The Last 5 Years…in the next 2 months

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Jason Robert Brown’s show ‘The Last 5 Years’ features fantastic music and an interesting way of telling the story of Cathy and Jamie and their five year relationship. Jamie’s narrative is your typical start to finish, whereas Cathy tells her side of the story concurrently, but in reverse. Her re-telling of events begins at the break-up and works back until she gets to her re-counting of their first date. This device does have the potential to be confusing but it also offers is the chance to see different points of the relationship very clearly from each character’s perspective. Watching the show, I find that my understanding of different scenes is is more enlightened once I’ve seen the same situation from ‘the other side of the looking glass’.

I worked on a production of this show here in Adelaide in February 2007 with Six Foot Something Productions. We are re-visiting the piece in August in a series of performances at the Out of the Square group of theatres.

17th August – Star Theatres (Hilton)

18th August – Marion Cultural Centre

19th August – Noarlunga Theatre

24th August – Golden Grove Arts Centre

25th August – Shedley Theatre (Elizabeth)

I can’t wait to get together with the cast of Dianne Lang and Paul Talbot, director David Lampard and the great musicians that we worked with last time. Due to conflicts with other commitments I think we may have to substitute one or two of the musicians this time around, but that adds some new energy to the group. The score is not easy to play, there are some quite complicated moments for all of the instruments (and the cast), but when we get it together, it’s SO satisfying to play. If you haven’t heard the show before, you can download the original off-broadway cast recording from iTunes.

Review of February 2007 production of show at New Adelaide Theatre Guide website.