Upon experiencing Nashville's third production of The Last Five Years in the past decade, I have to admit that Jason Robert Brown's one-act, two-person mini-(soap) opera has worn pretty thin. Brown, primarily a composer — Parade, The Bridges of Madison County, etc. — also wrote the story and the script, the dialogue mostly constructed as lyrics (what these days they call "sung-through").
That's fine, so long as what they are singing through is something we can comfortably invest in. Alas, Brown's tale of an aspiring novelist and his failing marriage to a struggling actress reeks of pretension, evoking a definite "Who cares?" sentiment to those of us looking for substantial entertainment about characters who really matter.
The new staging at Darkhorse Theater, under the direction of Jeffrey Ellis, grabs some special notice because it is co-produced by Ed Amatrudo, the Music City actor who has had a nice run on television's Nashville (and who was also featured in /news/article/13032794/ed-amatrudo-the-foreclosure-king">the Scene's 2010 People issue as "The Foreclosure King" before prime time snapped him up). Amatrudo's involvement has direct connection to his daughter, Delaney Amatrudo, a young thespian and singer entering her third year as a theater major at NYU — and the co-star of the show.
Delaney is a promising talent doing her very best to wring some sophisticated meaning out of the composer's occasionally interesting melodies, though Brown's musical lines have a tendency to meander, and it too often seems more work than pleasure to follow the sinewy paths of his craftsmanship.
The other good young performer on board is Luke Denison, a recent Indiana University grad who sports the strapping, lean stature of, say, an up-and-coming country star, and also an earnest singing voice. He's a good stage match for his lady counterpart, but it's easy to wonder how both might've fared with stronger material.
Congrats are in order to musical director Micah Snow, who plays a flawless piano and leads a small combo through Brown's score, which may harbor conceptual problems and excesses of self-indulgence, but nevertheless also has some daunting technical challenges. Bassist Tom D'Angelo adds beautiful textured counterpoint work.
The biggest surprise here is the interesting set, which was designed by Cody Rutledge and features a clock motif and a central playing area surrounded by large piles of moving boxes. The passage of time and lives in transition are appropriately evoked — definitely in sync with the author's central themes — and it is always refreshing to see Darkhorse and its basic physical limitations transformed via innovative ideas.
The Last Five Years provides an acceptable showcase opportunity for its youthful co-stars, but as an evening of musical theater it can only best be considered a creative experiment with serious shortcomings.
Email arts@nashvillescene.com
