“The Last Five Years” playing at the Hudson Theatre on W 44th Street runs 90 minutes, no intermission, but it felt substantially longer as one suffers through Nick Jonas’ untrained, non-projecting vocals and his attempts at acting.
The new musical — with book, music, lyrics, orchestrations, and arrangements by Jason Robert Brown with Noah Kieserman and Nasia Thomas — gives us a doomed relationship at the break-up moment and then takes us back to find out why Jamie and Cathy’s marriage did not last. Jamie, a book writer, poorly portrayed by Jonas, is married to Cathy, played by Adrienne Warren.
The story is told only through song as the two characters trade off moments of performing numbers addressing their relationship, which was destined for failure, much like this musical. Watching Jonas transition between notes, the strained look on his face, the blatant facial gestures, and the fact that I kept wanting to shout “Project!” made experiencing this musical quite unpleasant. There was one moment during his lackluster performance when even the audience was not sure if it was time to clap. As he finished a number, the entire theater was silent until someone finally realized the song was done. Then suddenly, the beginning of clapping was heard; nothing too loud though.
Jamie, a self-centered book writer is married to Cathy, a Black actress who is struggling to find work and feels unseen by her successful husband. Warren has a voice that captures the audience’s attention, but I truly found the material not worthy of her vast talents. For a musical, there are no showstopper numbers. The musical has awkward choreography by Jeff Kuperman and Rick Kuperman.
The last time that I saw Whitney White’s directorial work on Broadway was with the stunning production “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” and Off-Broadway with “Liberation”, so I was severely disappointed by this production. I hope she is given an opportunity to direct material worthy of her talents. When I go to a Broadway musical, I just expect to be dazzled, engaged, and emotionally involved, but with this production I was not invested in any way. I could only feel relief at its completion and disappointment for what I had just had to endure.