The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years is a play about a couple name Jamie and Cathy and their five year relationships. At the start of the play you see the couple embrace and kiss each other, one of three interactions between the couple in the play and other being when he proposes and the wedding. Jamie who is an up and coming novelist tells the couple relationship from the beginning to the end and Cathy who is a struggling actress tells the story from the end to the beginning. Cathy begins telling her side of the story while sitting alone and singing the song “Still Hurting” due to their marriage being over. We then switch to Jamie where he is telling the story from the beginning of the relationship to the end of the relationship. He is telling us how he and Cathy first met and that he calls her his Shiksa Goddess which means non-Jewish women. They are both in Ohio for her birthday and to see her perform in a show. She then gets mad at Jamie when he tells her that he has to go back to New York early. Next we see Jamie sitting on the floor and talking on the telephone to his agent about his book. Next scene Jamie informs a friend about his plans to move in with Cathy, which the friend does not agree with. Then we see Cathy on the phone at work talking to her agent about her career which is not going well at the moment. Jamie and Cathy attend his book release party and there she accuses Jamie of choosing his writing over her. They celebrate their first Christmas together as a couple and Jamie shares his new story with Cathy. He also gives her a watch for Christmas. Cathy is back in Ohio and now is writing Jamie a letter about how disappointing her life is compare to her friends in Ohio. While in New York, Jamie proposes to Cathy while they are on a boat ride in Central Park which is the second time they interact in the play. Since his career is taking off he met with some temptation for the opposite sex. Cathy who is still a struggling actress is back in Ohio and is auditioning for a role but is turned down causing her to go into a deep depression. Meanwhile Jamie is trying to convince Cathy that he is not cheating with his editor and that he wants them to go to his book review but Cathy refuse to go so Jamie leaves without her. The two are still arguing and Jamie accuses Cathy of not being supportive of his career because her is failing. Even though he is harsh in what he is saying, he still tells her that he stills believe in her. Next scene you see Cathy riding in a car with an unseen Jamie to see her parents. She tells him about her past relationships and that she does not want to end up like her friend back home, which in the end she does. Near the end of the play Jamie is seen in the bed which I thought was Cathy but instead other women probably the editor. Jamie tries to blame Cathy for his cheating action due to their rocky marriage. Towards the end, the beginning of the five years you see that Cathy is happy about her first date with Jamie and says that she has been waiting forever for someone like him while singing “Goodbye until Tomorrow”. However it is the end of the five years of the marriage which is showing Jamie sitting alone in their apartment reflecting on the last five years of their relationship. He then leaves the apartment for the last time, only saying goodbye while singing “I Could Never Rescue You.” It seems like neither one of the couple wanted to save their marriage. At one moment you wanted to have sympathy for Cathy because her career was not going anywhere and that Jamie was ignoring her while focusing on writing his book. It is understandable that he wanted to concentrate on his book but he still should have paid her some attention because she was his wife. But when he did tried to spend some time or go out with her; she do not want to go or she would start an argument with him. Then you would start feeling sorry for Jamie because his wife is not happy for him but your opinion change when he has an affair and tries to put blame all on Cathy which is not right. They both tried to play the victim but both were guilty of how their relationship ended.
Most of the scenery, sound, props, costumes, and makeup are modern day styles. They wore the same types of clothing and makeup we wear today. They did have some costume changes during the performance like on their wedding day typical bride and groom attire. The overall play was good but I just had a hard time understanding the actors singing. I understood the male actor but I had really hard time understanding the female actor. I prefer some plays with some dialogue and some singing because you can have a better understanding on what is going on. At the beginning of the play, I was really excited but as the play continue on I became more confuse about what was going on. I knew it was a musical but I thought at least there were going to be some acting and not just singing I guess that why they call it a musical. Now I know there are some musicals out there that some of the audiences can understand but this one for me I could not understand. Maybe it was the music or singing I am not sure. Only other issue I have during the performance was that I kept falling asleep, not from the performance but being that it was a late show time and end of the work week for me. If I did not know what the play was about upfront then I would be totally lost. The audiences seem to enjoy the play to the best of my knowledge. they mostly gave applause after the male actor part was finish I assuming because his performance was more entertaining in certain like when he was at the bar drinking. I think some of audience member are season ticket holders or have been to a couple of plays hosted there. So this production met my expectation except for the understanding the singing. I will not rule out going to another musical as long as I can understand the performance.