Show guide
The Last Five Years
The Last Five Years follows the rise and fall of a marriage told in two directions at once, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, in its first Broadway staging.
- Broadway premiere
- 2025
- Music by
- Jason Robert Brown
- Genre
- Drama
- Setting
- 2020s
The Last Five Years: quick answers
What is The Last Five Years about?
- The Last Five Years traces the five-year relationship of rising novelist Jamie and struggling actress Cathy: Jamie tells the story from their first meeting forward, Cathy from the breakup backward, and their timelines cross only at their wedding.
When did The Last Five Years open on Broadway?
- The Last Five Years premiered at Northlight Theatre near Chicago in 2001 and opened Off-Broadway in March 2002. It reached Broadway only in 2025, opening April 6 at the Hudson Theatre with Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren and closing June 22 after 89 performances.
Is The Last Five Years sung-through?
- Yes, essentially. The story is told almost entirely through song, mostly solos for its only two characters, whose timelines meet only in The Next Ten Minutes, the wedding at the show's midpoint.
Where and when is The Last Five Years set?
- The Last Five Years is set mainly in New York City, with a detour to Ohio, across the five years of Jamie and Cathy's relationship.
Has The Last Five Years played in London's West End?
- After a 2020 run at Southwark Playhouse was cut short by COVID-19, an actor-musician production played the West End's Garrick Theatre from September 17 to October 17, 2021.
Is there a The Last Five Years movie?
- Richard LaGravenese directed a 2014 film starring Anna Kendrick as Cathy and Jeremy Jordan as Jamie, released in the United States in February 2015.
The story of The Last Five Years
The Last Five Years tells the story of Jamie Wellerstein, a rising novelist, and Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress, tracing the five years of their relationship from first meeting to its end. The show's structure is its signature device: Jamie's story is told chronologically from the couple's beginning, while Cathy's story is told in reverse from their breakup, and the two timelines meet only once, at their wedding, in the middle of the show.
With only two characters carrying the entire piece, the show is an intimate, emotionally direct portrait of ambition, jealousy, and the ways two people's timing can pull them apart even as they love each other. Its structural gimmick becomes a genuinely moving device for showing how differently two people can experience the same relationship.
The music and the makers
Jason Robert Brown wrote both the music and lyrics, drawing on his own reputation as one of contemporary musical theatre's most demanding and lyrical composers. The score mixes driving pop rock numbers with tender, conversational ballads, requiring both performers to carry entire songs alone on stage with little traditional scene work to lean on.
Songs like Still Hurting and The Schmuel Song showcase the range Brown asks of his two leads, moving between raw heartbreak and playful, almost cabaret style storytelling, and the score has become a favorite audition and cabaret staple well beyond the show itself.
The Last Five Years on Broadway
Although The Last Five Years premiered at Northlight Theatre outside Chicago in 2001, opened off Broadway in 2002, and later became a 2014 film, it did not reach Broadway itself until 2025, when it opened at the Hudson Theatre starring Nick Jonas as Jamie and Adrienne Warren as Cathy, directed by Whitney White. The production expanded Brown's original chamber orchestrations for a larger Broadway house while keeping the show's intimate, two person focus.
The limited engagement ran from April through June 2025, giving the long beloved cult favorite its overdue Broadway debut. Its arrival introduced a wider audience to a show that had already built a devoted following through regional productions, cabaret performances, and the earlier film adaptation.
The Last Five Years: frequently asked questions
When did The Last Five Years open on Broadway?
The Last Five Years had its first Broadway production in 2025, opening at the Hudson Theatre.
Who composed The Last Five Years?
Jason Robert Brown wrote both the music and lyrics.
What is The Last Five Years about?
It tells the story of a marriage between Jamie Wellerstein and Cathy Hiatt, with Jamie's story told forward in time and Cathy's told in reverse.
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