[NEohioPAL]Berko review: 'THE LAST FIVE YEARS' @ Dobama

[Roy Berko]

‘LAST FIVE YEARS’—Dobama Finds a Musical Fitting Its
Mission
Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

When it opened Off-Broadway in March of 2002, Jason
Robert Brown’s ‘THE LAST FIVE YEARS’ was met with
superlative reviews.   It was termed “compulsively
enjoyable.  ”The lyrics were called “accomplished,
clever, tender, and arching in feeling.” Mr. Brown was
lauded as “a leading member of a new generation of
composers who embody high hopes for the American
musical.”

Brown is the author of superlative musical drama, ‘THE
‘PARADE,’ the well-received ‘SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD,”
and the critically panned “URBAN COWBOY.’  His music
is not easily categorized, as is say, the writing of
Andrew Lloyd Weber, where everything, after a while,
all sounds the same.   He writes in the mold of Steven
Sondheim.  His music is dramatic, often witty, always
intellectual, yet with shades of wit and sincerity.  

‘THE LAST FIVE YEARS’ chronicles a young couple's
romance in an interesting way.  Her story starts at
the end of their relationship; his begins on the day
they met.  The show captures the heartbreaking and
universally felt moments of modern romance.

Dobama is noted as “Cleveland’s Contemporary Stage.”
Very seldom will you find a musical in the theatre’s
offerings.  However, every once in a while the
artistic director finds the right fit of theatre and
musical.  ‘THE LAST FIVE YEARS’ is a wise choice.  It
has a contemporary message to tell and it tells it
well.

The strength and the weakness of Dobama’s production
is the cast.  As with Sondheim, it takes special
performers to get Brown’s work “right.” The two-person
cast must not only be superlative singers, but
superlative actors to get the numerous textures from
the lyrics, and sing what are often difficult musical
arrangements.  

The Off-Broadway cast was lauded for “making beautiful
music together.”  Unfortunately, this is not
consistently the case at Dobama.  

On one hand, Scott Plate is wonderful.  He is a superb
actor and has developed into quite a singing talent. 
He commands the stage when he is present.  He
understands that Brown’s lyrics need interpretation
and texturing.  He pulls it all off with a well honed
performance.  

Unfortunately, Emily Krieger did not fare as well in
her role as Cathy.  Miss Krieger has neither the real
life nor stage experience to undertake a role that
fits the likes of Audra McDonald.  She is a good
college level performer, but didn’t quite have the
whole package to pull off the quality of performance
needed.  

Vickie Bussert creatively directed the production
which moved smoothly along and was visually
interesting.  If she knew that Krieger was going to
assume the role of Cathy, she needed to work more on
polishing her acting skills and working with her on
character development.  

The show’s musicians Nancy Maier, Morgan Scagliotti
and Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir were excellent in both
playing proficiently and backing up rather than
drowning out the singers.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: ‘THE LAST FIVE YEARS’ is a
well-conceived musical.  The Dobama production, at
least the one I saw, does not live up to the level of
the script, score and lyrics. Not having seen Sandy
Simon I can’t say whether the production would have
worked better with the equity actress in the role, but
based on her ‘SIDE SHOW’ and ‘MUSIC MAN’ performances
at Cain Park, I could assume that she does a fine job
and that would have made a major difference.

The show runs through February 9.   For information
and tickets call 216-932-3396.



=====
Roy Berko's web page can be found at royberko.info


	
		
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