MickeyJoTheatre Podcast

Episode: The Last Five Years (Reading Rep Theatre, Barn Theatre & Theatre Royal Bath Revival) – ★★★★★ Review

Date: September 24, 2025
Host: Mickey Jo Theatre

Episode Overview

Mickey Jo offers a detailed, enthusiastic review of the new revival of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years at Reading Rep Theatre (co-produced with The Barn Theatre and Theatre Royal Bath). Having seen numerous versions of the show—including the recent, much-criticized Broadway revival—he praises this intimate, innovative UK staging and explores how fresh directorial, staging, and performance choices breathe new life into the beloved musical.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Background on The Last Five Years and Production Context

• Show’s Structure:
  • Follows Jamie (forwards from beginning to end) and Kathy (backwards from end to beginning) through a five-year romance.
  • The entire show is sung-through; character timelines are inferred through performance and staging, not explicitly explained.
• Production History:
  • Has seen many interpretations—actor-musician versions, mirrors, revolves, and student productions.
  • Broadway debut (recent) disappointed Mickey Jo: “I hated that production with every fibre of my being.” (03:35)
• Review’s Central Question:
  • Can this new, small-scale production succeed where others faltered? Mickey Jo suggests it surpasses all previous versions he’s seen.

Non-Spoiler Production Analysis

(02:03–19:14)

Direction & Design

• Director: Hal Chambers
• Set/Costume: Ethan Cheek
• Movement: Georgina Lamb
• Lighting: Jonathan Chan
• Theatre: Intimate black box, three-walled “IKEA showroom”/gallery feel with central plinth stage and “haunting intensity.”

Notable Creative Choices

• Musicians as Characters:
  • The four-piece band are costumed as echoes of Jamie and Kathy, increasingly involved in the staging, including participating in choreography and taking on silent roles.
• Staging the Timelines:
  • Visually supported with a translucent mural/screen and a central stage, helping audiences understand the intertwining timelines.
  • Warm and cool lighting used to differentiate timelines and emotional states, improving on Broadway’s confusing design.
• Opening Images:
  • The almost-embrace of Jamie and Kathy; their taking of a letter and box introduces the breakup context visually and immediately.

Quote:
“Framing is everything in The Last Five Years, and if we get where we start, then we know what’s happening.” (14:53)

Comparing to Previous Productions

• Unlike recent Broadway, the show’s timeline is clear and visually signposted, despite some shared space between the two characters.
• Sharing the stage works here because “the narrative has already been established by that point. We already know where we are.” (16:46)

Mickey Jo’s Verdict (spoiler-free):

• “I felt as though I was meeting a couple I hadn’t met before.”
• “Subtle shifts in characterization” bring new balance and believability.

Performance Analysis

(20:41–30:25)

Martha Kirby (Kathy Hyatt)

• Not portrayed as naive; instead, self-aware, guarded, and contemplative.
• Quote:
  “She is not a smiley, naive Kathy… She understands that she is in a difficult industry. She is self-aware.” (21:21)
• Her interpretation makes the relationship’s dynamic make sense.

Guy Wolfe (Jamie Wellerstein)

• “Goofy and silly… very playful,” rather than sleek or too confident.
• Standout moment: in “Moving Too Fast,” a funny, deliberately “inelegant dismount” on a hard high note—an original choice.
• Occasional “charades” with physicalization of lyrics, sometimes verges on too much but is endearing.

Chemistry

• “You understand why the two of them are together… him being goofy and her being emotionally guarded… explains how these two people found each other and what they… needed from each other.” (22:08)

Musical/Vocal Notes

• Guy: Not the biggest-voiced Jamie, but gets the high range and emotes well.
• Martha: “Absolute vocal powerhouse… some of my favorite choices were the moments where she decided to pull back.”
  • “Goosebumps” during “The Next Ten Minutes” at the line:
    “I don’t know how anybody survives in this world without someone like you.” (28:41)
• Balance between acting and singing is exceptional; both deliver honest, flawed, deeply human portrayals.

