Review: THE LAST FIVE YEARS at Contemporary Theater Company

"Time can do so much," sang the Righteous Brothers.

Jason Robert Brown's musical, "The Last Five Years," now at Contemporary Theater Company, depicts the courtship, marriage, and breakup of Cathy and Jamie, a young couple from Ohio, both blessed and cursed by the simple act of falling in love.

In a clever, unconventional storytelling method, the two counterparts share almost no stage time but rather each takes turns relaying pivotal moments from the last five years. Jamie (Dean Hernandez) gleefully starts at the beginning, when the two first meet, as Cathy (Laura Donnelly) mourns their demise, reminding herself of those unfortunate events that brought them here.

Jamie's writing career shows promise when his first novel hits bookstore shelves while Cathy, an aspiring actress, patiently awaits her big break that never comes to fruition. Their collective series of personal and professional accomplishments and disappointments are expressed not through words but songs, with titles like, "Moving Too Fast," an elated Jamie's ode to success on the horizon, and "A Summer in Ohio," Cathy's willful attempt to make light of an awful stage experience.

The songs don't exactly tell the story of Cathy and Jamie's doomed relationship but rather illustrate how each of them feels at a given point during their time together. We never learn how they met, what attracted them to each other, or what ultimately broke them apart. Was it Jamie's newfound fame (or Cathy's lack thereof), infidelity, or had it just run its course? Much is left unsaid, so Brown relies heavily on the audience to fill in the blanks.

I appreciated the nonlinear format, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story and its incompleteness. Granted, some of the songs are superfluous, but that can be said of any musical, and like all great romances, Cathy and Jamie's journey is taxing and complicated, yet compelling and profound. Nate Campbell’s simple yet effective set purposefully appears unfinished, like the couple it represents.

Donnelly and Hernandez deserve immeasurable praise for tackling such demanding roles, and director Paula Glen's concise direction confronts this emotionally and especially tense predicament with sensitivity and grace.

Given Cathy's mostly stoic disposition, Donnelly has a remarkably serene stage presence and a quietly charming yet equally powerful voice. The irresistibly charismatic Hernandez sings with intensity and vulnerability, and his exquisite portrayal of Jamie conveys a variety of temperaments, including smitten, shallow, agitated, and defeated.

Contemporary Theater Company’s “The Last Five Years” is a beautiful, haunting production, courtesy of its unique format and two extraordinary performances.

Rhode Island Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. SWEENEY TODD (East End Theatre and Performing Arts)

13% of votes

2. THE WIZARD OF OZ (Stadium Theatre)

12.6% of votes

3. THE LITTLE MERMAID (Stadium Theatre)

10.8% of votes

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