The Last Five Years

 My heart's been stolen, my ego swollen, I just keep rolling along

5 years ago on this day (17th July) I watched Hamilton for the very first time. I hated it, yes I know it's hard to believe. In fact, halfway through I wanted to get up and leave, but my father forced me into sitting down and watching the rest of it. Well, the rest is history (has its eyes on you). But, I digress, I'm not here to talk about Hamilton for the third time (although I am writing another draft regarding Hamilton as we speak), I'm here to tell you about another musical. 

The Last Five Years is an Off-Broadway show turned movie written by Jason Robert Brown. It follows the story of a couple, very heavily based on Jason's relationship with his ex wife, Theresa O'Neill. The story is told in a strange way, with Cathy (the wife, based on O'Neill) beginning her story at the end of their marriage, and Jamie, her husband, beginning somewhere towards the start of their relationship. These two stories play out, one song from Cathy, one from Jamie, on and on, until their timelines meet in the middle at their wedding. I really don't want to spoil too much on this, so that's all I'll say for now, there's an incredible proshot available on digital theatre plus as well as Broadway+. If that's not your speed, there's also a movie adaptation starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy 'I hope there's pizza' Jordan (JERJOR JERJOR!!!)

One of my favourite aspects of the show is the strange non-linear storytelling. From the start, we see Cathy surrounded by the broken pieces of her relationship, and it's interesting to watch Jamie slowly switch from the wide-eyed deeply in love man at the beginning of his story to the coldhearted man we know from Cathy's story. Similarly, it is tragic to watch the ending of Cathy's story, to see her so happy and comfortable in her new relationship, when we've already seen how this will play out. 

There is another reason that I'm talking about this show, and that is Jason Robert Brown. I don't usually go into excessive detail about the writer of the show I'm talking about, but here it feels very fitting. You see, Brown has committed one of, in my opinion, the most heinous sins a writer can commit. I've come to call it the 'Marjane-Satrapi Effect' after the author of Persepolis. This sin is of course, being so tragically un-self aware, that your self insert is the most terrible character in the entire work. 

Before we jump into this, I want to acknowledge that there are characters who are generally disliked by audiences despite not being written to be unlikeable. Examples include Curly McLain from Oklahoma!, Rory from Gilmore Girls and of course, Ross from friends. These are characters with whom, you can see why the showrunners liked, but it doesn't translate as well on tv. I want to make it very clear, Jamie is not one of these people. He is so obviously dislikeable, cheating on his wife, abandoning her after 5 years, constantly gaslighting her, and never being there for her when she was clearly struggling. It blows my mind that JRB sat down, wrote this character, and somehow believed the audience would decide that both people were toxic. 

Fun fact, JRB was actually sued by his ex for making Cathy too similar to her. He returned this with a suit of his own, suing her for interrupting his creative work. Wow. What a likeable guy. This resulted in him removing all references to Cathy being Irish catholic, as it too closely resembled O'Neill. Don't get me wrong, I adore this musical. I love all the songs, and actually lean towards Jamie's upbeat and happy songs. 'Moving too fast' was my jam for all of 2023, and I have no intention of changing that. With that in mind, realizing that this was based off a real story, and written from the perspectives of one of the most unlikeable protagonists in musical theatre just gets me. I have no idea how he decided this was a great look for him, but clearly, the Marjane Satrapi effect is unavoidable. 

I think that I could be in love with someone, like you.