The Last 5 Years

Original Post Date: April 5, 2008

Can I just say how much I love this show? This is my second time seeing it, and I am amazed at the complex simplicity. Jason Robert Brown is a freaking genius!

The Last 5 Years chronicles the 5 year relationship of struggling actress Cathy and budding writer Jamie. Here’s the kicker, though: Jamie tells the story from beginning to end while Cathy tells it backwards, from end to beginning. The show is a series of solos, with a beautiful duet in the middle (that’s their wedding day.) The show is...well, it’s amazing. You start out wondering what a cute, nice, happy guy like Jamie could have possibly done to make Cathy so sad. By the end of the show, you know exactly what happened...from both sides. And you can totally see where it all went wrong. It’s not exactly a show I’d recommend for a first...or even a second...date. But couples should really see it. Seriously.

Anyway, the show I saw today was at the Denver Center. Johanna Brickey was Cathy and Chris Crouch was Jamie. (The roles are double cast, and anyone could be on at any time.) I really REALLY liked Chris’s portrayal of Jamie. He really nailed the exuberance of the early relationship Jamie. He was so cute singing "Shiksa Goddess". You could feel his excitement. As the show progesses, you can see his frustration and how tortured he becomes. He played happy as equally at ease as sad. And he had a great voice, too! He totally rocked the "Schmeuel Song"! I was less impressed with Johanna. She was too young and immature for the End of the Relationship Cathy. The pain we’re supposed to see just wasn’t ringing competely true for me. However, once we got to see the early Cathy, she was perfect. Her best song was "Summer in Ohio" which is my favorite of Cathy’s songs. She did great on that one. She did well overall, but just not as good as Chris. They didn’t seem like an even match, vocally and acting-wise.

The set was AMAZING! There were two apartments, one on either side of the stage. Each had boxes everywhere, waiting to be unpacked. When one character was singing, the other was in their apartment putting things away. Every now and then they would pull something out of a box and use it as a prop in their next song. Kind of like they were reminiscing about that item and the memory it evoked. By the time the show was over, the apartments were completely in order. It was like their lives were totally cluttered and as they told the story, everything got sorted out and put back together. This was a really cool concept, and every effective for the show. The Garner Galleria Theatre also has a revolve at center stage (For those of you non-theatre folks, that’s a part of the stage that rotates. They are super cool!) They made great use of that during the show. A clock was painted on it. At the surface, it represents the clock in the Schmueel song...but it really seemed like it was the clock ticking down the 5 years. Cool, eh? I thought so.

Overall, the show was really, REALLY GOOD!!! I want to go back and see the other two actors. It could be a totally different show! Oh, and a word of advice....if you’re going to sit on the front row, make sure you’re in the center. My neck hurts from looking back and forth so much!!!!!!!!!!