In the Name of Love: Doomed Romance in "The Last Five Years"

The intensity of Cathy Hiatt’s expression as her gaze seared through the lifeless house she had once shared with her beloved Jamie was unforgettable. The power she harnessed to preach a thousand relentless words without daring to open her mouth magnetized my attention. I felt the world slow down around me as I tried to detect the character’s thoughts in the indefinite silence. Helplessly, I watched the last pittance of hope that Cathy grasped slowly escape her heart as she moved cautiously away from center stage. We simultaneously realized how the trials of romance are unexpectedly vulnerable, opening oneself up to the possibility of either blissful change or weathering agony.

Watching The Last Five Years at ACT Theatre (co-produced with The 5th Avenue Theatre) was undoubtedly a memorable experience. Since I discovered the musical in my freshman year, everything about the production felt captivating: the orchestral fuel and intricate lyricism behind each song, the personal journeys and evolution of Cathy and Jamie both individually and as a couple, and that classic, gut-wrenching question: how did they get here? The theatre-in-the-round staging of ACT’s Allen Theatre added an extra layer of intimacy and immersion to the story, providing the audience with sacred moments where they could almost look straight into the eyes of both characters. Synchronously, the audience could feel the impact of the characters’ current emotional state, whether they be embracing joy, battling fear and insecurity, or simply in constant wonder. The venue maintained a state of constructional simplicity; the furniture of the set was strategically limited so it became unbearable for the audience to observe what seemed like infinite space between Cathy and Jamie as they endured their separate experiences within a slowly deteriorating relationship. This invisible spatial barrier between the two made one particular scene all the more precious.

Throughout the show, Cathy and Jamie walk the same tightrope in opposite order. The musical opens with Cathy moving backward through time from the ultimately immobilizing effect of her husband abandoning her toward her youthful, unassuming self. Jamie experiences the romance in chronological order, slowly slipping into the identity of a powerful writer who prizes his success over all else. The two characters’ perspectives alternate, coordinating the pieces of a scattered jigsaw puzzle. Due to the structure of his plotline, Cathy and Jamie are always just missing each other. They feel each complex emotion of their love, brushing shoulders but never really embracing. The isolation of the characters encompasses their constant and unknowing misalignment with each other, which gradually splinters their connection over time. It represents how they look right through each other without processing the other’s needs. But suddenly, when the two characters finally meet in the middle, the audience never wants the moment to stop.

The beautifully fragmented lights, which complement the cross between infatuation and ambivalence that Cathy and Jamie tussle with, immediately transform into a homogenous array of fluorescent pinks. The two, who had been belting out their inner tornadoes of passion for each other through the entire duration of the show, finally grasp each other’s hands, growing quiet, so satisfied that there is no need for speech. The powerful juxtaposition between this idealistic and sensitive breach of time and every other boisterous element and sadness in their story makes this moment between the couple ever more idyllic. Their unbreakable wavelength as they stand together in the boat they share this blip in strikes a chord with those who have felt that perfectly incandescent moment of love and bliss with their young flame, the one that got away, the dream; a painfully temporary flicker of perfect harmony. The only criticism the audience and I shared was that this instance of pure love and understanding couldn’t last just a minute longer. We wished nothing more than for the couple to have an extended moment of peace before the hardships of commitment, detachment, and the disappointment the audience knew was imminent. 

The restraint, trust, and stamina of each cast and crew member involved in this production amazed me. The endurance of Cassi Q. Kohl (Cathy) and Jeffery Wallace (Jamie) to spin relentlessly across the stage, singing directly to every single section of the audience with their tear-jerking portrayals was astounding, and, at times, made me feel dizzy—and I was the one getting to sit and watch each intricate movement. I felt so grateful to witness some cherished moments between cast and crew members; as Cassi Q. Kohl sang her rendition of “See I’m Smiling,” I watched the violinist affectionately gaze up at the actress, admiring her wistful glow as she employed everything in her power to make amends with her slowly distancing beloved. This moment felt so sentimental to me, as if it was universally closing the gap between actors and crew. The wordless period between Kohl and the violinist represented the honest trust and appreciation that actors and crew should hold for each other, and their connection truly enhanced the beauty of the production as a whole. The trust each member of the cast and crew held for each other was so clearly reflected in the harmony of the show, proving that strong internal connections can make a show truly shine.

The ACT/5th Avenue production of The Last Five Years delivered more than I ever could have imagined. The limited first impression of the condensed Allen Theatre was no boundary; the authentically euphonic voices of Kohl and Wallace ascended the stage, accessing the hearts and stirring the core memories of each audience member. Through the words of the characters, the audience relived their own instances of romance vicariously. The ornate lighting design artfully immersed the audience in each interaction of devotion, tests, solitude, and vulnerability, with bright, shining fractals of deliberately complementary colors that emboldened each precious event. The committed musicians of the orchestral pit plucked the heartstrings of the audience as they did with the chords and notes of their instruments with such passionate craftsmanship, creating greater emotional investment with the varying intensity of each melody. If you want a show that emanates a fantasy of what “true love” is like in the storybooks, then this is not the production for you. If you want to see a raw representation of how what was originally believed to be a star-crossed relationship can transform the two involved, catapult them through tests of patience, pain, and forgiveness, and symbolize the art of compromise and hardship, then prepare yourself for each of those elements and so much more that will both gut-wrenchingly impact and heal you for an extended time to come.

Lead photo: Cassi Q Kohl (Cathy Hiatt) and Jeffery Wallace (Jamie Wellerstein). Photo by Rosemary Dai Ross.

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