"Will You Share Your Life With Me For The Next Ten Minutes?"

The Last 5 Years

    Unfortunately, i have not seen it, fortunately i finally heard it.  Numerous times people have tried to get me to listen to this off-broadway musical, and numerous times various glitches have stopped it from happening (stolen cd players, scratched cds, etc.)  i did hear a sampling of it at one point though and it was enough to make me think of it 3 or 4 years later.   it was written by Jason Robert Brown, i love non-chronological storytelling and this story starts with a woman and a man on separate ends of their relationship and follows them as they meet in the middle and then complete the circle.  Beautiful voices and subtle instrumentation make this wonderful and stingingly painful to listen to at the same time...  

     I do think that because of the transition of content for the two characters, The Woman (Cathy) has a stronger presence (vocally and in context of plot) than The Man (Jamie) in the beginning of the show, he comes off nasally and a bit whiny.  As the show goes on the two blend seamlessly together in a song entitled, "The Next Ten Minutes".  After that it's almost as if the torch is passed and Cathy's character fades  somewhat (although she does still have some bright spots in the second half) and Jamie becomes a very strong and moving storyteller to finish the show.  it's a testament to the actors that strictly vocally you can hear a clear understanding of the necessary juxtaposition.  As far as the instrumental goes, i don't know much about music, but i enjoyed the strings section accenting the piano without cluttering it with much else, it sounded very subtle, allowed me to focus on the words and compliments the story very well. 

    Strong writing, it's not easy to document the lives of dating artists.  There is a level of competition and guilt present in those relationships that can be detrimental to even the most compatible couple, the playwright captures this brilliantly.

The Playwright's website  

Opening song, in the hopes i can convince you to seek out the rest.

***

I was gonna post a sweet link to go with this from the Daily Californian about the top ten "break-up" albums of all time.   But i guess the Daily Californian doesn't allow that.  Lame.  Google it.

The main reason i wanted to link to it is because Dylan's: Blood on the Tracks was #1, and that's pretty much the greatest album ever. period. But The Last 5 Years is #2 on the list although i don't know that it's the best idea to listen to that one while going through a break-up.  it depressed the hell out of me when i was done, and i'm not in the middle of a break-up.  But i suppose because it starts and ends from both sides of the relationship, you can take what you need from it.

One final thought from The Last 5 Years is that it reminded me a lot of this album: 

The Swell Season

Strict Joy

That is Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard, the  Oscar winning musicians/actors that you may remember from: 

Once

Their most recent CD (Strict Joy) is a complete documentation of the couple's own real life break-up.  The album has some songs that are similarly haunting and heartbreaking, and has some other resemblances to The Last 5 Years.  i'd like to see the two of them acting again, could they pop up in a revival of the featured musical?  Doubtful, but until then i can watch this and wonder...

The Swell Season: Low Rising

Seek out, enjoy.

Parting shot from the Swell Season and Jason Segel: Because i couldn't have everything on here be depressing tonight.