Directed by: Erik Hill
Musical Direction by: Jenifer Rifenbery
Starring: Bruce Story and Samantha Camp
September 2: Pay What You Can Preview at 8pm.
September 3 – 12, 2010
…
Friday 8 p.m.
Saturday 2 p.m.
Sunday 8 p.m.
Tickets $20 general admission, $15 students/seniors/TPS members
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/117861
A contemporary song-cycle musical that ingeniously chronicles the five year life of a marriage, from meeting to break-up… or from break-up to meeting, depending on how you look at it. Written by Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years is an intensely personal look at the relationship between a writer and an actress told from both points of view.
An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show’s unconventional structure consists of Cathy, the woman, telling her story backwards while Jamie, the man, tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show. JRB won Drama Desk Awards for the music and the lyrics after the Off-Broadway premiere in 2002 starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott. The show has since been produced at almost every major regional theater in the US, and has been seen in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Spain.
Just want to post my two bits about your current show. Folks = COME SEE THIS SHOW! Tonight is your last chance. Hubby & I saw it last night. These 2 actors give a convincing & heartwarming portrayal of the journey of Cathy & Jamie: a more bitter-than-sweet love story. There is a lot of blissful new love, angst & self-doubt, and a fair amount of pain & torment. HuH! Sounds just like a modern society marriage. You’ll experience every emotion known to mankind. Frankly, for this audience member, it’s a musical with such a strong bitter flavor, it simply won’t be sweetened. Nor can it rouse me to care much one way or the other what happens to these two people. I had to work too hard to know what was going on. However, … these performers are worth seeing, each moment being well honored and deeply & meaningfully portrayed. Kudos to both Samantha & Bruce for everything they’re able to expose and represent: from crippling grief to blind, euphoric rapture, and all emotions in between. Have to gush for a minute about Samantha: She did have me aching along with her right from the start: her torment over a failed relationship was so authentic. (OK, maybe I have to retract my statement about not caring about these people.) And my goodness, she’s so glowing & beautiful as a woman enraptured in love; it’s riveting! Bruce has a great style and energy about him too. The man can sing! The man’s an actor! And the music is eclectic: kinda jazzy/ pop/ funk/ rock/ Broadway = Different! Anyway, … Go see this play. This piece fulfills the purpose of live theatre. The Last 5 Years will make you feel and think. Our Thanks to You All – - -