Trivia / Sunday in the Park with George

• Actor-Inspired Element: The creative team were considering using tech to alter Mandy Patinkin's voice when he sang for the dogs in "The Day Off". Patinkin in turn showed them that would be unnecessary and displayed a variety of voices he could use for both dogs and let them decide which two he should use.
• Colbert Bump: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic alluding to "Putting it Together" in "Art of the Dress" generated some renewed interest of the musical among a select population.
• Dueling Works: Sunday in the Park With George opened in the same season as La Cage aux folles, which despite its groundbreaking subject matter, was deliberately written and staged as a very traditional musical comedy, the antithesis of Sondheim and Lapine's avant-garde approach. As the two shows went up against each other for awards, there was a split between critics and industry professionals over which was better and which type of musical was preferable. La Cage ended up winning most of the major Tony Awards, and its composer Jerry Herman accepted his award by calling it a victory for the "simple, hummable show tune," which was widely seen as a Take That! against Sondheim (though Herman claimed it was just aimed at critics who had slammed his old-fashioned writing style).
• Fake Nationality: Guaranteed: the first act is set entirely in France with French characters (with two Americans and two Germans in the company), and the second act is set in America, with American characters.
• Vindicated by Cable: The original Broadway production opened to mixed critical reviews, and the show ended up winning only two Tony Awards against La Cage aux folles. But theater kids around the world would grow up watching the 1986 live video recording of the production, broadcast on PBS and Showtime and later released onto VHS, DVD, and digital, making it a beloved classic over 30 years later.
• What Could Have Been:
  • James Lapine voiced an interest in doing a film adaptation but it was rejected by the studio.
  • "Lesson #8" was originally going to have the Double-Meaning Title "Primer" until Sondheim decided that it might detract from the seriousness of the song.