The Last Five Years
The Last Five Years
By Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Dan Roche
Starring Jack Noseworthy and Melissa Minyard
Gramercy theatre, Orlando FL</strong>
We’ve hear the story so many times before – Young Jamie (Noteworthy) meets Cathy (Minyard) as he stands on the brink of success, they fall madly in love and marry whereupon he immediate meets a flock of large breasted Blonde Floozies, and boy, is Cathy annoyed. Ok, I made up the blonde part, but this is a two person cabaret and the emphasis is on music and singing and not staging. It’s a nice change up for the Orlando Cabaret scene with its late (10 pm) start; you now get a better feeling of actually staying out late on a school night.
If your not familiar with “The Last Five Years”, Jason Brown tells a Neil Simon-esque romance with Jamie’s story begging at the “I’m so horny ANYONE will do” phase and Cathy’s ending with “I’m stuck in rural Ohio Summer Stock and WHERE is your emotional support?” Like all good sexual battles, its fertile ground for great music like “In The Next Ten Minutes,” “Summer in Ohio” and even the oddly prophetic “The Schmuel Song.” Both Minyard and Noseworthy have great control and depth, and the only audio complaint I have is the volume was set to 11, clipping these two voices and making the singing a bit harsh. Musical director John DeHaas spent most of the show concealed behind an upright piano, but Cellist Paul Leiner sat up stage and seemed bored when he wasn’t bowing. You can’t have Cabaret without booze, and even though the bar is waaaay out in the far reaches of the Plaza’s cavernous lobby, they pour their drinks stiff and you can bring them inside. All we needed was to fire up that Little Shop of Horrors smoke machine to replicate the long-forgotten smell of stale Pall Malls. There is hope for Orlando night life; a few more events like this and we won’t have to knock off 7-11’s for fun after midnight anymore.
For more information on events at the Plaza Theater and by Gramercy Theatre, please visit http://www.theplazatheatre.com
