The Last Five Years

It is a shame that this is the first production of YG I've had the time to actually write my review for since their production of Into The Woods (in short- ITW- incredibly good. Travelling- very promising show and amazing performances from the entire cast) Because L5Y is also one of my favourite shows, and I, unlike the above reviewer, wasn't completely thrilled. Probably my least favourite YG production. (But pls read on- it wasn't actually all that bad!) This review is ultra-hard. I figure all involved are professionals, and it would not serve anyone for me to give a gentle fuzzy review. So I hope all is taken with the highest professional regard with which I am delivering it. The L5Y is often an uncomfortable show. It shows us two raw and flawed characters at their worst and most selfish. Like a train wreck, you can't take your eyes off these 2 people unconsciously but surely destroying their relationship bit by bit until the inevitable happens. The clever ploy as described above is mapping these two journeys in completely different directions. I attended opening night, and should own up that I was not convinced this would work. It is a show I hope to have time to do myself at some point before I'm too old (some would argue I'm already there), and was very interested to see what Chris and Simon did with it. With that said, I was pleasantly suprised at how well it was done. The use of simple staging and movement left us with the story and the characters, so I found limited use of the space actually enhanced my experience of the production. My main bug bears were probably- Vocally I don't think either lead was ready (yet) for these roles. The band simply didn't rock hard enough. Mitchell Goode- I have liked in the last few shows I've seen, and can't wait for this voice to mature. But it hasn't yet. There were several squeaks (too many) in higher passages and the voice lacked the core of power needed to completely embrace the role. It also failed to fill the space, and this may have contributed to the band sound being quite small. It is a stupendously large sing and I don't think he is quite there yet. That said, in 5 years or so, and with the right vocal coach, I think this guy will be a star. For a tip, what I noticed watching him sing throughout is that there is a lot of tension in the upper chest/shoulders/neck. Basically straining the small muscles to push the sound out rather than the guts. This will come with maturity and more basic technique. It will help the high stuff, give the voice a core, and give the endurance needed to push through this beast of a role. I would also suggest to Mitchell he looks for a way to sing without moving his hands so much. At the moment it seems to serve as a distraction, rather than enhancement. I'd like to see how he could just lay out the character for us, and let us deal with it... The hands are a comment from previous shows as well. He is certainly good looking, and a great actor. Both leads played the comic sides of their characters particularly well. Hayley gave us an honest and beautiful Cathy, but also has a voice that I would like to hear with some more maturity. There were moments of great sound, but again the raw core was missing in the powerful moments. A few moments of scratchiness near the top... The same notes about building the core strength (abs) I gave above might help. Again fabulous comic acting. Her darker moments were realised more effectively than Mitchell's. Both leads flourished in the happier moments of the relationship, but the heavier moments lacked a little. I'm not sure, but maybe neither has had those sorts of experiences yet? I got the highs, but just didn't get the depths hard enough. (but had a few teary moments, so it was obviously not a disaster!) The band- this score absolutely rocks. (Jason Robert-Brown doesn't make it particularly fair for other pianists either.) This band never quite made it... I don't know if they had to play down to balance with the voices, but it sounded a little weak at times. I would have liked more bass, much more cello, and much much more piano. The piano sounded a little out of tune as well? Basically, there was a lot of correct playing, the notes were there, but the raw passion of the music didn't cut through often enough. e.g. Goodbye till tomorrow- opening piano line was completely rhythmically correct, but sounded very classical. It needs to rock! I also thought the ensemble between band and voices wasn't quite there yet (opening night?). Ironically, unlike I expected, it felt like the voices were trying to pull the band along, not the band driving the singers. Despite all of the above, I still thought this was a well-conceived interpretation of an incredible score and script. Simple clean direction really left us with the people, and that is the guts of this story in my opinion. I do recommend you all go to see it and make your own call. I am not certain that any but a highly trained singer would notice my rather intense vocal criticisms. Fortunately the crowd on opening night was quite decent. I only hope the rest of the far too short run has the same success. Sadness that we might not get any more YG goodness though... Nev It's the simple things stupid...