'GEORGE' LOSES POINTS ON ROMANTIC CHEMISTRY.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

THERE ARE REASONS, quite compelling ones, in fact, why ``Sunday in the Park With George,'' the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1984 musical, has never had a production in Los Angeles.

For my money, ``Sunday'' is one of the most canny and heartbreaking musicals ever written, but it's no picnic to stage. A company needs the space to convincingly turn a stage into an artist's canvas, re-creating Georges Seurat's masterpiece ``A Sunday on the Grande Jatte.'' It also helps to have some of the technical and costume gadgetry that the play calls for. And, oh yeah, a pair of leads who can step into roles originated by Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters.

So give the West Coast Ensemble credit for its mojo and for what director Calvin Remsberg - a Sondheim veteran - has been able to accomplish. Tom Buderwitz makes expert use of the width and depth of WCE's stage and, with careful re-creation, Seurat's painting lives. With a flip, stark white panels burst into color and trees slide on and off as though on pulleys.

The technical components are in place. Less so the acting. There's a critical lack of chemistry between the two leads who, even though they may sing ``We Do Not Belong Together,'' need to convince us that precisely the opposite is true. Nor is Stef Tovar's George consistently up to the musical demands of Sondheim's score.

In Sondheim and librettist James Lapine's set-up, George Seurat is a struggling artist whose dedication to his work overshadows his ability to connect with human beings ... except, that is, when he puts them on canvas. His long-suffering mistress, Dot (played by Dana Reynolds), gets the worst of it. She's an artist's model, yes, but she also wants to have fun. George promises to take her to the follies, but must renege on his promise in order to ``finish the hat'' in his latest canvas.

In Act 2, Seurat's great grandson - also named George (and played by Tovar again) - is a multimedia artist, suffering from burnout and fatigue over self-promotion (illustrated in the song ``Putting It Together''). His link to the artistic ancestry is via his grandmother Marie (Reynolds, aged by makeup).

``Sunday'' confronts the sacrifices that inevitably seem to accompany artistic genius. That Sondheim and Lapine manage to explore this terrain through a love story between Seurat and Dot is a tribute to the creators' talent. Even 20 years after its creation, ``Sunday in the Park With George'' remains technically innovative, multilayered thematically and wonderfully romantic.

If, that is, the two leads mesh. At WCE, there's something missing. Tovar can hold the stage alone and he's got George's self-absorption down, but neither he nor Reynolds' Dana seem particularly taken with each other.

Director Remsberg seamlessly guides an otherwise excellent ensemble, and the group numbers (particularly ``It's Hot Up Here'' and ``Sunday'') are nicely staged and beautifully sung. Music director Allen Everman II makes strong use of an off-stage six-person ensemble.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE - Two and one half stars

Where: West Coast Ensemble, 522 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through May 4.

Tickets: $32 to $35. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: A beautiful picture, but it needs stronger leads.