Last Five Years!

I just bought the Last Five Years CD not too long ago, after hearing all of my friends rave about it. I love it. Does anyone know if it's playing anywhere? I love the music, but I'd actually like to see it performed. There must not be very much interaction between Jamie and Cathy, considering that they're telling their stories in two different directions. I just think it'd be really interesting to watch the marriage begin and unfold.

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I have had the recording for a while now and love it too. Unfortunately, I never saw it live, but watched the video of it at the Performing Arts Library in NYC.
There is minimal dialogue between songs, but it does make it a little more cohearent. Nothing is really lost on the recording without it (in my opinion) but to have seen it, it kind of ties it all together just a bit more.
The staging was great and Sheri Rene Scott was fantastic. Some people are iffy about her singing, but for me, this role is all about an ACTRESS who sings, rather than a singer who acts.
Personally, I love her voice, and she can really tell a story through a song.
But here's another question - - I've had this debate with some friends... who (Jamie or Cathy) do you think is responsible for their marriage ending? Jamie for not being there emotionally, or Cathy for being suffocating? Granted, there's more to it than that, but that's my way of summing it up!
Thanks!
david.

Updated On: 7/25/03 at 11:38 PM

I'm so Cathy! And I think I'm dating Jamie from time to time... Hopefully we don't split in 4 years!

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I saw the show Off-Broadway the day after the cast album was recorded. The album is great - it's one of the few shows that I've seen live where I can go back to a recording and listen again and again. But it was really neat to see it live, not knowing the music and just being surprised by every number.

About the staging...what's neat is that Cathy and Jamie are onstage pretty much continuously, and what the dialogue moments convey is that they are CONSTANTLY moving back/forth in their journeys, only meeting for that blissful moment in the middle. The production in Philadelphia last March (which I got to see on my birthday, a little over a year after seeing the original Off-Broadway) used projected photographs to wonderful effect in this. After only experiencing the show through the great album for months, I must confess that the dialogue came as a little bit of a shock to me to hear again; it works really, really well on stage, though it was wise to cut it from the album.

With regard to who was responsible - I think that JRB (who I got to meet after seeing it Off-Broadway!) fashioned a show where simultaneously both and neither were really "responsible." Depending on how it's performed, the blame can seem to be more on Cathy or more on Jamie, but I think the material as written just makes it so that they could never last together. It's a shame; there are some really beautiful moments created for them. But basically - if Cathy can evoke enough pathos in "Still Hurting," she wins; if Jamie can get the right reaction from "Nobody Needs to Know," he can seem less culpable. I think the Philadelphia production came out with Jamie a little bit ahead; the Off-Broadway show really had two performers so spectacular that they tied.

As a little addendum...listening to Lauren Kennedy's thrilling solo album makes me hope I get to see her in the show someday. Any fan of L5Y or JRB NEEDS to get that CD. Her "I Can Do Better Than That" is one of my favorite songs, ever. And I generally detest solo albums.

-Wayne

TheLast5Yrs:

Come, now! "The Schmuel Song" has several purposes. One, it showcases Jamie's ability to tell a story - he *is* a writer, after all, and can tell a story fairly well. Two, it has him give Cathy a very beautiful gift. As he calls it, "unlimited time." This was a very beautiful and striking thing to me, and I think that the devotion and love the song shows is downright beautiful. Three, the story itself is rather enchanting and lovely. Honestly...it's a great scene, and even on the cast recording it genuinely gets to me. And the song is lovely.

As for intertwining "Goodbye Until Tomorrow" and "I Could Never Rescue You," I think it was to create a dramatically effective finale. And it worked - I still remember vividly how beautiful the last moment was when they were both singing "Goodbye" for very different reasons, and the inevitability sunk in. "Goodbye Until Tomorrow" is recorded very beautifully as a solo song on Lauren Kennedy's album, too. (Now I feel bad that I didn't talk to her after I saw her in Les Miz...)

But honestly, assigning blame in a show like this is a bit unfair - particularly because the material is so wonderfully responsive to individual performers. Jason Robert Brown has crafted a piece that I think will live on because it really lets the actors get into their characters, and while they're singing his wonderful songs they create a world where all our hopes and dreams are reflected. If you identify more with Cathy, you'll blame Jamie; if you think more on Jamie terms, you'll blame Cathy. Trust me, I've seen it both ways. I think it's a testament to how wonderful of a show JRB has created.

-Wayne

Awful songs, awful show.

