The Last Five Years at RCBC Plaza

Married? Planning to get married? Afraid to get married? You may want to catch Actor's Actors Inc.'s staging of The Last Five Years at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza. We watched it last Sunday, August 31, and you can still catch the following shows: September 12 and 13, 2003 at 8pm and September 14 at 3:30pm. Tickets prices are from about P400 and up.You can get them at selected National Bookstore outlets.

The musical by Jason Robert Brown runs for 90 minutes without intermission. The local production stars Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Cathy and Audie Gemora as Jamie. They're the only characters throughout and I don't think other actors would have done as well in their respective roles. I particularly enjoyed Menchu's performance, maybe because her songs were more varied and the range of emotions of her character wider.

The Last 5 Years is about a couple who end their relationship and both the wife and the husband tell their own story. Cathy, the wife tells her story from end to beginning while Jamie tells his story from beginning to end. Somewhere during the musical, their stories coincide as they wed.

The songs are not too easy to follow nor to remember but if you get to watch the musical, watch out for: Shiksa Goddess (funny lyrics and catchy tune), A Part of That (romantic and typical of people in love), The Schmuel song (interesting concept), A Summer in Ohio (fun!), Audition Sequence ("When you come home to me, I'll wear a sweeter smile...watch out for Menchu here over and over), and If I Didn't Believe in You (aawwwww...sigh).

My hubby rated the show an "8" (out of 10). It's a good show to catch if you're not too busy - if only to remind you of how talented our artists are and also to re-examine the relationships you find yourself in. Jamie, in one song, talks about this being the life that he chooses - the thing he can't afford to lose but in the end, the relationship goes nowhere. Oh well. We all live with the choices we make.