In its very first season (2003), New Stage Collective presented the area premiere of Jason Robert Brown’s song-cycle, The Last Five Years. In its fifth season, NSC is again offering the two-actor song cycle about a marriage that comes apart — as an opportunity to review its own “last five years” for the young company, now with its own home on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine.
NSC’s Artistic Director Alan Patrick Kenny is directing the concert staging with two different performers each evening (through Aug. 26). Check NSC’s Web site (newstagecollective.com) to see who’s singing Brown’s songs — which re-create telling moments in a failed marriage between a struggling actress and an aspiring novelist.
Memorable, well-performed music. Grade: B+
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2007.
