Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the iconic musical Sunday in the Park with George

Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. 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, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.

JAMES LAPINE is a preeminent director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has been nominated for twelve Tony Awards and won on three occasions for Best Book of a Musical (Passion, Falsettos, and Into the Woods). He has also won five Drama Desk Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and a Peabody Award, among other honors. He has been inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Mr. Abbott Award for lifetime achievement in theater.