I was waiting to reply to this thread because I'm afraid once I get started talking about this show I won't stop. The first few times I listened to The Last Five Years I felt sooooooo drained afterwards. I get emotionaly involved in Campbell's Soup commercials so this show was quite the experience for me! :-P
First of all, The Schmuel Song was the last track I ever listened to all the way through. I would start it and go, "There's 6 more minutes of this? No thanks." And then my friend told me that the ending is worth the whole song and I felt he was totally right! Jamie's faith and love for Cathy were overwhelming and I think without that song (at least if you've only had access to the recording as I have) the listener doesn't really get any other insight into how much he loves her before everything goes wrong. (Well, there is The Next 10 Minutes, but The Schmuel Song really drives home his love for her.)
As for who's to blame?... I have spent many an hour debating with my friend. The thing is, I don't see where it went wrong! We go from The Next Ten Minutes to A Miracle Would Happen?! It's like, "Wow, he's already sick of his wife after a month or two?!" That alone makes me blame Jamie more than Cathy. He's already doubting his commitment to the marriage while Cathy has to go on tour. In A Summer in Ohio, we see that Cathy is still completely committed to Jamie. So, honestly, I see the breakdown of the marriage start with him. And then, to have an affair only cements his responsibilty to the marriage's dissintegration. See I'm Smiling is one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard. The fact that Jamie goes all the way to Ohio to say, "Sorry, Cathy. It's your birthday and I haven't seen you in weeks, but I'm gonna leave and go to another party and see my girlfriend." I just don't see how that is ok AT ALL! Although I also don't condone Cathy's complete denial of any fault in Still Hurting, "...covered in scars I did nothing to earn." I wouldn't go THAT far as to say that she had no responsibility. But, I would like to see more evidence of her wrong doings. Because in just listening to the cd, the only thing I can gather was that her fault was depending on him too much. And maybe I'm just naive, but I don't see where it went wrong on her side.
See, I told you I wouldn't stop once I got writing?! Ok, I'm done!

L5Y
Like I said, I don't know anything other than what's in the recording... Does Jamie tell Cathy their marriage is over in a letter?! I TOTALLY missed that!

Yeah, I guess coming from only the recording you don't know about the letter thing. The show starts with Im Still Hurting. Cathy is holding the letter in her hands and at the end of the song she shoves it in her bag and walks off stage. At this point of the show, the audience doesnt understand what's in the letter. At the end of the show, when Jaime sings I Could Never Rescue You, during the vamp music in the middle, he licks the envelope, seals it, leaves it on the chair, and walks away.

Thinking about it now, I Could Never Rescue You was probably everything the letter said.

Hmm. The Philadelphia set was rather cool: a giant picture frame that folded in half and stood in for all kinds of settings throughout the show, while photographs were projected onto a wall that was covered with smaller picture frames, many cut in half as well. The only time the entire frame was shown was during the wedding sequence, which had some very lovely video projected as well. It was a bit more engaging on the whole than the Off-Broadway set.

But I never felt that the Off-Broadway set confined the actors too much. It was perhaps a bit too cold for the material, but there were unforgettable moments - like Sherie on the throne of copies of Jamie's book in "I'm a Part of That." I was still enchanted from start to finish by the performances and the music, even if the set was less than brilliant. (Of course, I think many shows rely too much on sets to begin with, and try to downplay them while watching.)

-Wayne

Sounds VERY interesting to say the least.

I love the THE LAST FIVE YEARS album. I saw the show off Broadway and enjoyed it. While Norbert and particularly Sherie knocked me out on stage, I think the material comes across better on the recording. Like MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, this sort of material with a story moving backwards has to be staged in a way to make the material build properly. I would love to see it again minus that awful off Broadway set (it did hamper movement and was way too big and distracting). Daisy Prince's staging worked against the material throughout. Look at the album design. That person understood how to present material that is one story moving forward and another moving backward. Prince seemed to be throwing set pieces and gimmicks at us rather than exploring the material. She did get two wonderful star performances from Norbert and Sherie though. I think the material really demands two strong, evenly matched performers. I would think that Norbert wiped the pretty, bland Lauren Kennedy off the stage. She can sing and act but she is by no means a performer of Sherie's power. The first thing I said to my partner after the show was "I am SO glad we saw Sherie instead of Lauren." And the row of people behind me heard me and they echoed my remarks.

Where can you purchase this? I have never seen it at Borders.

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