The Last 5 Years - St James Theatre

So I caught this last night and I gotta say, for a first preview, this is in phenomenal shape.

Forgive my delay in posting these comments. Personal circumstances have prevented me from doing so any sooner. In addition, I need time to think about it.

Despite this supposed to start at 7:30pm, the doors didn’t open till 7:35. The theatre itself, with the exception of the odd single seat or two, was full and the audience was extremely enthusiastic.

Jason Robert Brown comes out on stage holding a notepad (Yes! It was him!!!!) cue woolf whistles, cheering, clapping, etc. and he tells us that they are/aren’t easy for us., letting us know that bits of furniture the supposed to come on and ff stage may not but vocally the cast are ready, having practiced for four weeks. The then let us know he’s gonna sit in the audience so the show can start, which it did at about 8pm.

Looking at the stage, it’s relatively sparse and blue. There are faux blue bricks on the sides of the stage and the back wall. It is split in two, with the small orchestra (who were very good) visible and sitting above. Throughout the show there brick panels slide across to reveal furniture that slide in and out. Window panels also slide across from either side hiding the orchestra at points and these are used to great effect, with lights filtering through forming square panels onto the stage. Throughout The Schmeul Song visual images such as snow falling, the morning sun rising are shown.

There are so many great things about this show. What’s great about this production is that it’s directed by Jason Robert Brown himself. Nobody knows these characters and there situation better than him. I mean he wrote the damn thing! Sure, actors can bring their own interpretation to these characters but what were seeing here is his vision.

Speaking of the actors, they’re good. Really good. Firstly, Jonathan Bailey as Jamie is not bearded as he appears in the poster images, but clean shaven. His enthusiasm leaps off the stage and he spots an audience member (presumably female) and sings directly to them. I mean right at them.

And Samantha Barks as Cathy vocally is outstanding. Do not kid yourself, I don’t know what’s going on with her lungs but this little Welsh girl can really belt! I mean seriously! And such a pretty girl.

After each song it just seemed the audience reaction just got louder. And the song The Next Ten Minutes is stages beautifully and with such poignancy that I was genuinely moved. I felt Jamie’s vulnerably and sincerity as he proposed to Cathy in a little boat and she looked simply beautiful. For me, the only thing that would have made this visually perfect is if Jamie wore a yulmika/kippa (a Jewish skull cap) and if the boat slowly revolved.

The only proper professional production of this show I’ve ever seen of this show in the past was at The Menier Chocolate Factory with Damien Humbley and Lara Pulver and Jamie wore a yulmika/kippa in this version. I mean so much is made of him being Jewish in his first song, right?

And last night, whilst in terms of projection Samantha Barks may have outshone Jonathan Bailey, they complimented each other well.

I love this show. I really do. The little nuances, piano snippets and lyrics. I mean look ay my tag line. The problem is that I have been listing to the off broadway cast recording for near on 15years and am so familiar with the way Sheree Renee Scott and Norbert Leo But interpret these songs that at times it’s difficult to separate their vocals from visually what I’m seeing on stage but last night Jonathan Bailey and Samantha Barks did that I was able to appreciate this show on a whole new level.

I mean every person, regardless of gender or sexuality can relate to this. I mean we’ve all been dumped or broken up with someone so can relate. And the lyrics are so good that depending on the day you may feel the reason they broke up is Jamie’s fault. Or was it Cathy’s?

As I say, this show is good. Nay, outstanding and there were standing ovations. The show is sung through with no intermission and we were out by 9:30pm, so not too late.

The only problem with last nights show was some backstage issued and the odd lighting issued. At one point (seriously) it sounded like cutlery was being dropped! But again, it was first night previews.

I would STRONGLY recommend that anyone, with any (even if it be vague) interest in musical theatre see this.

Oh, and I got to meet the level Alison last night.

To top the night off, I managed to get a selfie with Samantha Barks and a second with Jason Robert Brown (yes!-fist pump!)

And, for anyone who’s familiar with my previous posts regarding the St Jame’s Theatre and this show, I am happy to say that there were no repeat unfortunate incidents involving chocolate bars and no children or pregnant women harmed or pushed out of the way in my zeal to get my Jason Robert Brown selfie.

