A scene from Masquerade Theatre's production of Sunday in the Park With George. Photo by Gary Fountain

Of all Stephen Sondheim’s musicals, his Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday in the Park With George is arguably the “Sondheimiest” of all.

Brilliant, challenging, full of nuances and complexities most musicals wouldn’t go near, Sunday examines the process of making art through a fictionalized account of Georges Seurat painting his pointillist masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte, and (in Act 2) through his great-grandson’s struggle to find artistic inspiration a century later.

The original 1984 Broadway production, directed by librettist James Lapine and starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, was unforgettable — one of the peak theater experiences of that decade. Director Sam Buntrock’s 2005 London revival, transferred to Broadway in 2008, demonstrated that a completely different mounting of the show could prove just as powerful.

Despite imperfections, Masquerade Theatre’s current production gets the heart of the show right, thanks to strong performances by Luther Chakurian and Kristina Sullivan in the lead roles.

Sunday turns Seurat’s story into a profound musing on art: the sacrifices it entails from the artist and those dear to him, the struggle to carve space for a personal life, the temptation to compromise, society’s view of the artist and the way art endures to enrich others beyond its creator’s lifetime.

Sunday is as much about Dot, Seurat’s fictitious model, mistress and muse, as it is about the artist. When she faces the truth Seurat’s work does not allow room for the relationship she wants, Dot moves on, educating and improving herself. If Seurat makes art out of life while never quite finding time to live it, Dot turns her richly lived life into a kind of art. They cannot live together, but they “will always belong together,” as their final duet proclaims — because Dot’s life force is the inspiration for Seurat’s great art.

Act 2 jumps a century later, depicting Seurat’s imaginary descendant, also an artist named George. He fears he’s lost his way in repetition and the pressures of fundraising and deal-making. His link to the past and to human feeling is Marie, his 99-year-old grandmother, the babe in Dot’s arms a century earlier. In her last days, Marie recalls her mother’s joie de vivre and encourages the modern George to visit La Grande Jatte, setting the stage for a fantasy meeting between Dot and the modern George.

Returning to the role he played in Masquerade’s 1999 staging, Chakurian again convinces as an impassioned, obsessive Seurat, then as Act 2’s bewildered, yearning George. He delivers his demanding songs with range and dexterity, whether in introspective mode or ringing with fiery commitment.

Sullivan invests Dot with warmth, humor and feeling, her singing pure and forceful. She conveys the most sympathetic aspect of the show, Dot’s frustration at her dilemma and pained realization that she must make a life without Seurat. She’s properly sweet and vulnerable as the wistful Marie.

As the Old Lady, Allison Sumrall acts and sings with stately dignity. Adam Delka and Michelle Macicek are initially too arch and labored as condescending artist Jules and his brittle wife, Yvonne, but they relax into more natural portrayals in later scenes.

Richard Spitz’s conducting of the eight-musician orchestra is solid, as is the company’s choral work.

Phillip Duggins’ direction is at its best in the intensity he bring to the intimate scenes of the leads. He’s less successful handling the scattershot humor of the vignettes involving the subsidiary characters, which come across too heavy-handed. The overall production could use greater crispness, a lighter touch and fleeter pace.

There were some problems with amplification, too, which made a good deal of Act 2 inaudible. We’re told those problems have been corrected.

Flaws notwithstanding, Masquerade’s Sunday conveys much of this Sondheim classic’s uniqueness and rich meaning.

Sunday In The Park With George
7:30 Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Masquerade Theatre
At Hobby Center
$36-$66