THE LAST FIVE YEARS Previews- Page 5

[Kad]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 12:22am

Ptero2 said: "FYI - just came back from the matinee and there was no robot voice announcing years. There WAS a "timeline" insert in the playbill showing where each song falls in the 5 years."

That's certainly better but still imo totally unnecessary.

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 1:06am

I was today's matinee and sat two rows behind Jason Robert Brown (actually two unrelated points, we were both at the same performance of Old Friends later in the day.) 

Anyway, going into seeing it I was most concerned about Nick Jonas as an actor. He's not a great performer in a musical theater context, but given my low expectations him being fine was good news. Jonas seemed most comfortable on stage when he had choreography to perform, he's much less convincing seeming naturalistic doing normal mundane activities around the house. I didn't buy him as Jewish but I bought a ticket assuming that would be the case and am not going to get hung up on it. 

Adrienne Warren I thought was acting circles around the part she was given. Cathy is underwritten. 50% of the show is supposed to be from her perspective but her defining personality traits are being unhappy about her career direction and wanting Jamie to pay more attention to her. That still sounds like Jamie's perspective, not Cathy's. 

The biggest problem though was I just confused what was going on most of the time. For context, I've listened to the soundtrack a bunch of times, like many of the songs, but never seen the movie or a stage production. So for example during Nobody Needs To Know, based on the lyrics it sounds like Jamie had just cheated on Cathy, but since its staged with Jamie talking to an invisible woman in bed, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be Cathy or another woman like the book editor he's talking to. 

If you've never seen The Last Five Years before and want to go, I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia page first. The insert telling you what year a song is taking place didn't fill in the narrative holes.          

[Art Isn’t Easy]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 10:07am

Saw the show last night, and feel much more positively about it then anyone else I’ve been reading lol. I was obsessed with this musical when I was in high school so I went into it with an open heart and a willingness to forgive certain aspects (we’ll get to Nick) but overall I thought the production was very moving and even beautiful at times

Adrianne Warren is a generational talent. I didn’t see her in Tina unfortunately but she is giving a masterclass in how to sing and act modern musical theater on that stage. From the very jump she is constantly exciting and heartbreaking in equal measure and what a treat to hear her sing through that score. I really hope she is remembered when it comes to Tony time (what a packed season it turned out to be for actresses). 

I disagree with the majority of comments about the production itself, I thought White’s direction was intelligent and sure-handed throughout - there really isn’t *that* much you can do with this thing, it’s a vehicle for the songs, but I actually loved the new setting for The Next Ten Minutes and thought the design (especially the stunning lighting) was right on. 

Nick was fine. I really cannot comment on the him playing Jewish of it all but thought his acting was decent throughout and actually grew into something moving by his last three songs when he has to do the most heavy lifting. The problem is his voice, it’s so pop star and so closed off that the songs (especially at the beginning when he plainly doesn’t have the notes) rarely have the impact they need to get you on his side. There is the mumbling/marbles in his mouth that people are reporting but given that I knew the show so well I never lost anything he was saying. The issue is he is outclassed by Warren, weakening the show on a performance/theater level but I don’t think it makes the show dramatically unsound, I know plenty of outstanding women who have ended up with losers/wimps lmao and the show became a version for that for the first time in a major production 

Overall I’m really happy with this production! And if his understudy is ever on with Adrianne I’m rushing back to the theater 

Updated On: 4/3/25 at 10:07 AM

[OhHiii]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 12:52pm

Art Isn’t Easy said: "I disagree with the majority of comments about the production itself, I thought White’s direction was intelligent and sure-handed throughout - there really isn’t *that* much you can do with this thing, it’s a vehicle for the songs, but I actually loved the new setting for The Next Ten Minutes and thought the design (especially the stunning lighting) was right on."

How is her direction sure-handed when it throws out the entire conceit of the structure of the show? It's entirely the opposite. She didn't trust the material enough to let it speak in the way it was intended. Yeah yeah JRB is involved and blessed it and blah blah blah. Doesn't mean it doesn't take a lot of the magic away from the jump.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 12:54pm

White doesn't "throw out the entire conceit of the structure of the show."

Updated On: 4/3/25 at 12:54 PM

[singer234]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 1:16pm

It seems like a lot of people have an idea in their head of what this show was/is supposed to be when fully producer onstage that's not necessarily been historically true for its past productions-and I'm thinking that really, the issue is a lot of people have just never seen a fully staged production of this show before outside the film version. I'm not saying that's the case for everyone and that the criticisms aren't valid, but the show is the show....seems to me a lot of complaints about the directorial confusion are baked into the material itself. Now, this production may not do a good job at all of clarifying that, but I see a lot of complaining from Gen Z'ers on TikTok about how it's not faithful to the structure of the narrative when they were toddlers during the Second Stage off Bway production, let alone the original. Maybe it just doesn't translate that well to a fully staged production in terms of narrative. Or maybe this one sucks, or maybe both are a little true.

[Art Isn’t Easy]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 3:57pm

OhHiii said: How is her direction sure-handed when it throws out the entire conceit of the structure of the show? It's entirely the opposite. She didn't trust the material enough to let it speak in the way it was intended. Yeah yeah JRB is involved and blessed it and blah blah blah. Doesn't mean it doesn't take a lot of the magic away from the jump."

 

Nowhere in the script does it state "Jamie and Cathy never interact in solo scenes and only do during The Next Ten Minutes," that's a choice made in prior productions this show has had in New York. The conceit of the show is Cathy telling the story back-to-front and Jamie doing the opposite; White had a take on the material where they do interact in the two timelines and I thought it worked. I respect that you think it didn't but the show is not predicated on the singular moment where they do meet in the middle
 

Updated On: 4/3/25 at 03:57 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 9:53pm

This was a mixed bag, for me. As much as I love this score, this has never been a great musical. It’s more so a great showcase for two talented performers and on that level, the production (mostly) succeeds. 

Come for Nick Jonas, stay for Adrienne Warren. He does, indeed, get stronger as the show goes on, but he has some real struggles enunciating and just isn’t a very good actor. (The sound design is spotty and doesn’t help, to be fair.) Unsurprisingly, Adrienne fares much, much better. Damn, she can sing (even if she is somewhat miscast).

Agree that the direction is uneven (and I love Whitney White, generally). The orchestra sounded phenomenal. The revised lyric mentioning NeNe Leakes really sent me into orbit. 

All that aside, what an awful audience. I swear, no less than twenty people in my sightline got up and down for bathroom breaks throughout the 95 minute running time. (IN THE MIDDLE OF SONGS!) Lots of cell phones / talking, etc. The TikTok girlies just do not understand proper theater etiquette, I fear. Broadway ushers have their work cut out for them these days.

Updated On: 4/3/25 at 09:53 PM

[HBP]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 11:03pm

I saw the show tonight. Love the score and have never seen it live. The fault here lies mostly in the direction. It’s a pretty poorly conceived revival. Adrienne was the real star and got the night’s loudest ovations, even though it was clear a good portion of the audience came for Nick Jonas. Nick’s acting and singing for most of the first half were pretty painful. He won me back a bit in the end, and especially during Nobody Needs to Know. But Moving Too Fast was… not good. Not much else to add beyond what was already said. I’d only recommend it if you get an inexpensive (or free) seat. The most interesting part of the evening for me was the critic sitting right in front of me and making a real meal of the fact that he was holding a pen and notebook.