The Last Five Years Broadway Production Will Feature New Orchestrations | Playbill

Broadway News The Last Five Years Broadway Production Will Feature New Orchestrations

Jason Robert Brown is revising the score of his beloved musical.

Jason Robert Brown Heather Gershonowitz

Many theatre fans may know Jason Robert Brown's chamber musical The Last Five Years, but they're about to hear it in a whole new light. That's because for the upcoming Broadway production, the show's first, Brown is providing new orchestrations.

Previous productions of the musical contained six musicians. The Broadway production will feature nine: conductor Paul Mutzabaugh on the piano keyboard, concertmaster Fung Chern Hwei on violin, Maria Im on violin, Adda Kridler on violin/viola, Ken James Kubota on cello, Zachary Brown on cello, Hidayat Honari on guitar, Julia Adamy on bass, and Jamie Eblen on drums/percussion/celeste.

These new orchestrations, said Brown in a statement, "will honor the intimacy and emotion of the score while also bringing a soaring new energy and power to match the greater panorama of a Broadway stage.”

The new production, led by Nick Jonas and Tony winner Adrienne Warren, will also feature music direction by Tom Murray and music contracting by Tomoko Akaboshi.

Performances of The Last Five Years begin March 18 at the Hudson Theatre ahead of an April 6 opening night. The Last Five Years tracks a five-year relationship between Cathy and Jamie from beginning to end via intertwining solo songs, with Jamie's story unfolding chronologically and Cathy's in reverse. 

Director Whitney White leads the creative team, with choreographers Jeff Kuperman and Rick Kuperman (The Outsiders), scenic designer David Zinn (Stereophonic), costume designer Dede Ayite (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), lighting designer Stacey Derosier (The Counter), sound designer Cody Spencer (The Outsiders), wig and hair designer Mia Neal (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). Cody Renard Richard will serve as production stage manager, and Baseline Theatrical’s Andy Jones and James Hickey will handle general management.

The musical, which premiered at Skokie, Illinoise's Northlight Theatre before a 2002 Off-Broadway run at Minetta Lane Theatre starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott, has become a particular favorite among theatre fans. The upcoming Main Stem run will be the work's first, following an Off-Broadway revival in 2013 and a film adaptation in 2014.

Seaview, ATG Productions, and The Season are producing.

Tickets are available at TheLastFiveYearsBroadway.com.

 
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