How long does the show last? Planning on seeing the Thursday matinee if I can get to work afterwards on time (work is in Clapham at 5pm, so anything finishing on or after 4:30pm is a no-go)

Accompanied my daughter to see this yesterday as she is still a bit young (15) for solo theatre trips but she really wanted to see it. I hadn't liked the film and so I knew it wasn't my kind of thing. She absolutely loved it and I was able to appreciate the talent on show - particularly in the band. If, like me, you have children in mid to late teens Jonathan Bailey will forever be Leonardo, the eponymous hero of the CBBC series in which he and a group of fellow teens worked hard to thwart the evil Machiavelli in the court of the Medicis. The sort of hokum that kids of around the age of ten can endlessly enjoy on repeat.

I was also at the first preview (thanks again for letting me use your extra ticket, Alison!)

This has been among my favorite musicals for the last five years (*cue rimshot* but actually, I did discover it 5 years ago). It's so tenderly written, so tragic in its simplicity. So I definitely loved returning to see it again.

They originally did this production of the show in Off-Broadway in New York in 2013, and I was lucky enough to see the 1st preview of that incarnation as well (just a strange coincidence that I happened to find myself at both the 1st preview both times). I think JRB's direction is fine, but I do have some issues with it. I think, in some ways, it's too busy. In my opinion, there is more furniture moving on and off than there needs to be, more lighting tricks than there needs to be, and the video projections are just gratuitous and distracting. It seems strange to me that JRB would feel that the show needs these bells and whistles (particularly the video), rather than just letting the text and performances speak for themselves. I can't help but wonder if perhaps JRB feels vulnerable directing this show, since he wrote it based on his own experiences, and feels he has to prove something by adding a lot of production elements. Just speculation, of course.

This "busy" feeling is also reflected in Brown's direction of Jamie. He's given Jamie a lot of business to do onstage during his numbers, such as interacting with audience members, having him jump in and out of squares of light, and laboriously act out every sentence of the Schmuel song while pretending to be the clock. This was not so much the case with Cathy. Samantha Barks, as a result, struck me as much more grounded and sure of herself than Bailey was. Again, I wonder if Brown felt vulnerable directing Jamie's scenes, given that Jamie is based on himself.

Bailey is very charming as Jamie, and does an excellent job for someone who is not as known for musical theatre. I was distracted throughout the show by his less-than-convincing American accent, and by the extraneous stage-business I mentioned above, but otherwise he was good. Samantha Barks has an incredible voice, and her acting, as I said above, was very grounded and subtle, though perhaps not as interesting to watch.

BIB - I did wonder what you thought after our conversation about being more sensitive to dodgy accents that are close to your own, and forgot to ask you afterwards.  It wasn't something that bothered me at all, I can't really say I had an opinion at the time over whether it was good/bad/indifferent, but I can see why it would annoy you.

talkstageytome, your comment about Jamie becoming despicable reminded me of something else that confused/irritated me - the end of A Miracle Would Happen ("I'll be there soon, Cathy ...").  Every time I've listened to the recording, I've never imagined that section as anything other than Jamie genuinely getting caught up in his work and inadvertently putting it before his wife, rather than him outright lying to her (which seems to be what's implied here, since if I remember rightly Jonathan still had a bottle in his hand while he was on the phone).  It's not a choice I like at all, and makes him a far less sympathetic character in my eyes.  Sure, the whole "I'm wondering if I did the right thing getting married and feeling a bit trapped" thing is less than perfect, but perfect characters are boring and not realistic.  The important thing is that he doesn't act on it and tries to be a good husband ... *that* Jamie I'm behind until Nobody Needs to Know, when he does go too far.  Which I can understand, with a good actor to play the journey, even if I don't agree with it.  But I do not like the lying coming so early in the story, and the realisation that that's probably what JRB intended ... it's funny how we look at things differently, isn't it?

And to add another one into the mix, my choice of "where you might have seen Jonathan Bailey before" material has been Broadchurch.  Given that that and Hooten and the Lady are the only two things I've seen him in, it was an easy choice.

