Love is romantic, exciting, frustrating, difficult and, perhaps, not possible to maintain. At least that’s the premise of the romantic musical, “The Last Five Years,” Lyric Rose Theatre’s rousing new production which opened last weekend to enthusiastic acclaim. Composed and written by Jason Robert Brown, it premiered at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre in 2001 and was then produced Off-Broadway in March 2002. Since that time, it has played at theaters all over the world, including a production at San Francisco’s esteemed American Conservatory Theater and a previous incarnation in Nevada County. A 2014 movie, with Anna Kendrick, was based on this musical.
The one act play is an emotionally powerful, personally revealing, funny and heart-breaking musical about two twenty-something New Yorkers who fall in and then out of love over a period of five years. The show’s unconventional structure features Cathy, a struggling and unconfident actress, recounting her version of the relationship from the end back to the beginning, while Jamie, an increasingly successful novelist, relates his story from start to finish. Each character sings his or her account through alternating solos — the two characters only communicate directly to each other once, at their nuptials in the middle of the show. Without being aware of this facet, the storyline can be confusing, but it actually works wonderfully.
There are only two characters in this play: Cathy, played by the vibrant and powerfully voiced Carey McCray, and Jaime, portrayed by David Endacott-Hicks, with his mellifluous voice and expressive face. Without strong acting, singing and emotive skills, the show cannot succeed but, fortunately, both actors are convincing, move and sing with assurance, evoke poignancy or humor as needed, have good chemistry together, and successfully convey the humanity of their characters.
Co-directors Judy Merrick and Sky Seals effectively pace the show, moving the story forward smoothly and with precision, necessary to avoid confusion with the diverging storylines. The wonderful live band is comprised of three instruments (keyboard, cello and violin), led by pianist and Musical Director Toby Thomas-Rose. The music (“difficult music” according to a musical friend), which draws on a number of genres including rock, folk, jazz, pop, classical, Latin and even klezmer, is exciting, especially when so well-played by the band and sung so dynamically by McCray and Endacott-Hicks.
The simple and straightforward set design and properties by Merrick and Seals utilize a “theater in the round” model, where the actors pull props from various parts of the room and position themselves in various directions since the audience is seated closely around the actors rather than in front of them. The effective lighting by Merrick, Seals, Leo Hill and Conrad Sisk, as well as the visually relevant and interesting projections by Merrick and Travis Threlkel and the good-looking costumes by Merrick, help move the deviating storylines forward with precision, ease and style. Sound design by Sisk and Corey Holden also contributed nicely to the clarity and flow.
Only two performers on stage for almost an hour and a half works in the small, intimate theater space. In fact, sitting so close to the performers, I often felt like I was eavesdropping on the sung stories of a relationship in flux.
This play is a very interesting piece of theater, with complex music and story, as well as immersive and evocative performances, all done splendidly. Go see it and enjoy — there are performances remaining only on May 13 and 14, all at the Off Center Stage behind The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley.
Hindi Greenberg is so pleased that another exciting theater company has taken up residency in Nevada County and has now proffered its second successful production. The more, the merrier!
