The Last 5 Years is totally our next Symposium topic

Eeeeee!  EEEEEEEE! Eeeeee!

For folks who aren’t familiar with Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years, it’s a musical that covers the five year relationship between Cathy and Jamie, from the moment they meet, through their engagement and marriage, till the morning after Jamie leaves.

The two leads alternate numbers, which respectively tell the story of their relationship in opposite directions.  That means Cathy’s first song (also the first song of the trailer) is the one she sings when she finds Jamie’s “I’m leaving” note, and her final song in the show takes place just after meeting Jamie.  Meanwhile, Jamie’s first song occurs just before he meets Cathy, and his last takes place as he decides to leave.

The only time they are singing about the same time at, well, the same time is for the number that covers the proposal.

I love this show and I heartily recommend it to you all.

And I think it will make a great topic for guestposts in the vein of our first Sondheim Symposium (Company and Passion) and our reprise (Merrily We Roll Along).

Oh, and, it comes out the same weekend as Fifty Shades of Grey, so now you’ve got the flick you’ll see instead.

(Note, said weekend is Valentine’s Day and both movies are probably pretty weird date material).

You know, I’m so happy that I’m embedding the trailer twice in one post:

P.S. And, would ya look at that? It’s a trailer for a musical that actually looks like a trailer for a musical.

P.P.S. I want to apologize again to my two college friends who I thoughtlessly took to see this show a week after they had broken up.  Second worst timed theatre choice I’ve made.  (First place is going to see Equus on a blind date).