Putting It Together 

lol, i cant believe that people are saying the mlp version is better. Now dont get me wrong, the mlp version is more of a melody and easier to listen to, more accessible, so that you can put it in a playlist and just listen to it without much thought. But this, this is a performance. It's not suppose to be something you listen to frivolously. It's something more than a nice tune.

Such intricacy, you can find a new choice made by each actor every time you watch this show. We’re so lucky to have this available on RU-vid.

I wonder if those gallery goers in the Chicago art gallery, chatting away like the people strolling by in Sunday, realize that they, too, would be put in a painting on the stage, by the Sondheim no less. Sondheim himself says that he cries at least once while writing every musical, on a beautiful note, chord, phrase. In Sunday, it was "forever", because those people were going to be immortalized, and they knew it.

Really CAN hear the "Art of the Dress" from MLP G4!! Such amazing inspiration! I hope this can be one of my favorite musicals, it already seems interesting

@KelliherSean Exactly. People seem to forget that writing music for musicals isn't anything like writing 'regular' music. MLP's version is very much made as a really accessible song. It's very poppy, catchy and easy to listen to. With musicals it's always a first priority to act out the song. Sing, but never break out of character. Never stop acting, and don't act as if you're singing. It's really quite difficult and much more of a performance.

As a creator and artist, i constantly find myself coming back to this video to put things in perspective.

So nice to see this. I got the dvd a couple years ago. Everyone interested in Sondheim or theatre in general needs to get it.

I can say, as a young scientist working early in my career, this can be re-titled, "The art of making science" without changing the lyrics, much "Science isn't easy"

I’m here because Rachel Bloom said this was her favourite song from any musical

I would like to thank Ponies for showing me this awesome musical. They are good for something!

Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters??😍😍😍😍

That's kinda the point, though. It's a scene that merges dialogue with song, on the same level as "Simple", "Weekend in the Country", and several other examples, not all Sondheim. It's an advanced musical theatre technique that aids in the music flowing well with the rest of the show, and results in some really rich and complex songs.

I actually found my way here thanks to a video about musical theater I saw in class, and I must say I was surprised to find Art of the Dress was derived from this song. I agree that you can't really compare them, since they're in different formats and serve different purposes, but they're both enjoyable.

art isn't easy, that's the joy of it, that's the point of it, art is art due to the difficulty.

Don't know why, but I had a dream last night that I went to see this production! 🤔 One of my most favorite musicals! Have soundtrack as well, and no, I didn't listen to it before hand. 😅 But now I have an ear worm driving me crazy!😄

I watched the first season of MLP and I never realized Rarity's song was based on Sondheim! I love Sunday in the Park with George!

HOLY SHIT! I've been looking for this for what feels like an eternity!

Such an intricate piece of artwork ... wow.

@TheSondheimFan I'm a pony but people really need to give credit where credit's due. With that said this is a stunning work of art that i am happy to be directed to. i give thanks to the maker of a show for younger viewers who was inspired enough by this song to put it into their own works.

It was a good song, interestingly done. But I think the best part was seeing just how songs are able to evolve and change over time and still call back to their roots.

I can't believe I didn't recognize the pony version the first time I heard it! I really like this song, and it's a huge chunk of what I've seen of Sunday in the Park with George!

You know it seems bad that fans of ponies would sit here and insult the inspiration song. That's pretty shallow. Sondheim is a musical genius and the only reason the songs in Friendship is Magic exist at all is because the creators clearly love Stephen Sondheim's music- and why not?He is one of music theater's true geniuses! Why should anyone insult the source in the name of a tribute? If anything things like "Art of the Dress" ask you to visit and praise the source material! Not tarnish it

One of my favorite musicals.

RIP Sondheim

no kidding on that, they never simply stopped the music for two minutes at a time

I like this better than Art of the Dress BECAUSE GODDAMMIT IT SPEAKS TO ME. This is about more of a professional level, but even at the low levels, getting well known is about making connections. AND IT IS HARD

They are different enough to be different, but it clearly pays homage to Sondheim just as the Gala song is clearly a tribute to Into the Woods. But yes, people should NOT be dissing on the source material. I'm sure the creators of the show's music wanted fans to appreciate the work of Sondheim- not dis on it in favor of the cartoon's tributes/references

Very well done. Performers excellent

Art of the Dress is entirely different from this song and I'll say I enjoy both a lot, but Patinkin's singing and general performance here are fantastic, just as I would expect from such a good actor.

