The Weekend Theater Presents:
The Last Five Years (Musical)
by Jason Robert Brown
February 20, 21, 27, 28 March 6, 7
Love changes everything - but sometimes, that's just not enough.
In "The Last Five Years," we see the funny, sweet, and heart-breaking record of the relationship between Jamie, a nice Jewish boy, and Catherine, a good Irish Catholic girl, who fall in love, get married, and fall apart over the course of five years.
This intimate, two-person musical, with book, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, opens with a performance Friday, Feb. 20 at the Weekend Theater, Seventh and Chester streets in downtown Little Rock. Real-life husband and wife John and Sarah Haman star as Jamie and Cathy with staging by Andy Hall, John Thompson and Jamie S. Blakey and accompaniment by Steve Whaley, Becky Goins and Laura Smoller.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through March 7. Ticket prices are $18 for general admission and $14 for students and seniors over 65. To purchase tickets, call the theater at 501-374-3761, or visit the website at www.weekendtheater.org .
In "The Last Five Years," which was inspired by Brown's own failed marriage, Jamie is an emerging novelist enjoying his first taste of success, while Cathy is a struggling actress having trouble hitting it big, making this musical duo by turns surprisingly funny and crushingly sad.
Brown has created revealing portraits of character in tunes evoking contemporary songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, combined with the theatrical styles of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein as well as raditional Jewish and Irish musical themes. ("Smart and funny and amazing," as John Haman describes it.)
We see their story from beginning to end, and from the end to the beginning, because of the way Brown has structured the piece - Cathy starts at the end of the marriage and works back, while Jamie starts at their first date and works forward. Only during their wedding, at the middle of the play, do they sing together; the rest of the time, scenes will alternate back and forth between them, on separate sides of the stage.
John Haman says that the inverted timelines clarify the emotions of two characters, rather than confusing them. "Because they are rarely together in the same time and space, the characters are isolated in a way that provides insight about their emotions," he explains. "Sometimes you wonder if Jamie and Cathy could be any cuter together. At other times, you wonder if they were even having the same relationship."
Sarah Haman adds, "I think the structure allows the audience to truly experience the two different sides of the story. It has actually been quite freeing to have such a loose structure - the 'imaginary' co-actor that you are singing to onstage will do anything you want them to.
"I enjoy a challenge, and it's nice to get progressively "happier" in a musical for a change!"
Sarah has been a major fan of Jason Robert Brown's work - which also includes "Parade" and "Songs for a New World" - since college, and she's been wanting to perform "The Last Five Years" for quite some time.
"Actors are extremely fond of this show, because it is so easy to relate to these characters. Of course, the skill of Jason Robert Brown in telling a powerful story through song is a huge part of that," she says.
"I'm the kind of performer who craves opportunities to create realistic, three-dimensional characters who don't always get the 'happy ending' of some lighter musical fare," she says. "I have been a little obsessed with the show for years now, and it's truly a dream come true to get the opportunity to perform something I love dearly."
Both agree that being married to each other makes for a wonderful time putting the show together - as Sarah puts it, "It is always a joy and a comfort to be onstage with someone you trust completely." That doesn't mean, however, that they completely identify with the emotionally complex characters they're playing.
"I don't really think our marriage helps us understand the characters any better because it is really a story about two people who probably should have never been together despite their charms," John says.
But even if you don't completely understand Jamie and Cathy, you'll likely find more than a few points of identification with them, Sarah notes. "Anyone who has ever had a relationship end can relate to the feelings that these characters go through: the giddy joy at the beginning when everything is new and fresh, the struggles of two people who are moving in different directions trying to bring it back together, and the stages of loss and grieving that you go through when things come to an end. "I think that people in the audience will recognize a part of themselves in one or both of these characters throughout the show."
Curtain Times
On Fridays and Saturdays, curtain times are at 7:30 p.m.
There are NO Sunday Matinees for The Last 5 Years