Jason Robert Brown's two-person musical
The Last Five Years is beloved by musical theater nerds, for it's ingenious structure (one person tells the story chronologically and the other backwards, meeting for one moment in the middle) and the cycle of songs that tell the full story of a relationship - beginning, middle, end. It's not infrequently done (
most recently seen at Lyric Arts earlier this year), but it's also not easy. Neither character is particularly likeable, which can cause frustration. But maybe they're not supposed to be likeable, just flawed messy humans like all of us. A lovely new production of
The Last Five Years runs just one more weekend, as part of a Collaboration Series by Bunce Performing Arts, which specializes in free outdoor summer musicals. For this show they've partnered with new company Hidden Gem Productions and first-time director/producer Luke Peterson. The simple staging really allows JRB's gorgeous songs to shine, as performed by two talented new-to-me singers who bring out all of the emotions.
I've seen The Last Five Years six times now, and this was one of my favorite productions.
You can see it this weekend at the Phoenix Theater (yes, it's still open despite the construction on Hennepin - I recommend parking on 26th).