@solocitizen yes, that is Brent Spiner

Wow. I'm a brony to the core, all for Rarity's song, but this... this is amazing.

@TheSondheimFan Of course. In the astonishingly literal sense, though, apples and oranges aren't a difficult enough comparison. The songs really are quite different and both enjoyable, regardless.

Both this song and this MLP homage are good~!

@8:28 Brent Spiner quits art and heads to NASA so he can head out to space on The Enterprise.

This is nice!

@ButanoKaabii Point is, it's really not fair to compare something written for a Broadway show about art in 1984 to something written for an animated children's television show in 2011. The quality of the singing, the context of the song within the work, the way the song is integrated with the scene, how it's orchestrated, etc,- all so completely different from each other that it just isn't fair to compare them.

But MLP didn't do this song. They did an entirely different song with an arrangement based off this one. They shouldn't be compared because they were trying to accomplish different things.

As a Brony: No, the ponies did NOT do a better job. Why not? Because it's completely beyond comparing! One is a broadway musical, the other is a cartoon. Both are good songs, there's no denying that. But you have to face the fact that the original is always (let's say in 99.7% of the cases) better. Not only musically, but just because it was "first". One is something completely new, a revelation. A cover is "just a copy", no matter how good it is. Also: context. Broadway 1984 vs TV 2010.

@solocitizen Hah. I always love seeing Brent Spinner in his pre-TV roles. I personally always thought he was an amazing broadway actor and was a little saddened he went into the TV industry.

I have watched this over and over, and I cannot see Jake Gyllenhaal as George. He is officially the greatest actor alive.

Any playwright or screenwriter who wants to be earth-shatteringly innovative has only to do one thing: write a script that features art critics and connoisseurs who are well-informed, genuinely devoted to whatever art form is under discussion, and decent, well-mannered people to boot. I am 65, and a lifelong theater patron and filmgoer, and I have NEVER ONCE seen a play, film or television program in which such people were presented as anything other than snobbish, pretentious, social-climbing twits. Of course there actually are such people; but isn't there ever even ONE real emerald amongst all the phony costume jewelry?

I agree. This song is very different from the Dressmaking song from MLP. I can hear the influence but it is minimal and I like what Ingram did with the idea. Many composers use other composer's works as models. Ravel used a Mozart concerto for one of his but does it sound like Mozart? No, of course not.

yeah this is quite different from Art of the Dress they're rather difficult to compare if possible at all because the songs are very different and they're even stylized different when a song is INSPIRED by another song that just means the new song took some piece of the work not that it's using the exact same song

Commander Data!

Rarity has good taste! Sondheim for a very classy pony! She got the rest of the Mane 6 and Canterlot singing it too for the Grand Galloping Gala!

LOVE

I actually have to agree with this, since the goal of the songs is different. The MLP version had more emphasis on the melody, the original is closer to spoken-word set to music. There's a similar difference between "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man and the MLP "Flim Flam Brothers" homage. Also, kudos to you for responding calmly to the influx of new people, some of whom aren't that familiar with the medium. You might just help educate some mofos!

@Smeagolthevile And by 'quality of singing' and how its orchestrated, I merely meant that there's a different style applied to each version of the song specifically tuned to its audience (The original to a stage audience, the adaptation to a children's television program).

Lol. I came here from MLP too and I'm just facepalming at some of the bronies comments. To be honest I didn't really like 'Art of the Dress' much but this theatrical piece that inspired it is so impressive.

the backround kind of reminds me of into the woods prolauge. Idk why...

@Smeagolthevile Actually, a musical piece does need to have continuity with the rest of the work- a standalone piece is good, but not at all necessary. There are countless songs out there that don't work outside of the context of their shows, but are delightful nonetheless (A good number of Sondheim songs fit this regard).

@ShikogoFox As well as the poster said it...Apples and oranges..You can't compare it

@TheSondheimFan I love apples and oranges... oh wait you mean they're different yes they are

@neptunesism I don't know which character you are referring to, but, regardless, it isn't George Hearn. He hasn't done this show.

