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[[File:thlastfive03_7953.jpg|frame|The full, two-membered cast in the only moment they sing together.]]
 
{{quote|''Give me a day, Jamie.
''Bring back the lies,<br />▼
''Hang them back on the wall -<br />▼
''Maybe I'd see<br />▼
''How you could be<br />▼
''So certain that we<br />▼
''Had no chance at all ...''|'''Cathy Hyatt''', "Still Hurting."}}▼
 
{{quote|''GiveNo mematter ahow dayI tried, Jamie.<br />''
''All I could do was love you''<br />▼
▲Bring back the lies,<br />
''Hard''<br />▼
▲Hang them back on the wall -<br />
▲Maybe I'd see<br />
▲How you could be<br />
▲So certain that we<br />
▲Had no chance at all ...''|'''Cathy Hyatt''', "Still Hurting."}}
 
{{quote|''No matter how I tried,''<br />
▲''All I could do was love you''<br />
▲''Hard''<br />
''[[Tear Jerker|And let you go]]...''.|'''Jamie Wellerstein''', "Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You."}}
 
A one-act, two-person [[The Musical|musical]] by Jason Robert Brown (the Tony-winning composer behind ''[[Parade]]'' and, more lately, [[Thirteen (Theatre)|13]]) which reached Off-Broadway in 2002, ''[[The Last Five Years]]'' tells the story of an ordinary couple as they fall in - and out of - love, inspired by Brown's own failed first marriage. Jamie Wellerstein, a successful Jewish novelist, and Cathy Hyatt, a struggling Irish-Catholic actress, become rapidly involved with each other and get married, but their own personal demons inevitably drive them apart.
 
What's unique about the show is its structure. The score consists of alternating solos; Cathy or Jamie occupy the stage separately, sometimes singing to each other and sometimes to friends and family. Furthermore, there is [[Anachronic Order]] involved: the introspective Cathy tells the story [[Back to Front]], starting [[Foregone Conclusion|after Jamie has left her]] and moving towards their first date; the reckless Jamie starts at the beginning and moves forwards towards the divorce. The timelines cross just once: at the exact halfway mark of the show, on Jamie and Cathy's [[Wedding Day]]. The show's structure accents its characters, whose careers are moving in very different directions and who, despite their love, are fundamentally at odds with each other.
 
The score's wit and emotional maturity has been favourably compared to [[Stephen Sondheim]], whilst Brown's music draws on a wide range of styles that include rock 'n' roll, latinLatin, contemporary pop and Jerome Kern, yet still with a degree of theatrical complexity.
 
 
{{tropelist}}
 
* [[Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder]]: Jamie starts his affair whilst Cathy is off touring in Ohio.
* [[All Men Are Perverts]]: Explored, rather honestly, by Jamie in "A Miracle Would Happen".
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* [[BSOD Song]]: Jamie's "Nobody Needs To Know" is noticeably bleaker than anything that's come before, and seems to mark the point at which Jamie gives up on his marriage.
* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Cathy exhibits signs of this, as she is possessive of Jamie and suspicious of his female fans and publisher long before he actually has an affair. In fact, in "Nobody Needs To Know", Jamie even cites her behaviour as what drives him to have an affair in the first place:
{{quote| ''All that I ask for is one little corner,<br />
One private room at the back of my heart.<br />
Tell her I found one, she sends out battalions<br />
To claim it and blow it apart.'' }}
* [[Counterpoint Duet]]: The end of "Goodbye Until Tomorrow / I Could Never Rescue You".
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* [[Final Love Duet]]: Sort of (see [[Distant Duet]], above). For Cathy it's a love song; for Jamie, it's an out-of-love song.
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: The show starts with Cathy's line "Jamie is over and Jamie is gone".
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Jamie is [[Wicked (Literaturenovel)|a Winkie prince]], also once [[Rent|a has-been rockstar]] and that guy from Dan in Real Life. Cathy is [[The Little Mermaid|an evil octopus]], a [[Aida|heart-broken pharaoh/statue]] and was once [[Rent|a bisexual performance artist]]. Oh, and both were in the Next to Normal workshop "Feeling Electric" as Dan and Diana. They were playing a married couple. Again. With none other than [[Rent|Anthony Rapp]] as their psychiatrist. Also, both were in ''[[Dirty Rotten Scoundrels]]'', though they get more shared stage time there.
* [["I Am" Song]]: For Cathy, it's "Climbing Uphill"; for Jamie, it's "Moving Too Fast". Both songs are about their careers, but are also indicative of their general approach to life (and hence the direction we see them moving through time).
* [["I Want" Song]]:
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** "The Next Ten Minutes", the ''only'' time in the entire show Cathy and Jamie ever sing the same words at the same time.
** "Nobody Needs to Know". Possibly just for this troper, who just feels so ''bad'' for Jamie.
** "Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You", as Jamie sings about the failure of his marriage to Cathy, Cathy's song expresses her joy at having had a successful first date with Jamie.
* [[Unwanted Harem]]: In "A Miracle Would Happen" Jamie laments that, no sooner is he married, his literary success suddenly makes him a huge hit with lots of co-ed undergrads.
* [[Wedding Day]]: The moving "The Next Ten Minutes".
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Last Five Years]]
[[Category:PagesTheatrical needing more categoriesProductions]]
[[Category:The Musical]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Five Years, The}}
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