Review: last five years

I think I’m in love. His name is Jason Robert Brown, and he is musical theatre’s savior.

A tad dramatic, and possibly influenced by the love-in that was Hair last week, but an apt statement after seeing The Last Five Years last Friday at the Barbican.

The Last Five Years is a two hander that sits somewhere between a song cycle and a musical. It premiered in Chicago in 2001 and then moved Off-Broadway in 2002, with two of the most talented performers I’ve ever seen (thanks to bootlegs). Norbert Leo Butz (better known as the original Fiyero in Wicked or Freddy in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and Sherie Rene Scott (original Amneris in Aida and Christine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) are, and will always be, one of the hardest acts to follow when it comes to this show, bringing bucketloads of talent, emotion and intelligence to a beautiful score by Mr Brown. It has been one of my favourite shows since I first found the original cast recording in 2005, and I’m always slightly apprehensive when seeing a production.

It tells the story of Jamie and Cathy, and the arc of their relationship over the course of five years. He is a writer, who has success with his latest book, and she is a struggling musical theatre actress. The show takes form as a song cycle, with small monologues linking some songs. The unique element of the story is that whilst Jamie’s story plays from their first meeting through to their last goodbye, her story starts at the end and moves backwards. This means that from the beginning you are aware that they are doomed. What makes the rest interesting is finding out why. It’s an intense, emotional and very real look at relationships, which makes sense considering it’s loosely based on the composer’s relationship with his ex-wife. How loosely we don’t know, but considering he was forced to rewrite parts of the show, including replacing Jamie’s opening number, due to the reaction from said ex-wife, I’m not sure it was that loose an interpretation.

Before seeing this production at the Barbican, I have seen the show twice before. One I enjoyed immensely, with one of my favourite directors in Sydney who deserves to be directing professionally. The other I did not. There are two problems with this show. One, it is very difficult to interpret this show in any way other than the author’s intention without messing it up, and two, it is a rather difficult piece that requires two strong actors who can sing the pants off of the score, which is no mean feat. The range, control and tone that is required to sustain a 90 minute performance with no breaks and actually make the audience enjoy it is a rather tall order, and it seems not all productions succeed in finding the right people.

All this being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this production. While not produced in the style that I would of chosen (something that plagues my opinion every time I see this show), the staging was thoughtful and intelligent. However, I did take issue with the fact that Jamie and Cathy interact throughout the entire show. This is a personal gripe that I have with directors who choose this interpretation. I think it detracts from the beautiful moment where the two meet in the middle, but the people who attended the show with me seemed to love it and I conceded in the end. The use of the cellist toward the end for Jamie’s heartbreaking ‘Nobody Needs to Know’ was inspired. Again, introducing another actor to the stage was not how this was written, but it completely changed the dynamic of the scene. In fact, it made me not only focus on Jamie’s problems and the situation he has been forced into, but also on the impact this was having on the other character on stage. When the song was finished, I’m fairly certain that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Apologies for the cliché.

Freddie Fox and Lily James are both students at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and considering this, they did an extremely good job of bringing these characters to life. As Cathy, James managed well to perform what is one of the most challenging female roles in contemporary music theatre. Her tone is beautiful and warm, and while she struggles slightly with her upper register when belting, her quieter moments were extremely evocative, and often brought my fellow attendees to tears. She did suffer slightly from ‘stage school’ acting at times, but on the whole did an admirable job for a role that is extremely complex and layered with subtleties. Fox, as Jamie, is a fantastic actor. So good, in fact, that he manages to act his way out of most songs, choosing to speak-sing a lot of the songs. At first, this irritated me to no end, feeling like he was committing a crime against Brown’s score. However, his characterisation was so strong that despite this, I enjoyed every minute of his performance. his intensity, mixed with playfulness, shaped Jamie into a character I hadn’t seen him before, colouring him with a far wider spectrum of blacks, greys and whites than I had seen.  Also, when he did choose to sing his songs, he has a formidable voice and great control, the highlight of which being his heartbreaking rendition of Nobody Needs to Know.

However, what made the show were the flawless seven piece orchestra. They brought the music to life, often interacting with the actors through knowing winks, smiles and scowls, which worked perfectly.

I wish I could go back and see this before I knew about the show. If I could have unlistened to the music the three hundred thousand or so times I’ve already listened to it, I’m sure I would have found this to be the show of the season. Of the year. Of the decade.  However, what I did see was a very good production of an amazing show.

And by students, nonetheless.

The Last Five Years was playing at the Pit Theatre at the Barbican Centre from 12 – 16 April. Unfortunately it isn’t anymore.