Interview: Austin Colburn of THE LAST FIVE YEARS at Queensbury Theatre

Austin Colburn is an Actor, Singer, and Dancer from Houston, Texas. Past roles include: Otto (SPRING AWAKENING, TUTS), and he performed as Don (A CHORUS LINE, TUTS). He was in THE GARDEN THEATER’s BONNIE & CLYDE at the MATCH, and also in CRUEL INTENTIONS with them. He is now based in New York, but in an ironic turn, he is coming to Houston to star in a production of THE LAST FIVE YEARS, which just had a Broadway run with Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas. It’s all based on an all-too-real story. Writer-composer Jason Robert Brown's musical is inspired largely by Brown's own failed marriage. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk with Austin about THE LAST FIVE YEARS and his career. 

Austin Colburn: I'm really glad to be back here in Houston. New York is so fast-paced, and I love it there. But my God, it's nice to be able to get in a car and drive somewhere.

Brett Cullum: No kidding! I always feel like when I get back from New York, I need a vacation from my vacation, because it is such a fast tempo there as opposed to here! I'm glad to see you in New York, you've been kicking around here for a while, and I kept thinking, “Oh, my gosh, this kid's going to level up”, and I guess that's what you're doing. But tell me about this production at Queensbury Theater, THE LAST FIVE YEARS. How did this come about? I mean, this thing was just on Broadway.

Austin Colburn: Yeah, I mean, we. I've always loved this show. There's this sort of thing where you work on a show with people, and you keep working at a theater, and it's like, “Oh, what should we do? What should we do?” And at the time when I was like “Oh, my God! I want to do THE LAST FIVE YEARS”, it wasn't on Broadway yet. I must have said it to the right people. Now we're here, it's and it's nuts. And I get to play Jamie. And it's very different than what I am used to. It is very hard both emotionally, mentally. You know, the score itself is very intimidating, even after you've learned all the music.

Brett Cullum: I'm sure. And I've been watching you on Instagram, and you're doing these awesome, little episodes where you're showing yourself in rehearsal, and I hear sometimes the notes of “Now you gotta pick this up on your own!”, and I'm thinking, “Oh, my God, he's in trouble!”

Austin Colburn: Little bit, just a little.

Brett Cullum: Well, you know Jason, Robert Brown. He's a tough composer, and he is having a real moment here in Houston. We've got PARADE playing at the Hobby Center, and now this is popping up. His music is challenging; it's tough. Have you faced a score that is this intricate and complex?  

Austin Colburn: I can't say I have. I honestly cannot say I have. I think we get very used to hearing things that are very high and belty for tenor guys. And you're like, “Oh, that score is really hard!” NEWSIES and things like CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. But when I was looking at THE LAST 5 YEARS as a fan, I'm going, “This song's pretty. This song is a storytelling song”, and it is not until you really dive into it that you realize that a song is not hard because it's high or because it's this big, powerful moment. A song is hard because Jason Robert Brown wrote it, and it's crafted so well. Some of this music is very, very, very intentional. It's those moments where you're just speaking something in the song that you think, “Oh, I need to go over that again!” It's just me speaking. It's not even a moment of high vocals or anything. That happens a lot in his music. I've found this score particularly is one of the most difficult I have ever I've ever touched. So yeah, it is. It's insane.

Brett Cullum: And it's so personal! He wrote it about his failed marriage, and it got so close to actual facts that his ex-wife tried to sue him over it. So obviously, it is very deeply resonant, and you're obviously delivering something more than just a song. There's hardly any dialogue in this piece at all, right? It's like an opera.

Austin Colburn: There are certain moments where there are monologues and spoken words in short little breakouts. There's a scene where Jamie breaks up Cathy’s song with these little chunks of a phone call. It's interesting when those happen. But most of it is this back-and-forth singing between two people for the entire show.

Brett Cullum: Well, and what's wild is it's five years, but it moves in a really weird way. Jamie, the man, is telling it in chronological order from start to finish. But Kathy starts at the end and moves backwards. Who is she who is playing Cathy? And who is directing you both?

Austin Colburn: Mia Gerachis plays Cathy, and Kristina Sullivan directs. Alex Navarro is our music director. 

Brett Cullum: What do you think the message of the show is? What would you say if you were gonna encapsulate this for somebody coming in? Or what do you hope they glean from this show? 

Austin Colburn: I hope that the message to people is “love is human.” I feel that a lot of times, we are able to pick sides. I'm really hoping that people come to this show with an open mind and sort of understand that even though certain things happen, I don't know if anyone is guilty. We're just human. I don't think people are innocent or guilty in a relationship or in love. They're just human, and that's what the message is. Love is human.

Brett Cullum: You're from Houston. You grew up here. How did you get into performing? What was that spark? When did little Austin realize? I want to be on stage.

Austin Colburn: So I started as a dancer. At age eleven, my sister was taking classes, and she came home and was showing me moves and stuff from her solo because she was a competitive dancer, and I started picking all that stuff up. Then my dance school did a production of WILLY WONKA JUNIOR. I was Mike TeaVee in that, and couldn't sing a single pitch. It's really bad. The video lives on my phone. It is a travesty! After that, I got into high school theater and graduated from high school. Then the community college was doing SPELLING BEE. And I said, “You know what? I'm gonna do it!” I didn't know that I could sing at the time. I went in. I sang God knows what. I had no clue what I was singing. After that, I just kept doing shows because it made me feel good. I also went through some relationship stuff. You know, you're in love as a teenager. And then that all ends. You, you have to say, “Okay, well, who am I?” The big part for me was that I found that who I was was somebody who liked to entertain, and also somebody for whom the arts were a very good place for me to be mentally and physically. I just kept going. I kept pushing myself, and then at some point I booked a professional job and became equity, and the rest is history. And now I'm in New York, and have a great agency, and go into these callbacks and these auditions for shows that I just never imagined that I would be in. It's truly insane. So I guess I'm very thankful for WILLY WONKA JUNIOR.

Brett Cullum: And Mike TeaVee, and your sister! 

Austin Colburn: My parents met in high school theater, and they were big theater people, and my dad's an actor as well, and all of that. But Mike TeaVee, he really changed the game.

Brett Cullum: I know whatever's going to happen next for you, it's going to be incredible. But in the meantime, speaking of incredible July 23, rd through the 27th at the Queensbury Theater is THE LAST FIVE YEARS, and that's the Jason Robert Brown musical that just had a Broadway run. I mean, how crazy is it to put this on your resume so soon after Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren? And it's a really awesome chance for Houston to see something so fresh because we're not having to wait for the tour or anything like that. And we get to see you, one of our home team people. I'm so looking forward to this, I think it'll be great, so break legs.