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The Last 5 Years: Are they coming, or going? Who knows, in this complex tale of love on the rocks, told backwards and forwards
The Last 5 Years (Garrick Theatre, London)
Verdict: A musical story told back and forwards. Result: confusion
Rating: 
Sometimes, you can be just too clever by half. In the case of The Last 5 Years, that’s precisely the problem. The premise of the play — spoiler alert! — is that it’s a story told forwards and backwards, a dramatic palindrome, with the narratives meeting at the end. Does that sound confusing?
It’s the story of the unravelling of a marriage, except in the case of the husband, it starts at the bright beginning of the relationship and goes onto disillusionment; and in the case of the wife, it starts with her feeling sad and works backwards.
The Last Five Years – shown at London’s Garrick theatre is the story of the unravelling of a marriage, except in the case of the husband, it starts at the bright beginning of the relationship and goes onto disillusionment; and in the case of the wife, it starts with her feeling sad and works backwards
That’s the idea, and it’s frankly just as well I looked the play up before I went, because if I hadn’t known what was in store, I’d have been utterly baffled.
The idea of two reverse narratives is clever, but this is a musical, with the whole story belted out fortissimo, and I’m afraid it’s not a form that takes well to weird narrative arcs.
On the bright side, the characters of husband and wife, Jamie and Cathy, are taken by Oli Higginson (Bridgerton and The Pursuit Of Love) and Molly Lynch. They give the play everything they’ve got — which is a lot.
Higginson, especially, is terrifically physical, occasionally jumping onto the piano like a leggy spider. Lynch is vocally feisty and humorously downbeat, what with being a failing actress and all.
There are some engaging numbers, such as the Schmuel Song, Jamie’s comic tale of a Russian Jewish tailor; and the plangent melody with which the story closes.
The trouble with The Last 5 Years isn’t just that it’s over-complex. It is literally monotonous, in that there is a sameness about the emotional and musical register. And given that this is based on Jason Robert Brown’s take on his own marriage, I’m not surprised his ex-wife didn’t care for it. She fails, he succeeds. Well, that’s his story.
The trouble with The Last 5 Years isn’t just that it’s over-complex. It is literally monotonous, in that there is a sameness about the emotional and musical register
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