@d4m4s74 that's polyphony for ya.

Art of the Art?

@GaurdianWolf2009 Apples and oranges, there, apples and oranges.

:D woooow !

The MLP song is not supposed to BE this song, it's a parody/homage/tribute to this song. I don't get why this upsets some of the commenters here. I find the fact that a mainstream show aimed at children (though with broader age appeal) is referencing Sondheim is awesome! :).

Ponies everywhere in the comments now! Anyway, apples and oranges are both very much fruits, and they're in the warm end of the color spectrum. Besides that, they're usually sweet, sour, or somewhere in between. See? They are comparable! Quite so, in fact. That said, both versions are rather good.

@ShikogoFox Apples and oranges man, both are tasty, but they don't quite compare.

Wait. Mandy Patinkin is a /musical theatre/ actor? Here I just knew him as the rather grumpy older man in Dead Like Me and Criminal Minds. Who doesn't get to show off his wonderful enunciation skills at all. ;_;

Is that George Hearn

@GaurdianWolf2009They're completely different arrangements of the tune.

holy crap i never knew Mandy Patinkin could sing!

@pannicatack DVD? Where?

a couple of minutes into the song it got a bit too confusing. sensory overload

art of the dress 5:30

And that's the art of the dress.

Let's settle this here and now. While MLP is cool and all, I'm a theater geek for life, so I'm going to go with this version being better. I've always been that way. Why take an original and twist it up? I mean...Whitney Houston was popular for a song that Dolly Parton originally sang. So in conclusion, let's just forget all this controversy between MLP and this Musical and enjoy the music C:

Piece by Piece, snip by snip Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip Yard by yard, never stressed And that's the art of the dress- sorry, wrong song. Wait, was that Data from Star Trek?

Lol, the top comments are both pony related.

Its the guy from Criminal minds

Data!!!!!!!!

Don't compare Rarity's song to this! It's COMPLETELY different. Like really. They are both great, but they are much too different.

@swakleete State of the Art.

@neptunesism Nope.

@SCRuner5h THIS Why can't all us pony fans just love this song as much as the creators did to parody it? But no, everything's a contest with us. This is better, that's better, don't say this say that.

Hour by hour, one more change I'm sewing them together, take great pains Fluttershy, you're putting me in a bind Rainbow Dash, what is on your mind? Oh my gosh, there's simply not much time Don't forget, Applejack's duds must shine

Well. I like "Art of the dress" a lot but seriously, why are people comparing the two songs? Are people seriously THAT mentally challenged? Come on. They're not even remotely alike. Great performance, by the way. I love musicals for stuff like this :) It requires such good writing, both for the singers and for the instruments.

@TheSondheimFan or a poly"pony". LOL :]

Holy Crap its DATA!

I won't deny I'm also here because of ponies, but I do have to say right off the bat that saying the pony version is better just doesn't seem right. As others here have already said, they're two different songs (putting aside that one's inspired by the other) for two completely different mediums. That, and the sudden prevalence of MLP in the commentary of most videos seems to be taking the fandom just a bit too far. And I -am- a brony. Not everything has to be related to a single fandom.

@TheSondheimFan Ultimately they are not different from eachother. A musical's pieces do not need to have continuity between them, they have to be stand alone. For a musical or for a cartoon with a musical number it is the same, if it does not work alone it does not work. Also 'quality of singing' is VERY one sided. So you are telling me that someone did no loose their shirt trying to get onto Broadway it doesn't mean they don't have talent. The same question goes for composer

Discord dislikes this song.

One more ponies comment...

Bronies. I am ashamed. What happened to Tolerance and Love?

I grew up going to broadway in the 80-90's and I have to say I have never been impressed by Mandy...I Mean Colm has a much better voice even Ken Page is always amazing, but I do't get Mandy's appeal

Poneh

Ratity brought me here.

This scene is pointilist.

Mandy Patinkin's voice could be used as a form of torture. Easily one of the most unpleasant, cloying sounds on planet earth.

I find Patinkin too intense here. He wants you to be impressed with his performance. That’s not acting

This is very good, but I think MLP did a bit of a better job. Just my opinion.

jake gyllenhaal did it better 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️