4 June, 2022
This was a great adaptation of the award-winning musical The Last Five Years by La Boite Theatre directed by Darren Yap.
Jamie, played by Robert Tripolino, is an aspiring Jewish writer with boundless New York energy and hang-ups and Cathy, played by Danielle Remulta, is an out-of-towner actress, competing for parts with girls with bigger belts and bigger boobs.
He makes it in the Big Apple, caught in the whirligig of publishers’ parties and prodigious reviews while she ends up back in Ohio in provincial theatre, her confidence shaken and knocked once too often.
Cathy’s six songs tell her tale from the break-up to the hook-up, while Jamie’s songs tell his side of the story the other way, with a couple of duets when they meet in the middle and a bittersweet number to close.
The actors are as strong as ever as is needed with only two singers centre stage for 90 minutes, their sublime voices complemented by a small ensemble of outstanding musicians.
I would recommend researching the plot before seeing the show as friends we were with found the complicated chronology quite confusing, even though they loved it.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed this production exploring the rough terrain of a disintegrating relationship.