The Last Five Years,with book, music, and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown premiered off-Broadway in 2002 and starred Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott and was directed by Daisy Prince. It has had numerous productions internationally and has recently been revived by The Second Stage Theater Company, where it’s directed by its composer.
The show, based on Brown’s own life, tells of two creative people, one an actor and the other a writer, and what happens when their careers diverge. It is a story told from opposite sides of a five-year span. Cathy, beautifully played and sung by Betsy Wolfe, begins her story from the vantage of her just completed divorce from Jamie. Jamie, played perfectly by Adam Kantor, tells his story from his first meeting with Cathy.
Betsy Wolfe shows us all of the vulnerability, insecurity, bright expectation, and loss that is Cathy. She sings with a strength and clarity that works well with or without amplification and she delivers all the brass and nuance demanded to make the character real. She inhabits Cathy and, in so doing, makes us care about the character.
Adam Kantor shows Jamie’s brashness, egotism, and, at times, confused sensitivity. He guides us effortlessly from his first meeting with Cathy through the courtship and marriage and ultimately to the divorce.
Brown's book/lyrics and music has just the right blend of sentiment and brashness to keep us involved in the relationship's unfolding and shredding. The improbability of a man as young as Jamie getting a book published at the age of 23 to high acclaim is not important to the story being told, nor are the difficulties faced by Cathy in her struggle to find her way in the theater world. The story can be of any two people facing similar things at any stage of life. What is critical to the success of this play is not only the singing and acting skills of the two performers but the chemistry between those actors. The beauty of this production is that all the necessary elements exist with Kantor and Wolfe and the sure hand of Jason Brown’s direction.
Finally, there are all the other elements that make the show work. My first reaction to the set was that it would be easy for a "bus and truck" show, but as the show unfolds those sets reveal themselves to be a brilliant piece of stagecraft created by Derek McLane and his team. Jeff Croiter's lighting is beautifully choreographed and adds dimension to the spare quality of the sets while effectively and seamlessly linking the changes in scene and mood. Jeff Sugg's use of projections is one of the most effective I've seen in the last few years. With very little with which to work in terms of modules, he provides exactly the right balance without any unnecessarily obvious intrusion of technology.
