The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years is written and composed by Jason Robert Brown and is showing at the Seymour Centre until the 30 July.

The Last Five Years, was cited as one of Time Magazine's 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics.  Luke Rogers the Director/ Producer and Mark Chamberlain the Musical Director did a great job at pulling this difficult piece of drama/ musical together. It is not a musical in the traditional sense i.e. there is no large cast with chorus lines and though the story is memorable the tunes are not.  It is just two characters who literally sing their way through the last five years of their lives! 
Before seeing this you have to know that Cathy played by Marika Aubrey is telling the story from when she and Jamie, Rob Mills split up and Jamie is telling the same story but from when they first met. It does get a little confusing at times, especially following Cathy who is telling the story backwards and I still not sure why she sang about breaking up an 8 month relationship after she met Jamie, unless she was having an affair.  I was also found it interesting that at the start you felt slightly sorry for Cathy because Jamie had left her and you knew chances are that he cheated on her, but her songs we not as interesting and varied as Jamie's; her costumes made her look frumpy so by the time you see the scene when Jamie does have the affair you don't feel sorry for her at all. 

I would like to ask Marissa Dale-Johnson the Costume Designer how many men she knows will take their PJ's with them when they are sleeping with their mistress?
I do think that Jason Robert Brown made a mistake making the production all music and no narrative. There could have been some excellent monologues which would have helped people follow the story forwards and backwards.
I couldn't fault the musicians and the musical accompaniments to each song. Marika and Rob both gave excellent performances full of energy and life. I would also like to mention James Browne for his set design. It was unusual in that the stage was a white cross which symbolised the crossing lives of the two characters and the scene when they got engaged was played in the centre of the cross.  The black stacked furniture representing the shambles their relationship had become. This was clever and it is unusual to find that the staging is symbolic to the show.
Tickets are available from the Seymour Centre Box office - 02 9351 7940.