My Book of Broadway

The Last Five Years

I can't believe I haven't written this chapter yet! I am obsessed with The Last Five Years! I first watched the movie I think two summers ago and I've seen the movie at least 5 times since. I listen to the movie soundtrack all the time and I've also listened to the original as well as other songs sung by other casts or performers. I think it's a gorgeous and heartbreaking show and I highly suggest it! Its the story of a couple and their ups and downs through their five year relationship and ultimately the reasons and sequencing of its failure. That being said let's get into the review!

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Favorite Character: So since there are only two characters in the musical this basically becomes the question of Jaime vs Cathy. And before I say which of them is my favorite let me first say I don't think either one of them is that great of a person. They are both selfish and couldn't balance their different emotions and they both played an equally large part into why the relationship failed. However, I do tend to side a little bit more with Jaime rather than Cathy. I think I might have mentioned this before in an unpopular opinions post before so I'll try and keep this brief but in the beginning of the relationship Jaime made it a point to know how to love Cathy. He was always trying to pick her up and encourage her which is what she needed out of the relationship. He focused a lot of his energy on her and wanted to make her happy because he truly loved her and knew that's what she needed. Throughout the entire musical Cathy is very self centered and doesn't support Jaime in the same way that he supports her. And sure you could argue that since Jaime was so successful Cathy didn't need to be as supportive but she never seemed excited for him. The only time in the whole musical when you see that she's supportive of him is 'A Summer in Ohio' when she buys his book because she sees it in the window but I'll get more into that later. Jaime is so sweet to her in 'The Schmuel Song' and at the end of 'Climbing Uphill' when he assures her that everything will be okay. And even when they're fighting and he tells her how much he loves her and believes in her rather than yelling at her or calling her names. He does say some not very nice things to her but they are valid considering she is quite selfish. And yeah I know you're all thinking but he cheats on her and ends the relationship and the fact that he cheated on her is pretty unacceptable but the reasons are clear. By the time he starts cheating on her you can tell that he's so run down and he's trying to fill in a gap that isn't there from his relationship with Cathy but in reality he feels no better from it. Again that's completely unacceptable and not how to handle relationships but that's the point of the musical anyway. Even though I think Jaime cheating was unacceptable I think overall he was far more mature in the relationship and was on the right track for so long whereas Cathy wasn't in the right place the entire time.

Least Favorite Character: Okay so Cathy isn't my 'least favorite character' per se but again compared to Jaime she'd be my least favorite of the two. However I don't dislike her at all! She is so incredibly selfish and she never really is happy for Jaime in the musical apart from what I mentioned earlier. Many would argue that she's happy for him in 'A Part of That' and yes I can see where in certain parts she's happy because he's happy and she loves him but the entire song is her trying to figure out how she fits into his success and I think that's so unnecessary. She gains so much pleasure from being a part of Jaime's success but I think that her happiness should just come from the fact that he's happy and it's what he's always wanted to do. I think a lot of her happiness depended on her being he center of Jaime's life and once his career takes off and he doesn't have as much time to focus on her she doesn't know what to do and her career is stuck in a standstill and she can't handle not being the 'important' one in the relationship. She wants to be the center of attention and she seems to be unable to cope with her own insecurities and issues and she never talks to Jaime about it at all. In 'If I Didn't Believe in You' Jaime tells Cathy his grievances and what he thinks the issues are, and even though he fails to acknowledge that he is also a part of the problem, she doesn't say anything. She doesn't have any song or moment where she actually approaches Jaime and says why she feels left in the dust and 'See I'm Smiling' doesn't count really because what she's saying is all in a burst of anger rather than any type of rational conversation. I know it sounds that I'm being harsh but I don't know I don't think her love ever stemmed from a heathy or rational place and I think that's why I prefer Jaime. I think I'm the beginning of the relationship he did love her naturally for who she was and what their relationship was but then fell out of love due to confusion, lack of balance, and Cathy constantly pushing him away. I think Cathy's love for Jaime stemmed from a place where she just needed to be loved and cared for and 'rescued' and once he couldn't give that to her anymore she wasn't able to properly handle it. But I don't know, I could probably analyze the two of them for another 50 years so I'll stop there but I'm really sorry that this was so long!

