If you’re any kind of musical theater buff, you’ve probably seen Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years at least once. But trust me. You’ve never seen, heard, or breathed in anything like The Last Five Years: A Multisensory Experience, the latest from the adventurous After Hours Theatre Company.

The story being told (and Brown’s unique way of telling it) is the same one that’s been captivating audiences since The Last Five Years made its 2002 off-Broadway debut.

The almost entirely sung-through tale of a 20something couple (TV stars Scott Porter as Jamie Wellerstein and Janel Parrish as Catherine Hiatt) whose marriage fails to withstand the pressures of his rise to literary stardom and her failure to achieve success as an actress, The Last Five Years recounts their love story in the most innovative of ways.

When relating the couple’s relationship from Jamie’s point of view, Brown’s musical moves in chronological order, from the aspiring novelist’s joy at finally meeting the “Shiksa Goddess” of his dreams towards a final, painful realization that no matter how hard he tried, “I Could Never Rescue You.”

Aspiring actress-singer Cathy’s Last Five Years, on the other hand, move backwards in time, from discovering Jamie’s farewell note in “Still Hurting” to “Goodbye Until Tomorrow,” sung immediately after the couple’s first date, when there were still countless tomorrows awaiting them.

The result: Joy and sadness side-by-side and an ending that packs a bona fide emotional wallop.

Not only that, but because writer-composer Brown tells Jamie and Cathy’s story almost entirely in song (with the exception of some one-sided phone calls and a sequence which has Jamie reading aloud from his novel), audiences are treated almost nonstop to some of the most gorgeous music Jason Robert Brown has ever written.

The Last Five Years is also that rarity among chamber musicals, one that can succeed equally well on a bare stage with nothing but a piano or as a tech-heavy, high-budget, fully-orchestrated Multisensory Experience that begins with an interactive gallery-style exhibit (designed by Sara Bell) that has audience members circling the stage to sample bits of Jamie and Cathy’s life using all five senses.

This Multisensory Experience continues as musical director Jennifer Lin and her chamber orchestra* envelop the in-the-round audience with Brown’s breathtaking melodies and full six-piece orchestrations aided by Cricket S. Myers’ impeccable surround-sound design.

Director Kari Hayter emphasizes The Last Five Years’ clockwise-counterclockwise structure by centering it on a raised circular platform, just part of Efren Delgadillo, Jr.’s all-white scenic design, one that also includes set pieces pulleyed down from the rafters and a double bed to one side.

Add to that a corner bar** that serves multiple functions as Cathy and Jamie’s stories unfold and you’ve got just one example of Hayter’s ingenious direction.

Though each is cast against type, Nebraska-born-and-bred Porter as nerdish Jewish novelist Jamie and multiracial Hawaii native Parrish as Shiksa goddess Cathy, both performers have musical theater backgrounds (he was off-Broadway’s original Altar Boy Matthew and she was touring the U.S. as Young Cosette at age seven in Les Miz) that allow them to make Brown’s now iconic characters their own.

Porter captures Jamie’s charisma, his humor, and his charm, along with his anger and frustration at a wife who despite his passionate encouragement can’t seem to achieve anywhere near his level of fame and fortune.

Parrish is equally terrific, perky and pretty and possessed of more than enough goddess appeal to turn a nebbishy novelist’s head. Not only that, but more than any other Cathy I’ve seen, Parrish makes it clear that the musical theater hopeful may simply not have the talent it takes to match her husband’s career success.

Equally importantly, both Porter and Parris prove themselves more that up to the task of singing Brown’s exquisite melodies as they deserve to be sung.

Costume designer Elizabeth A. Cox provides the two stars with plenty of character-appropriate outfits, Andrew Schmedake lights the Multisensory Experience quite stunningly indeed, Shen Heckel furnishes plenty of clever props (including an Anita wig that gives Cathy an extra laugh in “A Summer In Ohio”), and scent designer Christoff Visscher sends assorted aromas wafting in to enhance The Last Five Years’ shifting moods.

Erin Cholakian is assistant director and Alex Fasciolo is associate lighting designer.

The Last Five Years is produced by Bell, Heckel, KJ Knies, Jennifer Oundjian, Scott, and Mick Torres. Graham Wetterhahn is artistic director/executive producer.

Juliana Scott is stage manager and Bonnie Christiansen is assistant stage manager. Matt Scarpino is technical director.

Casting is by Michael Donovan CSA and casting associate Richie Ferris, CSA. Travis Leland and Nicci Claspell make up The Last Five Years’ alternate cast.

Rare is the musical that lends itself to as many interpretations as Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years. After Hours Theatre Company’s Multisensory Experience may not be the definitive production, but it is quite spectacularly one of a kind.

*Circe Diaz, Karen Hall, Lin, Morgan Paros, Carlos Rivera, and Max Wagner

**Curated cocktails designed by Spirit Guides can be purchased at the bar before the show

The Actor’s Company – The Other Space, 916 A North Formosa Ave, West Hollywood.

–Steven Stanley
June 7, 2019
Photos: KJ Knies

Tags: After Hours Theatre Company, Jason Robert Brown, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Other Space