Local Review: The UTEP Dinner Theatre's Side Dish Student Production of "The Last Five Years"
Before I say anything, I would like to apologize for posting this review after the show had closed. It was very difficult for me to construct this review and I had things to do. But with no further adieu, here is my review of the UTEP Dinner Theatre Side Dish Student Production of "The Last Five Years".
Tonight (December 12, 2015), I saw the UTEP Dinner Theatre's first student directed production, which was the Jason Robert Brown musical "The Last Five Years", which tells the story of the five year relationship between Jamie (Ricardo Parra) and Cathy (Josey Mitchell). Cathy tells the story backwards and Jamie tells the story in order.
I have listened to the original cast recording of "The Last Five Years" (starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott) a few times. The few times I have listened to it, I said "Wow, the music is really good, I wonder how the dialogue is"...Then, I saw the movie which had (enough) dialogue...then I saw this production and I said "Oh...there's no dialogue". There should have been dialogue because if I wasn't already familiar with this show, it would have taken me a few songs to figure out what was going on.
I understand why the characters of Cathy (Mitchell) and Jamie (Parra) don't interact with each other during the show (minus one scene), but the two characters not interacting throughout the show made the story a bit more confusing. The two characters should have interacted, it would have made the story more emotional and interesting.
Josey Mitchell was very sweet in the role of Cathy. She has a very strong stage presence and she did a lovely job singing the role. In the role of Jamie, Ricardo Parra did a fine job. He has a great voice and he played the role very well. It is hard for me to talk about the cast of this show just because the characters are, for the most part, normal people and there is not much you can really say about them other than "Jamie is a writer and Cathy is an actress".
It isn't Parra's fault, but all of Jamie's songs were too long and I zoned out during nearly all of his songs. I feel really bad saying that because he has a really fantastic voice. All of Cathy's songs held my attention better than Jamie's songs, because most of them weren't as long as Jamie's songs.
Like I said earlier, there should have been dialogue and the characters of Jamie and Cathy should interact with each other more. That is why I believe that the movie version of "The Last Five Years" is superior to the stage show. The stage show moves at such a slow pace and I think that these two elements make the movie's pace faster.
Student director Allen Thompson did a great job working on this production and it really shows. The set (by Merle DeWitt ) is very well put together and I would like to have 20 minutes of playtime on that set.
Overall, "The Last Five Years" was a very well put together production and despite the length of some of the songs, the music is great and the two performers in the show did a beautiful job. I give it three and a half stars.
The UTEP Dinner Theatre Side Dish Sudent Production of "The Last Five Years" directed by Allen Thompson ran for 6 performances December 6-13, 2015.
The Cast:
Cathy- JOSEY MITCHELL
Jamie- RICARDO PARRA
Tonight (December 12, 2015), I saw the UTEP Dinner Theatre's first student directed production, which was the Jason Robert Brown musical "The Last Five Years", which tells the story of the five year relationship between Jamie (Ricardo Parra) and Cathy (Josey Mitchell). Cathy tells the story backwards and Jamie tells the story in order.
I have listened to the original cast recording of "The Last Five Years" (starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott) a few times. The few times I have listened to it, I said "Wow, the music is really good, I wonder how the dialogue is"...Then, I saw the movie which had (enough) dialogue...then I saw this production and I said "Oh...there's no dialogue". There should have been dialogue because if I wasn't already familiar with this show, it would have taken me a few songs to figure out what was going on.
I understand why the characters of Cathy (Mitchell) and Jamie (Parra) don't interact with each other during the show (minus one scene), but the two characters not interacting throughout the show made the story a bit more confusing. The two characters should have interacted, it would have made the story more emotional and interesting.
Josey Mitchell was very sweet in the role of Cathy. She has a very strong stage presence and she did a lovely job singing the role. In the role of Jamie, Ricardo Parra did a fine job. He has a great voice and he played the role very well. It is hard for me to talk about the cast of this show just because the characters are, for the most part, normal people and there is not much you can really say about them other than "Jamie is a writer and Cathy is an actress".
It isn't Parra's fault, but all of Jamie's songs were too long and I zoned out during nearly all of his songs. I feel really bad saying that because he has a really fantastic voice. All of Cathy's songs held my attention better than Jamie's songs, because most of them weren't as long as Jamie's songs.
Like I said earlier, there should have been dialogue and the characters of Jamie and Cathy should interact with each other more. That is why I believe that the movie version of "The Last Five Years" is superior to the stage show. The stage show moves at such a slow pace and I think that these two elements make the movie's pace faster.
Student director Allen Thompson did a great job working on this production and it really shows. The set (by Merle DeWitt ) is very well put together and I would like to have 20 minutes of playtime on that set.
Overall, "The Last Five Years" was a very well put together production and despite the length of some of the songs, the music is great and the two performers in the show did a beautiful job. I give it three and a half stars.
The UTEP Dinner Theatre Side Dish Sudent Production of "The Last Five Years" directed by Allen Thompson ran for 6 performances December 6-13, 2015.
The Cast:
Cathy- JOSEY MITCHELL
Jamie- RICARDO PARRA
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