Spoiler Section: Specific Creative Choices & Memorable Moments

(31:52–45:22)

Musicians as Ensemble & Scene Partners

• First Integration:

  • Jamie, during “Shiksa Goddess,” gestures to a guitarist as a former date—silent but expressive.

• Other Roles:

  • Band forms the summer stock ensemble in “A Summer in Ohio,” doing a comedic kick line and bantering onstage (e.g., the pianist saying, “Nope, you put me off” and counting Kathy back in—34:27).
  • Cellist steps in as Richard during “A Summer in Ohio,” lip-syncing behind Kathy for laughs.
  • Musician cast as the woman with whom Jamie cheats; he must “win her over” with familiar lines, visually conveying the hollowness and pain.

• Note on Banality:

  • Mickey Jo’s dramaturgical peeves, like bad packing of Jamie’s moving box (“Diabolical way to pack your laptop when you are moving in Manhattan. That’s insane.” – 32:31), add humor and rigor.

Staging Innovations

• Device of translucent screen to suggest memory, time, and separation—lit to reveal characters in isolation or through “Polaroid” framing.
• Post-it note motif:
  • Jamie covers the stage with notes in “I’m a Part of That,” then uses them as storytelling prompts in “Schmuel Song” as though they are props in his narrative.
  • Kathy’s physical reaction to these notes is playful and human.
• “If I Didn’t Believe in You”:
  • Kathy is present, reacting actively, not passively, in this critical fight—fixes issue Mickey Jo saw in the Broadway revival.

Costume and Set Details

• Apartment door labeled with a “5” (nod to the title).
• Transforming set: central plinth becomes a bed during “I Can Do Better Than That,” with clever, relatable moments (e.g., pillow fight, romantic staging).

Wedding Sequence (“The Next 10 Minutes”)

• Mirrored backdrop creates an infinite-repetition effect, visually representing echoes through time.
• Seamless transition—Kathy appears in a wedding dress in a “reveal to rival Diana the Musical.”
• The wedding dance: “utterly gorgeous” and moving, marking the timeline cross and midpoint of the show.

Lyric and Textual Changes

• Updated or “deproblematicized” lines (e.g., no more transphobic jokes in “Shiksa Goddess”; “Father selling Viagra on Internet” replaces older lines).
• UK/British audience–friendly fixes to baffling US cultural references.

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• [03:35] “Imagine my surprise when this evening I saw what just might be the best production of The Last Five Years I have ever seen.”
• [14:53] “Framing is everything in The Last Five Years, and if we get where we start, then we know what’s happening…”
• [21:21] “She isn’t doe-eyed and naive… There is a knowing quality to her. She is self aware… a contemplative character and perhaps even a pessimistic one.”
• [22:08] “You understand why the two of them are together as well… him being goofy and her being emotionally guarded…”
• [28:41] “For the first time… I got goosebumps at the moment that she sang… ‘I don’t know how anybody survives in this world without someone like you.’ That really moved me.”
• [32:31] “Diabolical way to pack your laptop when you are moving in Manhattan. That’s insane.”
• [39:08] “This production is characterized by… charmingly fundamental theatrical storytelling techniques.”
• [44:15] “Everything about the way that that is staged is completely emblematic of what I love about this production. It is The Last Five Years done in a way that offers clarity, but also finds new charm and new detail.”

Final Thoughts & Recommendations

• Mickey Jo’s Rating: “I love this show and I love this version of it. Go and catch it if you can.” (44:30)
• For Newcomers:
  • The production does an excellent job communicating the show’s time structure and relationship dynamic, making it accessible and emotionally effective.
• For Repeat Viewers:
  • “There’s an awful lot to enjoy about revisiting it with a new production that does a lot of things differently.”
• Closing Note:
  • Encouragement to see the production at Reading Rep, The Barn, or Theatre Royal Bath, and to share opinions online.

This summary is designed for listeners who haven’t heard the episode: all major themes, creative innovations, and highlights from Mickey Jo’s rave review are covered, along with memorable quotes and timestamps. The energy and voice of the host are preserved to reflect the episode’s engaging, theater-loving spirit.