist great-grandson, George (also portrayed by Dhonau) debuts his latest color and light machine, “Chromolume #7″. The piece is meant to pay homage to his great-grandfather’s painting and honor his grandmother, Marie (also portrayed by Huizenga). George, however, privately expresses his distaste for the cocktail conversation and critic reviews that have become essential to funding the creation modern art during the song “Putting It Together.”

The two acts come together when the disheartened artist travels to the French island and encounters a vision of Dot during the show’s penultimate song, “Move On.” “There’s no logical reason why it should work,” Maltby explains. “She’s a character from 1884, he’s a different person, not the man she was in love with, and yet you totally buy it. It balances the two ideas of the show perfectly, talking about their love story and what it means to be an artist. You can’t have one without the other.”

The musical also looks at the lives of the characters who appear in the painting, which is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. These individuals all crossed paths with Seurat at one time or another, but have their own stories that exist beyond their interaction with the painter. ”The first act especially is told so much through Georges’s head that it’s very easy for these characters to mush into them. What is so awesome about our cast is that we have the most eclectic group of dynamic performers, and they’re all so different, that each of these characters pops out as the most specific and unique person, so you care just as much about their stories [as you do Georges' and Dot's],” Maltby added.

Sunday in the Park with George will play at Shanley Pavilion through the weekend with shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m , Friday at 11 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door or online at the Norris Box Office Web site.

The Shakespeare-oriented theater group Lovers and Madmen painted the Rock on Tuesday to advertise their upcoming performance of Much Ado About Nothing, and continued painting it today. Although painting the Rock during the day is generally frowned upon as unacceptable behavior as per tradition, the performances will be taking place at the Rock and the painted Rock will serve as a backdrop. The original advertisement was painted at night.

If you are interested in seeing this performance, stop by the Rock at May 28 at 7 p.m., May 29 at 7 and 10 p.m., and May 31 at 2 p.m. In case of rain, the performance will move to the Bergen Theatre in the Theatre Interpretation Center. There is no charge for watching all or a part of the performance.

If you think you have nothing to do this weekend, you’re wrong. Not even counting the other great productions opening this week, you do not want to miss Noises Off.

Photo courtesy of Wave Productions.

Noises Off, which is being performed in The Louis Room at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, is a play-within-a-play and a farce-within-a-farce. Produced by WAVE Productions, it tells the story of nine Brits struggling to put on the play Nothing On in three acts — the disastrous dress rehearsal, a mid-season matinee performance and their final performance. Each character is dynamic, slightly ridiculous and completely hilarious. Most of the humor in the first act comes from the inability of the company to rehearse professionally, despite the urgency of their upcoming opening. We then begin to see individual quirks and personalities and the relationships between the characters, which becomes largely important in the following acts.

The show uses gross misunderstandings and a lot of slapstick and sexual humor to keep the audience laughing (you’ll see a lot of underwear). The second act is by far the most impressive part of the show. The entire set is taken apart and flipped around, and we get to see the play from backstage. Due to a series of love triangles, jealous lovers and basic miscommunication, the relationships in the cast devolve into pure drama and anger — almost all the actors wield an axe at some point. Because it’s backstage, the characters remain silent and pantomime an intense series of conflicts at breakneck speed. At the same time, they are performing the actual play onstage, where we can only hear dialogue, and constantly running back to continue fighting. The timing has to be precise, and the cast manages it perfectly. It’s truly one of the most impressive bits of theater I’ve ever seen, and the high-speed action keeps you tense throughout the act.

Because timing is so important, the direction of Noises Off all the more impressive. It’s easy to see that a lot of time and effort went forth into the staging of the show. It’s also easy to see that the cast spent a lot of time rehearsing. All of the actors performed wonderfully as individuals and as a group, with good chemistry between all the characters. From the frustrated and overbearing director to the poor, put-upon stagehands, everyone put on a great performance, so it’s difficult to single any one out for individual praise. Chris Leck and Jonathon Webster did wonderfully as two of the more sympathetic characters, an overworked and timid stagehand and an over-thinker who’s overly sensitive to violence respectively. And Alex Ryser easily played one of the more humorous roles as Selson Mowbray, an alcoholic actor past his prime who has trouble remembering his entrances and lines. But the show’s best selling point is truly the strength of its cast as a whole.

Noises Off is an incredibly funny and entertaining show. The entire cast and crew put on an amazing performance that is definitely worth a view or two, so take a break from studying, stop sitting around and go laugh your pants off.