*Also quick side note. I don't dislike either Jaime or Cathy! I really like them both as characters! Even though it seems like I hate Cathy and love Jaime I don't because I understand that their faults are what makes the musical the musical. If they were both perfect characters their relationship would have worked out and obviously the point of the musical is to show why and how it didn't work so having the characters each have extreme faults to them is what makes it so good! Both Jaime and Cathy are extremely faulted individuals so when I discuss which character I prefer with it's all taken with a grain of salt! I see Jaime's side of the story more than Cathy's which is why I chose him but again I am fully aware that both of these characters are not good representations of proper functioning adults in relationships! They are both a representation of reality which is why the musical is so sad but I mostly only enjoy the characters due to their representation of real life and their wonderful ability to be analyzed not for their actual character traits necessarily!

Favorite Song: This is really hard because I love so many of the songs! I think they're amazing but generally I always go back to 'If I Didn't Believe in You' because I love the melody but I love the lyrics so much! I think it's such an honest and emotional song and I love listening to it. Also I think the structure of the song really allows for a lot of actor's interpretation which I love! I've heard sweeter and sadder version of it and angrier versions and just just fed up versions and I like hearing those different aspects and different versions but not all songs allow that kind of interpretation and I love that this one does!

Least Favorite Song: Probably 'A Summer in Ohio' just because I don't find it all that interesting. It's funny and kind of catchy but I don't really listen to it and it doesn't do much for me I don't know

Storytelling: I love the storytelling technique of this musical!! For those who don't know Jaime and Cathy only sing together twice in the entire show. Once in the middle and then at the end and the reason for that is Jaime tells their story in chronological order from when they first start dating and when they leave each other and Cathy tells the story starting from after they leave each other to after their first date. They sing together only when the story meets in the middle and they get married and at the very end when they are both saying goodbye but Cathy is saying 'Goodbye Until Tomorrow' and Jaime is just saying goodbye. It's so cool though because it creates this really awesome dynamic and you really can understand how each of them feel in the same moments and it makes the end all the more devastating! It was such a clever thing to do to tell the story and I absolutely love it!! Also in the movie the cinematography is phenomenal and adds so much magic to the story. They add a lot with the coloring so that it's easy to piece together each part of the story and though that has nothing to do with the stage musical it's a really cool detail that enhances the story telling a lot in my opinion!

Movie vs Musical: To be perfectly honest I think I have to go with the movie on this one. I haven't seen a live version of this show so maybe it isn't fair to judge but based on soundtrack alone I think I prefer the movie. Jeremy Jordan is (not shockingly) my favorite Jaime. I just love his voice and his acting in everything he does and Jaime is no exception! I do like Norbert Leo Butz as Jaime as well but I just prefer Jermey's voice! And yes you must all be thinking that I'm incredibly biased and I can't argue with that haha. I just love Jeremy Jordan so I love his Jaime. And as far as Cathy goes I do prefer Anna Kendrick over Sherie Rene Scott only because there's just something a little younger in her voice I think. I'm not a huge huge fan of either of them and I think there voices are slightly similar but in the soundtrack I'm not a huge fan of Sherie's inflection or the way that she phrases certain things. Even though Anna Kendrick doesn't have the greatest voice, she sounds pretty good for the most part of this musical. There are some moments where you can hear that her voice isn't as strong but I like the voice she gives to Cathy a little bit more.

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Thank you guys for reading as always! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I've realized that I could talk about The Last Five Years for five years so I do apologize for the length!

As always these are just my opinions and they are not meant to be offensive in any way! If they come across that way I do apologize but I never intended it! This is just for fun!

I hope you are all well! If there's anything you want me to write about don't hesitate to let me know!