Top Five Songs: The Last Five Years

This was my first Jason Robert Brown show, and every time I return to the cast album, I’m reminded of how much I love the music.  The show’s nonlinear narrative is of course its most distinguishing characteristic, and some of the songs take advantage of that device, but they’re also just an excellent collection of melodic character pieces in their own right.  Although the musical only has 14 songs in it, I had a hard time narrowing it down to a Top Five – here’s what I came up with (spoilers.)

“Shiksa Goddess” – This is a fun introduction to Jamie, back at the beginning, on his first date with Cathy and completely thrilled.  His over-the-top joy at being with a shiksa goddess is a hoot, contrasted with the many, many things he’d overlook on behalf of that.

Best lyric:  “If you had a tattoo, that wouldn’t matter. / If you had a shaved head, that’d be cool. / If you came from Spain or Japan or the back of a van - / Just as long as you’re not from Hebrew school.”

“A Miracle Would Happen / When You Come Home to Me” – Jamie’s newfound struggle after marriage, finding himself seemingly beset upon by obliging women “who wouldn’t give [him] the time of day before.”  It’s an interesting song, showing Jamie’s temptation, frustration with the situation, and denial about his difficulties in overcoming this “challenge.”  The repetitious “but it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine” is ironic when we already know that he goes on to cheat on Cathy.

Best lyric:  “I will be there, ripe and crawling, / If fucking Random House stops calling. / Don’t lose faith, / Don’t get down, / Don’t despair - / I’ll be there.”

“Climbing Uphill” – Interspersed among snippets of Cathy’s standard audition song is the litany of thoughts that race through her head as she tries to convince casting directors she’s worth hiring.  From nitpicking her clothing choices to planning the rest of her day to trying to will the directors to see her potential, this is a number with a lot of personality and probably the inner monologue of many a struggling actress.

Best lyric:  “I will not be the girl who gets asked how it feels / To be trotting along in the genius’s heels. / I will not be the girl who requires a man to get by.”

“I Can Do Better Than That” – This is a nice, bouncy number in which Cathy reflects, first on the experiences of a friend, and then on her own, thinking about her life and what she can make for herself.  I like that it’s optimistic while recounting some less-than-sanguine stuff, and I love the recurrence of the “you and you and nothing but you” sequence from “See I’m Smiling” – the melody and a number of the lyrics are the same, but the meaning is completely different.

Best lyric:  “Think of what’s great about me and you. / Think of the bullshit we’ve both been through. / Think of what’s past / Because we can do / Better. / We can do better. / We can do better than that.”

“Nobody Needs to Know” – What a gut-punch of a song.  Jamie, on the morning after with a woman who isn’t his wife, tries to rationalize what he’s just done.  As he prepares to return to Cathy and pretend nothing has changed, he builds a box in which to put his infidelity.  He starts measured and detached, but the song grows to a gradual frenzy, slips back into gentleness, and then returns for one more punch – ow…

Best lyric:  “All right – the panic recedes. / All right – everyone bleeds. / All right – I get what I need. / And nobody needs / To know…”

The Last Five Years (2014, PG-13)

I really love Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years – gorgeous music, complex themes, intriguing plotting, and some terrific lyrics.  If I recall correctly, it was my introduction to Brown as a composer, as well as Norbert Leo Butz as an actor.  Today, though, we’re not looking at Brown’s original 2001 off-Broadway music but the 2014 film adaptation of it.  Seeing Newsies in the theater reinvigorated my interest in filmed musicals and movie musicals, which allowed me to finally bring this movie up on my Netflix queue (premise spoilers.)

As in the stage show, The Last Five Years is the story of the relationship between Jamie, a young writer who experiences a whirlwind rise to fame, and Cathy, an aspiring actress who can’t seem to catch a break.  The film takes us from the relationship’s breathless beginning to its tearful end – nothing all that unique in and of itself, but the split, non-linear narrative guides us through it from opposite ends.  Jamie’s songs open with their first date and move forward, while Cathy’s begin with the dissolution of their relationship five years later and move backward.

This was a really frustrating adaptation for me.  It has a lot of good things going for it and could have been great, but for my money, the direction lets down both the source material and the cast.  First off, we have the translation of the story from script to screen.  To me, it mostly feels uninspired.  Some numbers (like “Still Hurting”) seem to be directed too statically while others (like “Shiksa Goddess”) are hampered by some really cheesy-looking love scenes – having the actors run their hands over each other while one sings with their mouth close to the other’s while never actually kissing them doesn’t look as convincing as director Richard LaGravenese seems to think it does.  Also, there are very few cinematic markers to signify the non-linear narrative.  Little hints – changing hair/clothing styles, conspicuous shots of things with the date on them (like a New Year’s Eve banner or a sign for a summer theatre’s season) – but not much in the actual filmmaking itself.  To be fair, the first time I heard the stage recording, I already knew how the narrative device worked, so I can’t say how much of this is the material versus the adaptation.  But for the film at least, I think I might have spent at least the first few scenes pretty confused if I hadn’t known the set-up going in.  The movie needs something, and I’ll admit I’m not sure what, but there had to be a more cinematic way to indicate the changing time.

Part of this is because of how present each character is in the other one’s numbers.  The show is designed mostly as a series of alternating solos, with the two only singing together when their timelines meet in the middle for their wedding, and it tends to be staged with the “off” actor in any given song absent together, positioned with their back to the audience, or otherwise somewhat removed from the proceedings compared to their scene partner.  Here, though, both actors are present onscreen throughout quite a few of the songs, the “off” actor visibly, and sometimes verbally, reacting to the other’s songs.  I’m of two minds about this.  On one hand, it helps to give a better picture of what Cathy and Jamie’s relationship is like and fleshes them out more as a couple.  On the other, it blurs the clear delineations between the two narratives and muddies the focus a little.  Again, there had to be a cinematic fix for this.

These issues are disappointing, not only because of how much I enjoy the original score/story, but because of how good the cast is.  This is an intimate story that really depends on just two actors to carry it through, and Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan are both excellent.  Kendrick is an able singer who sells Cathy’s joy, heartbreak, worry, and hope in equal measure, and Jordan’s superb vocals and nuanced performance keep Jamie engaging even when he stops being likeable.  These two are a winning combination for these roles and sell the connection between their characters, but mostly, they make me wish they were in a film that served them better.

Warnings

Swearing, mild sexual content, drinking, and thematic elements.