Upcoming: The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, September 28 - October 14

 

The Last Five Years

by Jason Robert Brown

University of the Incarnate Word Theatre Arts

The UIW Department of Theatre Arts invites you to THE LAST FIVE YEARS, an emotionally powerful and intimate musical about a man and a woman who fall in and out of love with each other over the course of five years.

Amanda Belscamper and Diego Fresquez carry the show as Jamie Wellerstein and Catherine Hiatt. Mark Stringham directs the production with musical direction by Bill Gokelman, costumes by Margaret Mitchell, scene design by Lucy Petters, and lighting design by Melissa Gasp

Location: 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, Texas, 78209

Times: Sept. 28, 29, Oct. 5, 6, 12, 13 at 8 PM (Fridays and; Saturdays) and Oct. 14 at 2 PM (Sunday)
Tickets: Adults: $10 Seniors: $9 Non-UIW Students: $8 Groups (10 or more): $6

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: The Last Five Years, Brauntex Theatre, New Braunfels, January 6 and 7

Found on-line:

UnderMotion Production Corporation

is proud to present its debut production

The Last 5 Years

with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

directed by Chris Berry

January 6 at 7:30 p.m., January 7 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The Brauntex Theatre- 290 West San Antonio Street , New Braunfels, TX, Texas, 78130 (click for map)

For Reservations Call the Brauntex Theatre in New Braunfels, TX at 830-627-0808 or email the box office at boxoffice@brauntex.org

This off-Broadway hit tells the story of a couple of New Yorkers who fall in and out of love over the course of 5 years; however, the way in which they tell their story is unique because Jaime, the male, tells his story chronologically while Cathy, the female, tells her story backwards. They only meet once, when they get married in the middle of the show.

Starring Lindsay Pearce from the hit tv show "Glee" and fourth place winner of the popular series "The Glee Project. Also starring Alex Trevino, a local San Antonio actor living in Los Angeles who just made his film debut in the feature film "Little Boy".

There are only 3 performances planned so far, but we will add more if we have to! You do not want to miss this exciting production!

Prices for tickets will range from $25-$35 for reserved seating.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT TO ALL UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS STUDENTS!

For more information, please contact the Brauntex Theatre at 830.627.0808 or visit their website at www.brauntex.org

Starring Lindsay Pearce from "Glee" and "The Glee Project" and Alex Trevino
Musical Director: Charles Barksdale
Assistant Director: Amanda Werley
Stage Manager: Kate Elizabeth Chiappe
Assistant Stage Manager: Dolores Hernandez
Technical Director: Phil Cerroni
Light and Sound Designer: Michael Jarvis
Costume Designer: Jessie Burke
Production Manager: Brandon Steven Cruz
Associate Producer/Creative Consultant: Michael Kerker ASCAP
Executive Producer: Gabriel Hugoboom
Producer: Alex Trevino
Director: Chris Berry

The Last Five Years, Penfold Theatre Company at the Larry L. King Theatre, December 31 - January 25

Intimate but lonely, a haunted portrait of a relationship with the musical flair and lash of cabaret – The Last Five Years, produced by Penfold Theatre and now playing at the Larry L. King Theatre of Austin Playhouse, is a memorable evening spent with two talented characters in the most promising years of their lives.

No one wants to watch the failure of a marriage, to hover as witnesses as hope, delight and enthusiasm go sullen and die. That is the plot of this piece, but writer/composer Jason Robert Brown presents it to us in vignettes of striking musical inventiveness and a clever chronological twist that gives us bittersweet irony throughout.

The scenes with Cathy, the talented aspiring singer and actress, play in reverse. In the opening number, we see her as she discovers a note from Jamie on the kitchen table – and we hear both desolation and resignation in her beautifully sung, moody lament. We learn that they have been together for five years.

The lights then go down and we encounter that same Jamie, five years earlier, as he waits outside her house and bounces into the exultant number about the “Shiksa Goddess.” He glories in the fact that he has finally escaped from all those dutiful Jewish girls in town and is about to embrace the possibility of getting together with a girl who is completely different. “If you had a tattoo, that wouldn’t matter. . . .if you drank blood, well, nobody’s perfect!”

The second-night audience, largely of university age, ate it up, hooted and hollered. Jamie came across as excited, callow and opportunistic – and a lot of fun.

As this very handsome pair of actors work the story from both ends, we begin to realize that Brown and director Michael McKelvey are carefully dosing our emotions. Everyone loves someone who is in love.

In succeeding scenes, Annika Johansson as Cathy gradually lightens up; we learn that in pursuit of a stage career she spent a summer doing musical theatre in the wilds of Ohio (“rooming with a stripper. . . and her snake named Wayne!” ). In chronological forward gear, Jamie gets an unexpected break for his manuscript, an agent, a book contract, and a rave review in the New Yorker from John Updike. He courts Cathy and wins her, and they move in together, sharing an apartment on 73rd street, west of Central Park.



