Jackie Bonsignore and  Jayde Mitchell (Luis Luque: Luque Photography)

A 16-Year Old Girl from a Stable Family Reflects on a Musical About Divorce

Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years” at Sierra Madre Playhouse

By Nola Bowie

 

This article is part of the Stage Raw/Unusual Suspects Youth Journalism Fellowship

“You are the story I should write,” sings aspiring novelist Jamie Wellerstein (Jayde Mitchell) after a successful first date with his future wife, Cathy Hiatt (Jackie Bonsignore), in the production of Jason Robert Brown’s intimate musical The Last Five Years. (The production is directed by Josh Shaw, at the Sierra Madre Playhouse through June 16.) What Jamie does not realize at this point in the show is that it can be assumed he will be writing about Cathy, but not in the way he had envisioned.

As a Jewish-musical-theater fan, I’ve already been exposed to Jason Robert Brown’s work. I had heard a few songs from his pop-rock piece 13: The Musical, and I saw the New York City Center’s revival of Parade in June of 2023 and was blown away. I did not know that while Brown was crafting Parade in the late ’90s, he was enduring the marital struggles with his now ex-wife, Theresa O’Neill, that ended up inspiring The Last Five Years. 

The story itself sounds simple: a man, Jamie (Jayde Mitchell), and a woman, Cathy (Jackie Bonsignore), fall in love in their early 20s, get married, and then get divorced. Jamie is an aspiring novelist, and Cathy dreams of being a musical theater actress. But it’s the structure of the tale that takes the common plot and turns it into something much more enticing. Brown takes inspiration from Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along and plays with time: Jamie moves forward in the relationship chronologically, while Cathy moves backward. This means that Cathy’s opening song (the dismal “Still Hurting”) takes place immediately after the divorce, while Jamie’s opening song (the quirky, upbeat “Shiksa Goddess”) takes place immediately after their first date. They meet only once in the middle: their wedding day.

Why Jamie finds himself so attracted to Cathy at first is for a reason some may be confused by: she’s not Jewish. Being Jewish himself, Jamie has spent all of his life surrounded by other Jewish people, including his dating history. Therefore, Jamie gleefully remarks that he is “breaking his mother’s heart” when falling in love with Cathy in “Shiksa Goddess.” Cathy’s religion/ethnicity, on the other hand, is never explicitly stated, but Theresa O’Neill, whom the character is based on, is originally Irish Catholic. In “I Can Do Better Than That,” a song that takes place early on in their relationship, Cathy sings about desperately wanting to escape the suburban expectations of her past, proudly declaring that she “will never go back.”

Their cultural differences are presumably a reason why Jamie and Cathy find sanctuary in one another at first: they provide each other with something new after their individual upbringings. There is a thrilling joy in the idea that they are breaking with tradition, but that thrill doesn’t last forever.

There is also the thrill that comes with being successful. As the relationship progresses, Jamie’s novel becomes a massive hit, brightening Jamie’s future as an author, but dimming the spark that his marriage once had. This is because Brown paints Cathy as jealous of Jamie for his successes which leads to a strain in the relationship, playing a big role in the divorce. Cathy’s career pursuit throughout the show is unfortunate, as her journey with musical theater is not as smooth as Jamie’s journey with writing. Their careers create a piece of subtext that seems to dwell over the whole show: the modern novels that Jamie aspires to write end tragically, (much like Jamie’s forward-moving storyline), while the golden-age musicals that Cathy auditions for end happily, (much like Cathy’s backward-moving storyline).

While it took a moment to get into both performances, I found myself noticeably more compelled by Jamie and Cathy by the time the show hit the half-way mark. Mitchell’s portrayal of Jamie’s growing depression as he comes closer to divorce gave his acting an increased level of nuance, while Bonsignore’s beaming performance as Cathy revisiting a very optimistic time in her life was what made her latter songs a highlight.

Reflecting on that, I figured that if a production of The Last Five Years is going to take place, it is much more important for the two-person cast to shine in the second half rather than the first. The contrasting emotional depth that Cathy and Jamie endure is what really makes the show and having two actors who can effectively tell such an original depiction of a common story is the most essential part of putting on a good production of this musical. This piece is riddled with layers and detail. Jason Robert Brown’s treatment of subtext in his music are very intentional. His arrangements are designed to tell the story right along with the actors, and that skill proves itself in The Last Five Years: the show’s intimate solo songs pull in the audience and create an effective feeling of closeness with the characters. The musical arrangements grow more intricate and the lyrics grow more specific, unveiling all of the quirks and flaws that Cathy and Jamie initially try to cover up.

This brings everything back to what makes the show so original. The way that Brown plays with time in this piece is not just a way to make the show stand out among the modern musicals opening at the time. It is also responsible for the key theme of the show: Cathy and Jamie are never on the same level because they are always moving in different directions. Essentially, Brown saw the reason behind most divorces and breakups (the going-down-different-paths trope) and took it literally. They are on the same timeline only once, their wedding day, and even then, it can be assumed that they are seeing the moment through rose-tinted glasses. At all other times, either Cathy or Jamie is discontent in the relationship, which shows that their marriage never would have worked.

While on some nights the production is accompanied by a full orchestra, I was lucky enough to see a matinee with skilled music director Joshua Foy playing only the piano. While this sounds less exhilarating than the first version, it didn’t make much of a difference, given that Brown’s work is written to be played on the piano, and when it is paired with the energetic vocals of Mitchell and the angelic vocals of Bonsignore, it works phenomenally.

Josh Shaw’s directing caught me off guard a few times, (in terms of chaotic blocking and staging choices), but it was clear he knew what he was doing when it came to getting his actors to do their character homework. With the combination of the performances and Grace Berry’s moody lighting, it is easy to feel like you know these people.

On a personal level, I do not relate to this musical, yet that doesn’t impede my appreciation of it. I am a 16-year old girl who fortunately did not grow up surrounded by a lot of heartbreak or divorce, so if someone were to ask me how I connect with the plot points in this musical, I would not be able to give a meaningful answer.

Still, it’s not hard, even for me,  to identify with the characters, themes, and ideas behind the show. Whether it be Cathy’s ambition, Jamie’s frustration, or feeling like you just always seem to clash with things, The Last Five Years holds a lot more than just a story about one failed relationship.

Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W Sierra Madre Blvd, Sierra Madre; Fri.-Sun., 8 pm, Sat., 4 pm, Sun., 2 pm; thru June 16. www.sierramadreplayhouse.org, Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.