Musical Unit assessment The Last Five Years Musical Unit assessment

Bellringer #1 What is a movie or book you have seen/read that does not use the traditional plot structure? (ex: uses flashbacks, starts at the end…etc.) Why do you think the writer manipulated this? How did it enhance or take away from the viewers experience?

The Last Five Years The Last Five Years is a musical written by Jason Robert Brown. It premiered at Chicago's Northlight Theatre in 2001 and was then produced Off-Broadway in March 2002. The story explores a five-year relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, a rising novelist, and Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress. The show uses a form of storytelling in which Cathy's story is told in reverse chronological order (beginning the show at the end of the marriage), and Jamie's is told in chronological order (starting just after the couple have first met).

The Last Five Years In the stage show the characters do not directly interact except for a wedding song in the middle as their timelines intersect (when Jamie proposes). Cathy and Jamie are the only two people in the show. In the film this is changed. The characters are often together during parts of songs. However, they still only sing together in the middle of the show as the timelines intersect. In the film they have added extras. Why do you think they would make this major change for the film?

The Last Five Years The Last Five Years was inspired by Brown's failed marriage to Theresa O'Neill. O'Neill threatened legal action on the grounds the story of the musical represented her relationship with Brown too closely. Originally the second song in the show was called, “Someone Like You”. This song identified Cathy to be of Irish heritage with red hair and green eyes. Brown changed the song "I Could Be in Love With Someone Like You" to "Shiksa Goddess" in order to reduce the similarity between the character Cathy and O'Neill.

The Last Five Years The film premiered on September 7, 2014 in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Cathy: Anna Kendrick Jamie: Jeremy Jordan

Special Appearances The director wanted the film to be a “family affair” many people formerly involved with the show make cameos: The composer: Jason Robert Brown as the pianist who hates Cathy. The off-Broadway revival Cathy: Betsy Wolfe as Cathy's former stripper roommate The original off-Broadway Cathy: Sherrie Rene Scott as a woman in Cathy's successful audition Jeremy Jordan and Sherrie Renee Scott’s spouses also make cameos.

Last Five Years Summative

Musical Eras Traditional musicals: Big stars singing big numbers The big production numbers staged in front of the camera and shown with barely any editing came to be expected and loved in musical films. The King and I, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, My Fair Lady, Singin’ in the Rain

Musical Eras In the 21st century the musical movie was reborn with darker musicals such as Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Dreamgirls, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Les Miserables, and Into The Woods. “Gone are the days of singing about our favorite things and sugar helping the medicine go down; in Chicago we have Roxie Hart faking a pregnancy in order to gain fame during her trial for murdering her lover and singing about it!” (Sheikhha 31)

Realism in 21st Century Musicals As TV and film began to strive for realism, it became more and more difficult for characters to break into song without appearing ridiculous. Hollywood had to look for more realistic ways to incorporate songs into the musical. One way to achieve this desired realism was to create musicals about entertainment including performing artists actually performing on stage and not in the street. Another way around this realism requirement was the animated musical. Finally, writers/directors looked for non-traditional ways to incorporate songs into the plot: “Another aspect of Chicago’s importance in regards to its style is that it overpasses the issue regarding the reality of the choreographed dance sequences by having them take place in the character’s imagination. It is rather believable to have fame and show-business obsessed characters imagining themselves in scenarios in which they are performing.” (Sheikhha 30)

Musical Eras A jukebox musical is a stage or film musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score. Usually the songs have in common a connection with a particular popular musician or group — because they were either written by, or for, the artists in question, or at least covered by them. The songs are contextualized into a dramatic plot: often the biographical story of the performer(s) whose music is featured (bio-pic), although in some cases the plot does not revolve around the particular group at all.

Bellringer What is your favorite era of musical film and why? What is your least favorite and why? Traditional Hollywood (Grease, Rocky Horror) Animated (Disney Films) 21st Century Broadway Jukebox/Bio-pic

Last Five Years Summative