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.

It seems that recently I’ve been in quite the quandry when it comes to shows. So far it’s been that the production is top notch, but the cast struggle with a bad script, or the cast aren’t too crash hot, but the production is just so darn fun that it makes it impossible to dislike it. I’ve been waiting for a peice of theatre to come along and knock my socks off with cast, production and the actual text itself. Sadly, I’m still waiting. However, I’m not exactly sure why.

Hair first premiered Off Broadway in 1967. It was an extremely controversial show, featuring foul language, drugs, sex, nudity and *gasp* rock and African American music. It was the perfect anti-war, anti-establishment, anti-everything theatrical masterpiece that blew everyone away. Critics seemed to love it, whilst state governments did not. Regional productions were cancelled due to the nudity and use of the American flag, and a bomb was even thrown at a theatre where Hair was showing. When it first played in London in 1968 it had a similar response. Critics loved it and it had a marked effect on London theatre, ostensibly stopping stage censorship. All this said, I just don’t really get it.

Hair, to me, is a vast collection of songs tied extremely loosely to a plot surrounding a commune of hippies and the vietnam war. Firstly, there seems to be no quality control around the songs themselves. Some songs are fantastic, while others barely warrant a listen. Secondly, most of te songs have little reason to be in the story, apart from being vaguely anti. The way these songs are presented are by turning a phrase and bursting into song, much like Godspell, which doesn’t do the musical any favours. However, this is what is often lauded as the brilliance of Hair. It breaks most theatrical and musical conventions. It has provided much fodder for academics to talk about the musical influences, the significance of particular scenes (the nude scene, especially), the sloppy style and every other aspect of the show and the performing of the show. Still, I just don’t feel the same things that other people seem to feel when they see this production.

That being said, this is the strongest cast I have ever seen on stage. Every single member of the tribe was an unbelievably strong singer and actor, and the movement and staging of the entire thing was flawless. The ‘leads,’ if you can call them that, were each perfectly suited to the role. Will Swenson as Berger was a force to be reckoned with. He dominates the stage as a kind of leader to the Tribe. He has an intensity and something bordering on rage bubbling beneath the surface that makes him absolutely electric to watch on stage. Gavin Creel as Claude and Caissie Levy as Sheila had two of the most impressive voices I’ve ever seen on stage. I have never seen anyone match the purity of both of these singers. Sasha Allen as Dionne was everything Dionne should be: a black powerhouse who could belt the roof off the theatre. Andrew Kober took the cake with a comic tour de force as both Dad and Margaret Mead. His comic acting was amazing and it was quite impressive how well he could seamlessly slip back in with the Tribe, having to constantly go between Tribe and ‘straight’ characters. All in all, the cast were amazing and instead of gushing over the entire cast, I shall leave it at that. I think it’s fairly clear why they chose to tour this cast with the production, as I don’t think I could have seen a better cast made of west-end performers.

Also, I think Hair is a show that performers can really appreciate. While I didn’t particularly like the show, I was wishing that I was onstage with the cast. It is a show where the cast are so united as a group and so immersed into their performances that it makes other performers jealous. RENT is another show where this seems to happen. Another incredibly flawed show that looks like an absolute joy to be in (which I got to experience first hand in Sydney). Another show that critics seemed to go mental for that I didn’t particularly get.

I did enjoy Hair. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I feel I should have.

I guess some shows just aren’t for me.

Hair is playing at the Gielgud Theatre from 14 April. Check out their facebook page for cheap tickets!

Silence! The Musical belongs to a new breed of postmodern ‘meta’ musicals that seem to be cropping up recently. From the ‘two guys writing a show about two guys writing a show about two guys writing a show’ of [Title of Show], to the comedic brilliance of Evil Dead: The Musical and Bat Boy: The Musical. It is a common trend for musicals to be tongue firmly planted in cheek, with a ‘musical theatre reference a minute’ style system. In fact, with recent examples, if you see the title [insert word]: The Musical, chances are you are going to be assaulted with slightly offensive, yet ultimately hilarious musical theatre (some other examples off the top of my head: Gutenburg! The Musical, Cops: The Musical, Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical, Reefer Madness! The Musical and Jerry Springer: The Opera).

I for one, don’t mind one bit. Many of these title have gone on to be new favourites, and Silence! almost joins them.

Almost.

I heard about Silence! through Playbill.com a while ago, due to the book having been written by [Title of Show]‘s Hunter Bell (I must admit here, I am an avid [tos]ser… and yes, I do realise how that sounds). When I heard that they were bringing the show back with the original director, but this time in London, I was a little excited. I purchased tickets as soon as I could and secured my seat for the first preview night.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. Above the Stag, a tiny venue situated behind London’s Victoria Palace, isn’t what I expected as a theatre. It’s a small converted room above the gay pub, The Stag. Thus the name, I suppose. It probably only holds max 50 people, and the stage size is tiny. I was expecting something a little larger, but this seemed to be perfect for what is, essentially, an incredibly low-fi, low-budget show. To produce the show with a budget anywhere above £10 would do the show a disservice.

Silence! has all of the elements to fast become a favourite of mine. It’s quite offensive, tongue-in-cheek and has a slight cult status. It features songs such as ‘If I Could Smell Her C**t’ and ‘I’d F**k Me’, and is written by said Mr Bell. However, something didn’t quite catch me with this show. It was funny, and it was well performed, yet it was also slightly forgettable.

I think the fault comes down to the show itself. There are a few decent tunes in there, but for the most part the joke doesn’t get past the title. Sections of the show seem to come off a bit like Silence of the Hams, possibly one of the worst films ever made. It is hard to get parody right, especially when the source is one of the most revered films of the past 20 years. The writers hit the mark in parts, and seemed to completely miss in others. However, the recent addition of the song ‘I’d F**k Me’ is probably the highlight of the show, with Fabian Hartwell doing a great job of being immensely creepy and pants wettingly funny at the same time.

In fact, the cast did a superb job, especially for a first preview night of a show that has been largely rewritten since it’s last professional performance Off Broadway in 2005. There was only one weak point in the cast, Shekella Dedi as Ardelia Mapp, who just didn’t have the presence and comic timing of the rest of the cast. She had a good voice, but unfortunately it was drowned out in her one diva moment towards the end of the show (a problem you’ll get when you don’t mic your cast). However, this was the preview night of a brand new show and she could have settled in later in to the run, so I shouldn’t judge. Tory Ross, recently seen on Broadway in 9 to 5 and Cry Baby, was perfect as Clarice. She had a great, strong voice, and maintained perfect character throughout. In fact, she’s one of the strongest comedic character actresses I’ve seen on stage in a while. Olivier Award winner Miles Western was perfect casting as Hannibal Lecter, the psychopathic psychiatric cannibal. His measured performance and icy stare were quite off putting, which made his delivery of songs like ‘If I Could Smell her C**t’ absolutely hilarious.

Silence! is a show that is thoroughly enjoyable to watch. However, don’t expect to walk away wanting to buy the cast album. Most of the songs are quite forgettable and probably wouldn’t work without the performer directly in front of you.

And my advice is don’t take you Gran to see this one…

Silence! The Musical is running till February 28 at Above the Stag Theatre in London. You can book tickets here.