Yep that was me! With my 17 shows in 8,5 days and quite a few meetings with friends I don't gave time to post while I'm here. Sometimes I don't have time to eat and sleap

More thoughts on the show later, just a quick brag: got the whole Schmuel Song acted on me and for me. If Jonathan says "Merry Christmas", let it be Christmas!

Excellent to hear, my friend and I are going tonight in the £5 seats!!

Even better!!!
He is topless during the whole waking up in bed scene! And doesn't wearing trousers for half of it

Was at the show last night and absolutely adored the show.

I have only seen the film (where both characters are present in the musical numbers) and have listened to the Broadway cast recording many times and when listening I have imagined how you could you stage this and what better than for the direction of Jason Robert Brown to finally experience this on stage.

Firstly I adored my seat, Warren and I were in the £5 (£10 after previews which I understand are now sold out throughout the run) seats (A3/A4) side view to stage left. I can’t lie I booked this as soon as tickets went on sale and when I saw £5 I couldn’t resist snapping them up but then wondered if we were somehow going to be stuck behind set or a severe restricted view. I almost feel guilty I had the most perfect view last night (almost) and the whole things cost me £11 in total!

I loved being that close to the action (yes you do see every bit of spit when they are projecting and the sweat dripping of Jonathan) and it’s not always played out to you in every moment and the tiniest moments of blocking but this is staged to encompass everyone and they constantly use the stage (Johnathan does the most interaction with the audience and they were moments I could have reached out my hand and touched him) and no props/set obstruct any view at any point so was perfect seats (felt like I was with them on the stage!). I could only quickly glance at the screens but in my opinion they do not add anything and my focus was to the actors so that’s the only part you slightly miss out on but I don’t personally think I missed out not taking notice of the screens.

Both of the cast are excellent in this, Samantha Barks is the most polished performer but the fact that Johnathan Bailey is not as polished works well for the character ‘Jamie’ and both had some lovely character moments and great chemistry in that moment the stories collide in the middle (that was staged so beautifully and couldn’t have been more perfect with how they bookmarked it – no spoilers!). A shout out to the band too, the orchestration of the score sounded so beautiful throughout.

I agree that some of the set and transitions are a little clunky at times, that heavy sliding door can be loud (could be to how close I was to it though of course) and a little distracting but there were minimal mishaps (there was a moment a stagehand must have been in the wrong place and had to quickly dash across the back of the sliding back wall). I actually liked the moment with Johnathan jumping into the light boxes which I know some on here aren’t keen on.

I got misty-eyed at ‘Still Hurting’, ‘The Next Ten Minutes’ and ‘Goodbye till Tomorrow’ (this final moment was directly played to my side of the theatre which was lovely so if you are stage right and side they will have your back to yours I am afraid) there was a massive standing ovation and a lovely audience in last night too (felt all very stagey!). I wanted to be extra stagey and stage-door (well hang in the foyer) but Warren got a little embarrassed to fangirl with everyone else so we left in the end but I couldn’t stop talking about elements of the show on the whole journey back to East London which is always a good sign of just how much you have enjoyed the show.

The show flies by, it feels like the quickest 90 minutes. Once I heard the bars of its final song I just wanted it to somehow not end – for me it’s one of those shows you could watch and then go back again straight-away – which I had the foresight to book to see this again a little later in the run but alas it’s sold well and now only expensive tickets left (which I agree are a little steep even though it is a brilliant show) and if anyone has booked a matinee and evening performance then I salute you for your excellent choice.

Side-note the absolutely cutie Sam Thomas (just seen in ‘Floyd Collins’ and is the understudy) was in the foyer both at beginning and at the end. I do hope he gets a chance to do a show or two – wish this wasn’t a limited run as I would love to play this a little longer.

Oh Jonathan is handsome man indeed (I do miss the beard somewhat however, his understudy Sam has fuzz now) but he makes up for clean shave with the scene in his pants! ;-)

All in all it’s a great production, so glad I have now seen it on stage!!

Next show’s for me (things always crop up in between of course) are ‘School of Rock’, ‘Big the musical’ and then am back at St James for ‘Rent’ in December.

90 minutes, no interval.

Got one for the 2nd! Result!