4 June, 2022
The La Boite Theatre team with director Darren Yap put on a fabulous production of the Tony Award-winning musical ‘The Last Five Years’ telling the story of a young couple yearning for artistic success, the effect when it comes and the way it can unbalance and corrode relationships.
This girl-meets-boy musical is about actor Cathy (Danielle Remulta) and would-be writer Jamie (Robert Tripolino) who fall in love and get married, but the relationship takes a tumble when he becomes a feted novelist almost overnight and she fails to achieve the stardom or even professional fulfilment she yearns for despite years of struggle.
We watch on as Jamie takes us through their story from the beginning, forwards and Cathy from the end, backwards.
Each actor delivers a beguiling vocal performance, with highlights including Cathy’s ‘Still Hurting‘ and Jamie’s ‘The Schmuel Song.’
They are great vocalists on their own but really shone when singing together, capturing their ill-fated love story exquisitely.
The simple staging, whilst minimal, was very effective for the delivery of each romantic anecdote scene transition with only a few very accomplished musicians placed on three levels.
One scene flowed seamlessly into another.
The musicians and cast members worked together in beautiful harmony to embody an emotive story which I would recommend to all.