The Last Five Years

The Last Five Years is a musical that focuses on the aspect of process and growth in the sections of relationships. It is important to note the structure as the main form of evidence as there are two separate timelines moving in opposite directions. The Last Five Years is a musical written by Jason Robert Brown taking place within the event of a breakup between the two main characters Cathy and Jamie. Jamie’s story moves in chronological order, while Cathy’s timeline moves in reverse chronological order. The only time the couple meets in the actual movie is during the dance scene at their wedding. This is important because it gives an artistic symbolism to how two people can experience the exact same event and still grow and become different people because of it. For example at the beginning Jamie sings the Piece “Shiksa Goddess” that claims that he could be in love with someone like Cathy who is outside of his Jewish heritage. Cathy on the other hand sings the piece “still hurting” which is the end of the timeline for this relationship. This musical takes place over the course of a five year relationship and uses this contrasting structure to clearly show the extreme opposites that the characters go through throughout in this relationship. This can also be seen in many other sub-concepts just like relationships, but process is present in all the sub-concepts because it lays the foundation for identity.