Following the successful transfer of their brilliant 'Sunday in the Park with George' to the West End, the Menier Chocolate is tackling another tricky and unconventional musical. 'The Last Five Years' has a fairly common subject for a musical - it explores a relationship between a New York couple - but thoroughly unusual method.
'Nice Jewish boy' Jamie tells the story beginning at the beginning with their first meeting, while his Christian spouse Cathy starts with the break-up of the marriage, and moves back in time. The tales meet in the middle, when the couple sing an affecting duet at their wedding.
It's a slightly pointless gimmick, but does little harm to a show that is all about great songs, with hummable tunes, and lyrics that often stray close to poetry in their expressiveness. Whether they are comic, tragic or, in the case of "The Schmuel Song", simply exuberant, these are perfectly crafted, as good as anything being written today.
It is frustrating that this one-act show is not a little longer - fleshed out with some dialogue, and a few more scenes where the characters are together perhaps. But it is no shame for a show to leave you wanting more. A musical for people who love music, and altogether a pleasure.
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Following the successful transfer of their brilliant 'Sunday in the Park with George' to the West End, the Menier Chocolate is tackling another tricky and unconventional musical. 'The Last Five Years' has a fairly common subject for a musical - it explores a relationship between a New York couple - but thoroughly unusual method.
