THE LAST FIVE YEARS Reviews — Page 3

Video of the speech

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1ju1wje/the_last_five_years_opening_night_full_curtain/

Updated On: 4/7/25 at 09:39 PM

MemorableUserName said: "The show only had four positive quotes to post on Instagram. I think this was missed last night

NY Sun

A Tony Winner, Adrienne Warren, and a Pop Star, Nick Jonas, Lead Belated Broadway Debut of Jason Robert Brown’s ‘The Last Five Years’



One reason it may have taken so long to bring this musical to Times Square is that it’s essentially a chamber piece. Only two characters are represented on stage, and even the more upbeat songs tend to have an almost confidential feel.

https://www.nysun.com/article/a-tony-winner-adrienne-warren-and-a-pop-star-nick-jonas-lead-belated-broadway-debut-of-jason-robert-browns-the-last-five-years"


Not saying it’s impossible for this production to get good reviews, but after everything I’ve learned about publicists from the Blake Lively Justin Baldoni lawsuit… I’m super skeptical about the good reviews of this production. I saw it myself and can’t understand how a professional reviewer can’t see how fundamentally mismatched they are.

Alex Kulak2 said: "MemorableUserName said: "Video of the speech

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1ju1wje/the_last_five_years_opening_night_full_curtain/"

Woof. He could have said "Thank you Whitney White, also DEI is great.", which is what I think he intended, but this is a real "Oh, that's not/in the sense that-" moment."

Just watched and this is awful. He also throws Daisy Prince under the bus, basically I thought you'd be more popular as a director but lucky for me you aren't.

Oh wow that was excruciating. How many times did he say DEI was designed to make his like “harder” and was a “challenge”?


I know what he was going for but basically that entire part of the speech is him low key admitting he doesn’t really have the desire to work with people of color (or perhaps even female directors at all) without someone “challenging” him to do so.

So he basically makes it sound like having Whitney direct (and, unspoken, having Adrienne as Cathy) was the result of someone saying “well if we do this we should maybe include black women”.


Instead of the more organic “We’re going to do this, who is right for it?…Hmm maybe some folks wouldn’t normally pick Whitney or push back against casting Adrienne given the part, but they be great and we should go for it in spite of that”.



Super icky. How deeply uncomfortable for them. What a way to ruin opening for your fellow artists.


Not to mention that on top of that I am 100% certain we’d have heard of Whitney White without someone challenging Jason Robert Brown to have a black woman direct his show, lol. She’s been grinding for years and on the rise and has built up her own formidable reputation.



He really should have planned out his speech before.

I think I’ve realized the other thing about this show is while the score is wonderful to listen to, when you’re watching the show EVERY song is a meal so you kinda feel stuck watching a 4 plus minute set piece over and over to diminishing effect.

Why the great belted stand-alone numbers soar in other musicals is cause they’re cushioned by other songs that don’t reach the same heights so when they happen they’re a treat.

Every Last 5 Years song has an exciting thrilling peak so it doesn’t make any of them pop out as THE one, except The Next Ten Minutes cause it’s the two of them singing for the first time.

Voter said: "Would anyone be so kind as to share a gift link to the NYTimes review (and one for Boop as well if it isn't too much to ask)? Thank you a million times over."

How ‘The Last Five Years’ Became a Blur on Broadway

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/theater/last-five-years-broadway-nick-jonas-adrienne-warren.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-E4._5fx.UHI3nMAj4TYe&smid=nytcore-android-share

"Boop" review posted as well.

Just read on a Facebook post that Nick Jonas butchered his song on the Today Show.
YouTube has the pre-song interview but they haven’t uploaded the song as I guess they were asked not to by the production.
If anyone hears of someone uploading a screen capture of the song, please post info here!

BorisTomashevsky said: "Just read on a Facebook post that Nick Jonas butchered his song on the Today Show.
YouTube has the pre-song interview but they haven’t uploaded the song as I guess they were asked not to by the production.
If anyone hears of someone uploading a screen capture of the song, please post info here!"

