Our thriving Jerusalem English-speaking theater scene boasts active theater companies and many plays, musicals, and performances, yet it’s small enough that we get to see the same actors showing their chops in different productions. We have our own lineup of stars alongside those of Hollywood and Broadway, and we fondly follow these talented thespians who invest so much in keeping us entertained. Thus, when one of them strikes out in a new direction, we take notice.
Sarit Brown, who has performed in a good number of productions over recent years, has recently taken the leap into the role of director to make a longstanding dream of hers come true: staging The Last Five Years, an intimate musical about ambition and the breakdown of love.
Written and composed by Jason Robert Brown (no relation to Sarit) after his own marriage broke up, it premiered in Chicago in 2001 and has since been produced widely, finally reaching Broadway last year. Brown staged it earlier this year at Psik Theater’s Ma’agalim Festival and is now offering a full run at the Fringe Center of Beit Mazia Theater, on Hol Hamoed Sukkot and the following week.
Non-spoiler: The marriage doesn't survive
This production stars Sarit Brown as Cathy, a struggling actor, and Avi David-Rene Cohen as Jamie, an up-and-coming writer. Jamie is Jewish but Cathy is not – one song is actually titled “Shiksa Goddess” (and for those opposed to intermarriage, I have good news: The marriage doesn’t survive – no spoiler here, this is the actual premise!).
The pair share the tale of their five-year relationship through music, with Jamie recounting events from when they met and Cathy working backward from the breakup; they meet in the middle, at the marriage itself. There are two sides to any relationship, and here we get both points of view (and can decide with whom we will side, if we want).
Both Cohen and Brown trained at Maslul, the Tel Aviv Musical Theater Academy, where they became good friends. While I have yet to attend the show, two of Brown’s fellow Jerusalem theater directors were impressed by what they saw.
Brown was “unsurprisingly, given her past record, excellent as Cathy,” says Yael Valier of Theater and Theology. Of Cohen, 28, a former Parisian now based in Haifa, Valier says he “can really sing! His handling of Jamie’s ‘Nobody Needs to Know’ scene with convincing emotional complexity was a high point for me,” while Encore’s Aviella Trapido highlights his “great energy and emotional depth.”
Brown, 36, is a theater educator at Psik Theater and co-founded Living Room Productions with Alexa Solace. Explaining the name, she says: “Originally we thought we would actually perform in a living room, an intimate space. Ultimately we were given the opportunity for a larger stage – but we still work out of our living rooms!”
This aligns with the writer’s intentions: He has shared that, after his large-scale musical Parade, he wanted to create a show small enough to play in his own living room.
Smart, intimate, and imaginative
Jerusalem audiences may enjoy the musical’s Jewish elements, among them “The Schmuel Song,” a whimsical tale of an old Jewish tailor and his magical clock. Musical accompaniment is provided by Paul Salter, who helmed Encore theater productions for many years and has numerous credits as musical director to his name.
For this show, which Valier sums up as “smart, intimate, and imaginative,” Brown describes “a unique staging concept” that she has been developing for almost 15 years (see box). The concept certainly sounds intriguing.
Valier affirms that Brown “designed the space with a flair not just for the visuals but for the way in which it drew the audience in without ever feeling forced,” and Trapido praises “really creative staging choices that brought a fresh perspective.”
If you are still debating whether to book tickets for The Last Five Years, Trapido’s assessment might be just the push you need: “A thoughtful and engaging interpretation of a show I love very much!”