{"id":38062,"date":"2013-05-03T06:06:43","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T11:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=38062"},"modified":"2013-05-03T06:06:43","modified_gmt":"2013-05-03T11:06:43","slug":"review-vwct-play-features-great-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/05\/03\/review-vwct-play-features-great-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: VWCT play features great music"},"content":{"rendered":"

ED EICHLER\/<\/strong>for The Van Wert independent <\/em><\/p>\n

Rarely do we get the opportunity to see a local community theater perform a currently running, popular, off-Broadway show.\u00a0 Fortunately, we now have that opportunity with the fifth and final production of the 2012-13 season from Van Wert Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>
Jamie (Dan Stanowick) sings of his relationship with Cathy during the Van Wert Civic Theatre production of "The Last Five Years," now playing at the VWCT. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Last Five Years<\/em>, a musical written and composed by Jason Robert Brown is being performed at VWCT the first two weeks in May. The play opened Thursday and runs through Saturday, May 11.\u00a0 The Last Five Years <\/em>is a relatively new musical that was first presented at the Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Ill., in 2001.\u00a0The first New York production was presented at the Minetta Lane Theater in 2002, starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott.\u00a0This musical received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, and was nominated for five additional Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical.<\/p>\n

The Last Five Years<\/em> is the story of the ill-fated relationship of two young lovers named Jamie and Cathy, from the ecstasy they felt at the end of their first date to the agony of their final goodbye as they parted ways after only five short years.\u00a0 However, what is unique about this show is how the two characters tell the story of the five-year relationship.\u00a0We first meet a broken-hearted Cathy singing \u201cStill Hurting\u201d at the end of their marriage, after she discovers the note and wedding ring Jamie has left behind.\u00a0 When we meet Jamie, however, he is ecstatic after saying goodbye to Cathy at the end of their first date, and is singing a song dedicated to her, calling her his \u201cShiksa Goddess\u201d.\u00a0 From that point on, the story is told, or I should say sung from beginning to end by Jamie, while Cathy weaves her story from the end back to the beginning. Each takes turns with their solo numbers from opposite sides of the stage; however, they do meet briefly in the middle of the story at the time of their wedding in Central Park. \u00a0There is no mystery as to how this story ends, the real story is how this couple, with so much to look forward to in the beginning, ended up the way they did.<\/p>\n

Jamie finds sudden success as an aspiring young writer, while Cathy is struggling to find any similar kind of success of her own as an aspiring young actress.\u00a0 They begin to drift further and further apart as Jamie gets caught up in the world of his own personal success, a world in which Cathy increasingly feels that she is not a part of. \u00a0Eventually, their increased physical and emotional separation from each other leads to Jamie\u2019s betrayal in \u201cNobody Needs to Know\u201d and to their final goodbye in \u201cGoodbye Until Tomorrow\/I Could Never Rescue You\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cast is small in this production, with Jamie and Cathy the only two characters we see on stage. Dan Stanowick takes on the role of Jamie, and Samantha Henry the role of Cathy.\u00a0 Both actors are newcomers to the Van Wert Civic Theatre Stage, although Stanowick represented VWCT in the lead role of The Full Monty<\/em> at OCTA contest.\u00a0 Stanowick is from Bluffton and has worked a lot at Lima\u2019s Encore Theater, both onstage and behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

Henry is from the Findlay area, where she is active in Fort Findlay Playhouse. Both of these performers create very believable characters in their respective roles for this production, and are perfectly cast for their parts.\u00a0Their vocal talents on their respective tunes are very crisp, clear, powerful, and a pleasure to hear.\u00a0 As you see these two perform, you can feel their love, joy, happiness, hopefulness, pain, sorrow, betrayal, hopelessness and various other emotions as they go through the different stages of their relationship.<\/p>\n

Although the set for this show is somewhat simple in design, it is very effective for this show.\u00a0 A backdrop of the New York Skyline adorns the right side of the stage (from the audience perspective) which Jamie uses for many of his songs, and a backdrop of a scene by a river in Ohio graces the left side, from which Cathy performs several of her songs.\u00a0Upstage in the middle is a backdrop split in two, which only comes together at the time of their wedding scene in the middle of the show to form a heart and two wedding rings.\u00a0 This is also when the two sing their only duet together in \u201cThe Next Ten Minutes\u201d.<\/p>\n

No review of a musical would be complete without mentioning the musical performance.\u00a0 Although the music for this show was composed for six musicians, it is performed here beautifully from the upstairs \u201cpit\u201d by an orchestra of only four, and you would never know why they would have needed the other two instruments.<\/p>\n

The music is in various styles, and is hauntingly beautiful at times. Although several of the songs are serious in nature, such as \u201cNobody Needs to Know\u201d and \u201cIf I Didn\u2019t Believe in You\u201d, there are several that will make you laugh as well, such as \u201cA Miracle Would Happen\u201d, \u201cClimbing Uphill\u201d and \u201cA Summer in Ohio\u201d.\u00a0I think one of my favorites, however, is the romantic \u201cThe Next Ten Minutes\u201d sung during their wedding scene.\u00a0 But this is to name just a few.<\/p>\n

I have heard that the tunes for this show are more challenging to perform than many other musicals VWCT has done in the past, so kudos to the fine performances from our orchestra members, Lou Balyeat on guitar, Rod Sroufe on bass, Bo Williams on cello, and, of course, Dee Fisher on keyboards.<\/p>\n

Also, no show would be complete without the capable hands of the technical crew providing the lights, sound, props, and costumes for every scene. Thanks should go out for this to Ashley Roberts, Burdette Bolenbaugh, Amy Boley, and Ruth Ann Boley.<\/p>\n

And, of course, I should not fail to mention thanks to the director for this show, Linda McClure, for once again putting together a very, very fine show for Van Wert Civic Theatre!<\/p>\n

A couple of final notes on The Last Five Years<\/em>.\u00a0 This show deals with adult themes, and has a few words of profanity sprinkled in, so it would probably not be suitable for the very young crowd.\u00a0It also runs for 90 minutes with no intermission.<\/p>\n

Plan to come and see this show!\u00a0Show dates are tonight through Saturday, May 11.\u00a0Show time for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday performances is 8 p.m., and for the Sunday matinee (May 5) the show time is 2 p.m.\u00a0 Call 419.238.9689 for reservations, box office hours 2-6 p.m.\u00a0 The price is only $11, which is a bargain for a show that would cost $80-$150 to see in New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ED EICHLER\/for The Van Wert independent Rarely do we get the opportunity to see a local community theater perform a currently running, popular, off-Broadway show.\u00a0 Fortunately, we now have that opportunity with the fifth and final production of the 2012-13 season from Van Wert Civic Theatre. The Last Five Years, a musical written and composed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 10:06:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}