Just watched the video. I thought Nick was very uneven and felt miscast when I saw him just before opening night, but this was one of his stronger songs. I wouldn't use the term 'butchered' for his Today Show performance at all. It's not a bad performance and it's pretty representative of how he performs it in the show.

Thank you for that link, ACL.

I made it halfway through.

Throw a stone in any direction on 8th Avenue and you’ll hit ten guys who can sing it better.

Saw this production last night and found the entire thing rather infuriating almost across the board.

Adrienne Warren is really trying her damnedest to make this work, she feels like a star and while I am still not entirely convinced this role is the right fit for her, she is committed and putting in immense effort against a co-star who is a black hole of energy onstage and with direction that ranges from confusing to flat out bad. Vocally, her voice leans on the heavy side and there are glimpses of Tina Turner still there, but when it's thrilling, it's really thrilling.

Jonas is significantly less successful than she is. His voice isn't bad, but it's incredibly thing and reaches a cap in power, volume, and range that limits how much his songs can soar. His best song, by far, is "Nobody Needs to Know," and even then, it pales in comparison to anything Warren is doing onstage. The best thing I can say about his Schmuel Song is that he toned down the Yiddish accent so it only felt mildly antisemitic as opposed to the bootlegs from earlier previews (but having him mime whipping himself on the line "My people have suffered for thousands of years" in Shiksa Goddess is a shockingly tone deaf choice). He just is not an actor, he is not overflowing with personality, and I do not see at any point why Warren's Cathy would be with him. They have no chemistry when they're onstage together (which is frequently) and there is not real connection between them even when they're onstage alone, and I do think that actually falls on the lap of Whitney White.

The direction is baffling. I understand why people who are unfamiliar with the show have been confused upon leaving because White has divorced so many songs from clear context that you do sort of sit there going, "Wait, where are we? What are you singing about?"

Warren enters for A Part of That holding some of Jamie's books and a cocktail, but it doesn't feel like a book signing. For I Can Do Better Than That she's wearing a pretty dress and enters holding a clutch and...a bible? A Miracle Could Happen, Jonas is just wandering around the stage seemingly singing at no one. There are times Warren is onstage almost reacting to what Jonas is singing about, but they're clearly still in different timelines. Having The Next Ten Minutes take place on their wedding night when the repeated lyrics "I do" clearly are their vows to each other was confusing. This lack of clarity is more harmful to the story than them appearing onstage together -- a choice I don't love but concede is a valid directorial choice. No scene is made better by them being onstage together, but several are made more confusing.

The physical set is unappealing, a platform that moves forward and backward that is too tall for them to step onto naturally so they either need to make a large step up OR scoot up on their butts. Several small buildings with lights in the windows that operate as tables, chairs, steps, or maybe actual buildings? A storefront of some kind with buckets of flowers that comes out at random times, sometimes maybe just to fill the space. And a large raised platform where the band is and they often have band members step forward when an instrument is featured. The less said about the lighting, the better.

There's pseudo-modernization, references are updated, Jamie got a raise for publishing his first chapter in The New Yorker, but several things are kept the same -- Cathy is still saying goodbye to wiping ashtrays at the bar, Jamie still references Backstage but hands her a phone and says "where you're right for something on every page." Forget the fact that if this does take place in 2025, 5 years ago was Covid.

I overall was incredibly disappointed and will concede that maybe that's because I love this show so much and have such an affection for the 2013 revival. But I was truly baffled by almost every single directorial choice made here and by the end of the night I was ready to sage my brain and go home.

Kudos to Warren for doing what she can to make this work, she acquits herself well and the audience was fully on her side. But what an astonishing misfire.

Warren performing "I Can Do Better Than That":

https://www.today.com/video/adrienne-warren-performs-i-can-do-better-than-that-on-today-237031493928

Some of ya'll revel in bitchiness and it should embarrassing for you. That Today performance is far from a disaster. It's also far from the most challenging song vocally for Jamie. He sounds fine. If you (rightfully) expect exceptional from a Broadway actor, that's one thing. But having the knives out to this level is such an ick. He's miscast no doubt about it, but get a hobby folks.

Adrienne's performance is actually the first time I've enjoyed her voice on one of these songs. Some of the others haven't landed for me, I'm not sure why.