As my loyal readers and listeners to the Wheelie Stagey podcast will already know, Jason Robert Brown will forever have a piece of my heart and soul thanks to Bridges of Madison County. The ongoing lockdown has afforded me the opportunity to become acquainted with more of his work – notably Songs For A New World and The Last Five Years, the latter of which I reviewed for BroadwayWorldUK. Starring Lauren Samuels and Danny Becker, that version was filmed entirely in isolation with the two actors using only what was available to them for props and cleverly edited together. As a relative newcomer to the score at the time aside from a particular solo of Jamie’s, I was simply overjoyed to have finally have been introduced to these characters and their story, along with Lauren and Danny. After that viewing, I went away and purchased the Original Cast Recording with Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie René Scott, which led to many a one woman sing along from my bed and wondering if this show might one day come back into my life…and so it did, albeit later than most as is my luck, thanks to the October 2020 recording of the newest revival from Southwark Playhouse!

The Last Five Years follows a couple, Jamie and Cathy through the course of their relationship; for Jamie, this happens in chronological order, whilst we follow Cathy in reverse. Aside from one single moment – their wedding, their timelines don’t intersect and the pair never directly interact. For me the show is about relationships, how we define success and finding your identity, both individually and as a couple. I understand that traditionally the show is staged with each actor alone onstage for their respective songs, which alternate between Cathy and Jamie, and herein was one of the ways this production excelled and distinguished itself: both actors were onstage for the duration and even lend their talents to the instruments, accompanied beautifully by a four piece band. I’ve always enjoyed my limited exposure to “actor muso” productions and think it can work wonderfully, as it does here. There was something incredibly intimate about Jamie & Cathy’s bodies being intertwined as he played the keys at the beginning leaning over her, and it even allowed for some uncomfortable irony later in Cathy’s audition scenes where she asks “why does this pianist hate me?” and we know it’s Jamie at the keys.

My overriding feeling was Jonathan O’ Boyle’s choice delved deeper to find new depths in the emotion as well as the humour, and I found my own feelings about the show becoming more nuanced as a result. The set, minimalist though it is, featured a stroke of genius from Lee Newby with a piano and the use of a revolve. As the actors are onstage together throughout, the revolve became our way of shifting the action between the two characters and their differing perspectives – the constant movement added tension and reflects the problematic nature of Jamie and Cathy’s relationship. The lighting from Jamie Platt was delicious, and almost became a character in it’s own right, moving from blues, to reds to oranges. Direction, design and musicality on such seamless form then, The Last Five Years lives or dies on the strength of its central pairing, and Jamie & Cathy are a delight in the hands of Oli Higginson and Molly Lynch.

One of my biggest things that I’ll take away from this version of the show is my deeper understanding of the nuances of Jamie and Cathy’s relationship. They’re both flawed characters, but I hadn’t truly realised how I conflicted felt about the choice Jamie makes near the show’s finale being placed in a light where I find it easy to sympathise with him, instead of through Cathy’s perspective. Cathy too, at times becomes bitter and overrun by her own frustration at Jamie’s success. And yet, you’re firmly on her side as she laments the loss of her own dreams and leafs through Jamie’s bestseller hoping she’s “A Part of That”. It’s this dynamic and acknowledgement that makes the show so engaging for me, and a pleasure to watch play out with these two.

Oli Higginson’s Jamie is full to the brim with swagger and charm that it’s impossible not to fall in love with, breezing through his rockstar moment with “Moving Too Fast” and making me chuckle with his endearing “Schmuel Song” and “Shiksa Goddess”. What really struck me though was how deftly he changes as things take that downward turn, how you could sense his pain from the smallest details. His rendition of “Nobody Needs To Know” quite took my breath away despite my feelings toward Jamie at that point, and I hope to be able to among as many audiences as possible when the world relents to cheer him on!

Sunset Boulevard brought Molly Lynch into my life, and there I marvelled over how she shaped Betty into a far more interesting character than the film allows her to be. I had a similiar feeling with her take on Cathy, and it was a joy to behold – not only is she sweetly endearing as she rushes towards the heady joy of new love where she ends the piece, and equally heartbreaking where she begins, Lynch’s comic timing is superb and Cathy becomes funnier than I had known before, especially delightful ukelele in hand as she regales us, and Jamie (over Facetime as he’s holed up penning his masterpiece) with “A Summer in Ohio”.

It’s been four years since I’ve physically been to see anything at Southwark Playhouse, much to my shame. This smart, rejuvenated take on a much seen classic reminded me why I should get back there asap!