A Quick Question about Last Five Years

Why did it close off Broadway so fast (in like 3 months?)? Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott were phenomenal in it and the music was fantastic (thank goodness for the CD recording ^^). The show seemed to have a lot of potential and definitely would have gotten Norbert and Sherie Tony nods (and a win for Norbert me thinks). Was it just too small for a Broadway stage? I heard rumors that the wife of Jason Robert Brown was suing or complained because the show echoed their troubled marriage. Was that a factor in its incredibly premature demise?
They (producers, etc) seriously should have tried to make it into a feature film. Its the perfect length, cheap to film (just 2 actors!) and the music...heavenly. It certainly would have been a great fine screen debut for Norbert and Sherie as well.

I think the music and the CD are good, but I can see the wife's point of view, I do feel the show is sided towards the male character ( in this case the composer.)

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Supposedly, the reason of the dispute was that the show was incredibly close to their actual relationship...
I watched the show knowing this, so that's why I felt manipulated toward the male character as in "this happen to me"...

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The reason the show didn't go to Broadway is interesting. It was originally planned to open at Lincoln Center for a limited engagement, but then there was the legal dispute with Jason's ex-wife. I guess Lincoln Center didn't want to be in the middle of that, so they dropped. Then a commercial producer picked it up and ran it Off-Broadway. I'm not sure why it didn't run longer Off-Broadway.

Someone correct me, please, if what I just said is wrong.

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The Last Five Years is a musical Roman a clef about Brown's first marriage to an actress named Kathleen (last name escapes me). She thought it was a bit too realistic and threatened legal action. In the original out-of-town production, I believe, the character's name was actually Kathleen, and then changed to Catherine (and "Cathy", for short) when it moved to New York.

I don't think this had anything to do with the show's short run though. Too bad. I think it's one of the best musical theatre pieces of the past decade.

i'm to believe that it had a limited run. that's the only reason it didn't run longer. it's not considered a flop because it's run had a definite closing from the beginning.
(correct me if i'm wrong here.)

The thing about the law suit, i though that when it was going to be originally produced, the story was a little bit too much like the actual lives of jason r. brown and his wife. he used their actual names, and she didn't want that to happen. so that's when it was changed. but notice how jason can replace jaime and "mrs. jaime wellerstein, that's me!" could fit as "mrs. jason robert brown..."

so yeah. that's what i think it was. again, i'm not stating this as fact, because i don't really know.

nonetheless, it's a great show that i love very much. no matter what.

The legal troubles of the show moved it off of Lincoln Center's slate, which moved it to "for profit" land. I think the small scale and possible legal issues caused the show to lack the appeal it needed from investors for a broadway mounting. (It is so intimate and short I can hardly imagine it playing a broadway house anyway.

I am a male, but have always felt Cathy is the person in the show you sympathize with. I may idenitify with Jamie at times but he is plainly wrong and hardly ever presented as a sympathetic character in the later songs.

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Yodamarie, exactly!

Very true Wonderboy. I have seen two productions of the show. In the first Jamie was alright and really pulled the comedic parts, but was overmatched acting wise by the later scenes. The Cathy I saw was marvelous, so empowered and desperate at the same time. At that show it was obvious Cathy was the one you root for, the one with depth, etc.

Then I saw it again, in an overall dreadful production, and it was very different. Neither Jamie nor Cathy were able to pull off the characters (they were also both far too young) but Cathy was considerably worse. She "just stood there and sang" and it was impossible to feel any connection to her. You were drawn to Jamie, who was passable, and even led to buy SOME of his bull.

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Funny that you say that Tennorman because many articles I have read say the opposite, that it is harder to sypathize with Cathy because her "depth" comes so early in the show you forget about it, and it is easier to follow Jamie's path as he because desperate and unhappy.
I actually agree with you, though.

Both caracters are very round they are both very likeable and very flawed. I also love that is possible to argue all these points both ways. And the music is just fabulous!

I would love to have any chance to see Norbert as Jamie. I think there is no chance of a movie, as great as that would be. Maybe some kind of reunion concert in 2007?

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i saw an incredible production of this show a while back. i don't think it is necessary to really blame either party for what happens to their relationship. as a human being who has been in love, who has experienced desire, who has dreams and goals and a drive to pursue them - i felt it was possible to relate to both characters in this story. i don't think it has much to do with the gender of the character - I didn't relate more to Cathy b/c I'm a woman. however, i have felt that frustration of wanting something so badly and feeling like you are constantly "climbing up-hill" to get it...and it can be difficult when your most intimate partner in life is soaring up so breezily...you feel left out and left behind. that being said I've been on the side of that relationship as well - i've had times in my life where things have happened smoothly and quickly and successly while those i loved were struggling and it can be just as frustrating from that point of view - there is a struggle between enjoying your own good fortune and remaining humble and being supportive...i think what i love most about this show is that the characters are very human and very real and it isn't so much about who is to blame as it as about the fact that life happens and we each have choices to make and how individual struggle can make or break a relationship...especially when that struggle is of a professional nature b/c so much of our lives are caught up in how we spend our days - our "purpose"...kudos to JRB for capturing that.

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I'm seeing a small production of "The Last 5 Years" this week.

Ok, that's all I have to contribute!!!!

actually, her real name is Terry :)

Ugh, I hate that. The good production of the show I saw left all of the settings and interactions to the audience. The characters were never on stage together and it was all very abstract and marvelously staged.
It sounds like the off-bway show had the same awful trappings of the other production I saw, where they tried to "show" everything. Jamie was driving a car (well it looked like he was driving a bus) and interacting with Cathy in the scene, and I kept thinking "Put her in a chair, and get him OFF the stage!"

I never intended to imply Lincoln Center was producing the show on Bway. It was off, and I think the small scale precluded any chance of a transfer, but I think the chance was lessened by the move to the "for profit" theatre.

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