One of the scenes of greatest heartbreak is a Christmas/Hanukah celebration, in which Jamie insists on reading (singing) to her a long short story about Schmul the tailor, while Cathy sits, unimpressed and unconnected, concentrating on crackers and dip. While in Cathy’s reverse narration, she enacts a series of hopeful auditions for singing parts, then relates Jamie’s successes and sings, wistfully, “I’m a part of that. . . “

The two narratives meet at mid-point of this ninety-minute show, when for the first time we find the two together, brimming with hope as they get married.

As the action progresses, the writer/composer and the director adroitly switch our sympathies. Cathy becomes increasingly positive as she nears the start of the relationship; Jamie tries to deal with the devastating effects on Cathy of his literary success, and in so doing both matures and has to deal with her envy and unhappiness.

As an audience we are left unable to choose – there is no villain in this piece, but simply two individuals full of ambitions that do not leave room for a life as a couple.

Maintaining the bitter in relation with the sweet, Brown and Mckelvey give us a delicious confection, resembling perhaps a high quality Swiss chocolate with 80% cacao – dark and full of flavor but always with just enough sugar to lure us onward.

Annika Johansson is a high-cheeked Texas-Scandinavian beauty from Abilene Christian University, with an impressive set of credits since graduating with a BFA in Theatre in 2006. She sings beautifully, with nuance, self-aware irony and humor. Her final scenes, illuminated with Cathy’s hopefulness, are deeply moving.

David Gallagher as Jamie handles deftly the challenge of moving from a strutting post-adolescent to a brooding, conflicted and self-aware adult; he sings and acts with assurance that fully matches that of Johansson.

Brown’s music, scored for the deft fingers of Steve Saugey on keyboard and Amy Harris on violin, is contemporary, spare, and lively; you can hear the cast and musicians do some of the key numbers of The Last Five Years on their 25-minute piece on Aielli Unleashed with KUT’s John Aielli.

The Larry L. King Theatre, a small theatre set up as a tiny apartment in the City, is the perfect venue for this piece.

This is a piece with feeling, sophistication, and great entertainment value. Highly recommended.

12 images by Kimberly Mead from The Last Five Years, Penfold Theatre Company

Review by Robert Faires, published in Austin Chronicle of January 9: "You leave the theatre, an ache of a melody threaded through your chest, tribute to director and music director Michael McKelvey, who has crafted a tender, wistful anatomy of a relationship."

Review by Joey Seiler in Statesman's Austin 360 arts blog: "Forgive me for gushing, but this is the sort of production that audiences are lucky to see: unique, intimate, beautiful, painful and wonderful."

Comments by Michael Barnes of the Statesman in his "Out and About" blog": "I would be remiss if I didn’t mention something about the staggering performances. . . .David Gallagher. . .skips between twitchy elation and scabrous anger so expertly it makes one shudder with recognition. . . . . Annika Johansson. . . so completely embodies the more difficult “backwards” view of the story, her performance arrives on our collective doorstep ike an unforeseen miracle."

Hannah Kenah's interview of director Michael McKelvey, Austin Chronicle of December 26

Upcoming: The Last Five Years, Penfold Theatre at Austin Playhouse's Larry L. King Theatre, December 31 - January 18

UPDATE: Austin Live Theatre Review of January 2 performance



UPDATE: KUT's John Aielli interviews director, cast sings key songs (25 minutes)(Click here for site on "Aielli Unleashed")

Received from Penfold Theatre by e-mail, December 12:

Tix on sale: The Last Five Years

The story

The Last Five Years is a contemporary song-cycle musical that powerfully 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. Newly published novelist Jamie and aspiring actress Cathy tell the tale of their raw and impassioned relationship in opposite directions and from destructively differing standpoints. Written by Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Songs from a New World), this celebrated two-hander reminds us it's possible to feel claustrophobically close and yet worlds apart from the one you hold nearest to your heart.

Content advisory: This show contains adult language and sexual references that may not be appropriate for children.

Running time: This show runs 90 minutes and has no intermission.

Performance information

A co-production of Austin Playhouse and Penfold Theatre Company
Directed by Michael McKelvey
Featuring David Gallagher and Annika Johansson.

December 31* - January 18
At the Larry L. King Theatre, Austin Playhouse
3601 S. Congress, Bldg. C (Get Directions)

Tickets
Performances: Thursday - Saturday at 8:00pm and Sundays at 5:00pm.
Admission: $20 regular. $15 students. $10 student rush (on sale an hour before each show).
Groups: parties of 10 or more should call the box office for discounted rates.
Reservations: Call our box office at (512) 476-0084.
→ Buy tickets online.

*Opening night/New Year's Eve champagne gala!

Begin your New Year's celebration with a night at the theatre! We'll start the show early, at 7:30pm, and follow it up with food and champagne. Then we'll let you out in time for your other New Year's Eve parties (we promise). The total cost for show and festivities is $25 per person. Check back later for more details!!

A Closer Look --

Click to listen to a song from the show

Click to read a review of the original Off-Broadway production

Hannah Kenah's interview of director Michael McKelvey, published in Austin Chronicle of December 24