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The Last Five Years
A musical love story
Words and Music by Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Joshua Solomon
Musical Direction by Kim Beasley
Produced by One Theatre Company
At The Athenaeum theatre
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 312-902-1500, tickets $25
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 2 PM
Running time is 85 minutes with no intermission
Through July 2, 2006
One Theatre Company got half of the two-hander right
Jason Robert Brown’s quaint two person love story is a tuneful chamber musical that chronicles a young couple’s romance and marriage in a unique way: her story starts at the end and his at the beginning. This has inherent problems since Cathy (Diane Mair) must start out lamenting the relationship’s ending without us having a feel for what happened and why. Only in the hands of a strong actor/singer can this succeed and unfortunately Diane Mair, try as she might, doesn’t have the vocal range to land the necessary emotional tone to make the character work. Mair has trouble projecting and being heard so much of her lyrics became meaningless since her soft tones rendered many lines inaudible. It is amazing to me that so many young women were never trained (nor told) to project loud enough to be heard even in a small venue over a chamber orchestra. Either Diane Mair simply doesn’t have the vocal range or she just didn’t sing loud enough to be heard. Either way, it sure hurt the production.
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Andrew Weir, as Jamie, on the other hand, was terrific as he landed his songs with enough charm, wit and empathy and in full vocal range to win Jamie into our hearts. Weir is the young novelist so optimistic about life and so success oriented that he becomes a good catch. Brown penned the best songs for him. Diane Mair’s Cathy got the harder role of trying to explain how the relationship failed. Her character is a mediocre actress who becomes jealous of her husband’s success and she seems to whine through her songs making one wonder what Jamie ever saw in her in the first place?
Andrew Weir’s performance was so strong that he makes The Last Five Years worth seeing. He shines especially in “The Schlemiel” song. Weir seems at home with Brown’s pastiche of pop-rock idioms. Now if Mair would start projecting so we can hear and understand her lyrics, The Last Five Years would become a fine two-hander.
Somewhat Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date reviewed: May 30, 2006
Jeff Recommended
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