The Last Five Years
Written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. Directed by Richard Block. Choreographed by Hannah McFadden. Musical Director Damien Slingsby. Teatro Vivaldi. ANU. April 24 - May 2.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
 |
| Vanessa de Jager plays Cathy Hiatt Photo by Pete Stiles |
In a relatively small city that abounds with theatre
companies, a new emerging company faces a number of challenges, not the least
of which is the availability of talent and the opportunity to launch the
company with a new show in an appropriate venue and with the support of the
community.
Canberra entrepreneur, Richard Block has launched his new
company, Dramatic Productions, at the delightfully charming and intimate Teatro
Vivaldi, where Canberrans have come to be assured of fine food, good wines and
first class entertainment. For his premier production, Block has chosen to
direct the little known two hand American musical, The Last Five Years, written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. It
is a sensible choice, given its Off Broadway nature that fits ideally into a
venue such as Teatro Vivaldi. It is a conservative choice, given that it
features only two performers, a small band, a simple setting and a moderate budget. It is
wise for a new company to start small and grow and good things can come in
small packages. However, it is also a risk. The musical may not be well-known
and pale into the shadows compared to some of the more popular and spectacular
musicals that have been recently staged by such established companies as Free
Rain, Supa, Canberra Philharmonic and Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre.
Block is no wilting flower when it comes to promotion, both
of his own work and Canberra’s rich tapestry of performing arts through his
website, Stagecenta. I imagine that he has weighed up the risks, and forged
ahead with solutions that have guaranteed an inaugural production that is sure
to win acclaim and ensure Dramatic Productions a secure place in Canberra’s
rich and diverse theatre scene.
 |
| Vanessa De Jager as Cathy Hiatt Photo by Pete Stiles |
The Last Five Years is unabashedly American. It explores the
fractious relationship within a marriage, purported to be Brown’s own, and
traces the roller-coaster ride from its passionate, love-struck beginning to
its eventual disintegration and all the conflicts, frustrations and irritations
that pitch career aspirations against relationship expectations and needling
insecurities. It is a journey that may be readily identifiable, and one that
permeates many Off Broadway musicals. That may be a generalization, but The
Last Five Years is not without its fair share of navel-gazing. Some may
empathize with struggling actress Cathy Hiatt (Vanessa de Jager) and there may
be many males in the audience who fail to see where Jamie Wellerstein (Fraser Findlay) went wrong.
Seen it all before?
Not quite. Brown cleverly flips convention to show the
audience Cathy at the moment that their marriage breaks down (Still Hurting)
and Jamie at the first meeting (Shiksa
Goddess). From there each song takes us back to the beginning for Cathy and
forward for Jamie at the time of his parting note and departure. Only at their
engagement (The Next Ten Minutes) do Cathy and Jamie come together in the same
time period at the end of the first act.
 |
| Fraser Findlay as Jamie Wellerstein Photo by Pete Stiles |
What then makes this production such a success, which it
undoubtedly is, and I would suggest a music theatre highlight in the intimate
musical category? Brown’s two way travel through the marriage helps. So too
does the ambience of Teatro Vivaldi. Musical director Damien Slingsby's
arrangements of Brown’s score certainly helps as the primarily sung narrative lurches
through a host of genres from pop to reggae to jazz with tributes to Hamlisch,
Sondheim, Kander and Ebb and other
trail-blazing American music theatre composers.
Where Block has struck gold, however, is in the casting.
Vanessa de Jager has already established herself as a leading light upon the
music theatre stage. Not only can she sing like a diva, but every pore of her
being charts the emotional and psychological pain and pleasure of Cathy Hiatt’s
turbulent experience, whether in the relationship (I’m Still Hurting) or at the
audition (Climbing Uphill)
or at that liberating freedom from her origins (I Can Do Better Than That)
 |
| Vanessa De Jager as Cathy Hiatt Photo by Pete Stiles |
A relative newcomer to the Canberra Music Theatre stage,
Fraser Findlay is a phenomenal find. His professional resume reaches from
Glasgow to New York and back to Europe and Dubai. What is impressive on paper
is well-proven on stage. His Wellerstein
explodes with the self-centred, neurotic obsession of the writer, battling
ambition and creativity with the demands of marriage and responsibility. From
his idiosyncratic rendition of Moving Too
Fast, it is obvious that Jamie is on the road to a doomed future. Findlay
flicks the song’s rhythms to suit his character’s eccentricity with a bursting
energy and charismatic individuality that holds an audience on every note of
his unpredictable story.
 |
| Fraser Findlay as Jamie Wellerstein and Vanessa De Jager as Cathy Hiatt Photo by Pete Stiles |
Together, de Jager and Findlay burn with the chemistry of
volatility and fluid passion. It is a sheer delight being thoroughly engaged by
two such consummate artists and astounded by de Jager’s costume changes.
Director Block has double cast the show and next week two other local Music
Theatre favourites Josie Dunham and Matthew Chardon O’Dea will take the roles
of Hiatt and Wellerstein. That makes the show worth a second visit.
 |
| Fraser Findlay in The Last Five Years. Photo by Pete Stiles |
The Last Five Years
is a wise choice for a fledgling company , launching itself upon a vibrant
music theatre scene. Block has decided to stage it as a theatre piece with a
box set tucked in a corner of Teatro Vivaldi’s and mikes for the two actors,
both of whom should be capable of filling the space without the aid of
electronic sound. Apart from some difficulty with the sound levels on opening
night, miked numbers in the small space lost the potential poignancy in certain
songs. Block has directed the show for a larger space . In the cabaret environment of Teatro Vivaldi this seemed
unnecessary and probably could have been staged with less expense.
 |
| Vanessa De Jager in The Last Five Years. Photo by Pete Stiles |
This aside, Dramatic Productions has made an impressive
debut with The Last Five Years. In
August, Block launches into the bigtime with Sondheim’s massive challenge, Into The Woods at Gunghalin College. If
he can cast that as well as he has done with The Last Five Years, and gather together the team that has brought
this show to Canberra audiences, then here is a company to swell the excellent
reputation of music theatre in Canberra and Queanbeyan.
