Ashley Syer and Mark Wolf in "The Last Five Years". Photo: Len Grinke
This emotionally powerful and intimate portrait of doomed love tells the story of two New Yorkers, Jamie and Cathy, who fall in and out of love over the course of five years.
The show’s unconventional structure finds Jamie Wellerstein, a rising novelist, telling his story chronologically (starting just after the couple have first met), while Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress, tells her story in reverse chronological order (beginning at the end of the marriage). With jaw-dropping songs – such as “Shiksa Goddess”, “I Can Do Better Than That”, “The Next Ten Minutes”, and “The Schmuel Song” – fuelling the narratives, audiences will find themselves laughing, crying and falling in love all over again! Jamie’s and Cathy’s narratives meet in the middle as they wed in Central Park (though not, as the story unfolds, for better or for worse). As Jamie’s success as an author grows, and Cathy’s showbiz dreams stall out, the couple tussle with the strains of triumph and failure and a collision of their respective cultures.
Staged within a simple, yet transformative set, and backed with a live and gorgeously textured string, bass and piano ensemble, two of Vancouver’s outstanding musical theatre performers, Ashley Syer and Mark Wolf, shine as Cathy and Jamie in this true gem of a musical.
This evocative piece will come to life under the direction of Bill Allman (Famous Artists Limited), who made his directorial debut with last year’s smash holiday hit by David Sedaris, The SantaLand Diaries, at Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver, and under the musical direction of the internationally renowned Wendy Bross Stuart (TUTS, WRS Productions) as she returns to the piece she loves after conducting its 2003 Canadian premiere.
