Last time I wrote a blog about Hamilton, and I'm going to write about another musical this time called The Last Five Years. It only has two people, Cathy and Jaime. Primarily, it is a love story, but there's a twist. Jamie's version goes in chronological order, while Cathy's goes in reverse simultaneously.

All the songs are around five minutes or more and the lyrics are almost monologues. Cathy starts the story after Jamie files for divorce and ends right after their first date. Even without its incredible music, it is a completely revolutionary way of telling a love story. Without the structural convention, the plot would be boring.

With the addition of the music and the intertwining plot lines, Jason Robert Brown wrote an intricate and bittersweet show. Cathy, an aspiring-failed actress, and Jamie, a successful writer, fall in love in New York City but fail to overcome their differences.

Brown's music is complicated, and typically reliant on acting skills, vocals, and piano to tell a story and develop his characters. The only song Jamie and Cathy sing together is called "The Next Ten Minutes," in which Jamie proposes and Cathy accepts. It is one of my favorite songs in the show, both because of the melody and because of the way they sing together and slowly begin to de-synchronize as they are again separated by time.

The was a movie made starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, which is definitely worth watching. 

The power of this show is both subtle and immediate. Cathy’s first song is obviously one of the most devastating heartbreak, which is sharply contrasted with Jamie’s first upbeat, optimistic song. Some of the contrasts are obvious the first time you listen, but as you get to know the songs better and better, you discover re-occurring lyrics, melodies and themes, and comparisons between them really bring to light some incredible character development.

I really really recommend it. All the songs are interesting and witty, and it really is a great and innovative story.