Having grown up in Brooklyn, one of my first sentences was: "Wait ‘til next year!"
And that’s about the best that can be said for a disappointing New Jewish Theatre production of "The Last Five Years," which opened last night as the final show of the 2008-09 season, to run through June 21. But take heart, it’s only four months until "Conversations With My Father" arrives to begin next year.
Jason Robert Brown’s two-person musical, which follows a relationship between a young man and a young woman for five years, never got off the ground at the Clayton High School Little Theater. The story involves a man who becomes a success with his first novel while his bride struggles unsuccessfully to build a stage career; after conflicts build to the breaking point, they end the relationship.
Brown’s conceit of having Jamie (Jeffrey H. Wright) singing from the beginning of the relationship to the end while Cathy (April Strellinger) works from the end to the beginning is extremely difficult for an inexperienced audience to understand, especially in the hands of equally inexperienced actors.
The only duet comes in the middle, on their wedding day, when his forward progress meets her retreat.
Brown’s tunes are rather ordinary; as are his lyrics, though there are a couple of clever songs, such as Cathy’s suffering through a Muny-like season in "A Summer in Ohio," and Jamie’s tender expression of love to her, "The Schmuel Song." Her "Climbing Uphill" shows the panic and difficulty of an audition, and he is at the top of his writing game in "Moving Too Fast."
Strellinger’s voice is often too strident and harsh when Brown’s lyrics turn gentle, and Wright had difficulty between showing tenderness in a love song and arrogance when he glories in his success.
Pianist and musical director David Horstman was an enjoyable presence, as were violinist Laura Sexauer and cellist Sara Spitzer. The play is without an intermission, so it does not take nearly as long as its title. But almost.
At the Little Theater, Clayton High School, through June 21.
-Joe