The newly released soundtrack for the film adaptation of The Last Five Years is an important album.
Important for me because the Original Cast Recording of the musical on which it is based was one of the first physical copies of a cast album I ever owned. And the recording was a significant part in solidifying my love for Sherie Rene Scott, Norbert Leo Butz and composer Jason Robert Brown. It is even more important for the label, Sh-K-Boom Records (founded by Sherie Rene Scott and her husband Kurt Deutsch). The original recording of The Last Five Years was the label’s first release, and the beginning of their being one of the most important and impressive labels for releasing musical theatre recordings.
In 2013 they released the recording of the revival with Betsy Wolfe and Adam Kantor. And, now, in 2015 Jason Robert Brown’s simple but effective tale of a five year relationship told through song has made it to the big screen and with it comes a new recording.
I include this preface to admit that there is much import and expectation which comes with my first (and now, second and third) listen to this recording.
Jeremy Jordan (of recent Broadway fame in Bonnie & Clyde and Newsies) and Anna Kendrick (Tony nominated as a child for High Society, more notable for film work in Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect and Oscar nominated in Up in the Air) star as the couple at our centre. Jamie is the intrepid writer and Cathy is the budding actress. The conceit of the show is the way the show occurs in reverse through Cathy’s performance and in linear format through Jamie, tracing a relationship from the end to the beginning and then vice versa with the only true duet being their wedding in the middle.
As has become typical from Sh-K-Boom Records/Ghostlight the production on this album is extraordinary. The soundtrack comes with orchestrations (some slightly new) from composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown – delivering an expectedly rich rendering of the score. The production is clearly pristine and buoyed by a duo of performers who are committed to their roles, and with the talent to deliver. Years and years of copious listens of Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz singing these song casts a long shadow that is, indeed, difficult to dispel. For the most ardent lovers of the original order, there might be the initial questioning: that Cathy has a very high voice, or that Jamie doesn’t have as swelling vibrato, but by the third song it’s just minutiae. Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan are outstanding on the recording. Comparison becomes pointless. Both deliver their most impressive vocal work on these albums, much of this owing to the dynamic emotions which Cathy and Jamie require.
The beauty of any new recording of a classic (13 years seems so short to be a classic, and yet The Last Five Years’ score seems an inextricable part of musical theatre now) is appreciating how the focus of a song changes focus depending on the singer. Vocally Kendrick’s Cathy is less funny than Sherie’s and less knowing than Betsy Wolfe (on the revival recording). Her most significant trait is her sincerity which is why her strongest number becomes the impressively enthusiastic “I Can Do Better Than That”. Cathy’s passionate look forward at a life of bliss with Jamie becomes especially clouded because of our foreknowledge that the relationship is doomed but the track becomes one of the standouts. As the number occurs, we’re almost moved into believing that yes this relationship is fated to good things just because of the sincerity of her delivery.
Similarly, Jeremy Jordan’s Jamie is inevitably different from his predecessors, for much of the recording his most significant vocal attribute is his confidence, which smartly avoids overconfidence, but permeates through numbers like “If I Didn’t Believe in You” and “Shiksa Goddess”. So confident that aurally Jamie seems less sincere which is why it’s so impressive when his big number “Nobody Needs to Know” comes which is Jamie at his least confident and most emotive. The nature of the show has always given it a call and response nature, where Cathy makes her point and Jamie’s accompany song feels like a defense – the run of numbers from “Climbing Uphill” through to the end is an unfiltered streak for the album which sees its strongest numbers coming towards the end. And the very fact that Jordan’s performance is accompanied by a natural surety makes the absence of that in “Nobody Needs to Know” so profound. It becomes the highlight on an album sure of its strengths, most impressive for the way it moves.
The issues of the 14 song, 76 minute album are few. “The Schmuel Song” has always been the score’s trickiest song (and at 7:42 the longest solo on the album), Jordan attacks the number but it’s the least striking of the songs. And I’m slightly peeved that piano interlude on “Moving Too Fast” is excised (it provides a nice pause for breathing when singing along in the shower). But, it’s hardly an indictment when the entire offering is so lovely. This Last Five Five Years soundtrack is a beautiful thing of its own. For persons unfamiliar to the show, it’s a distinguished entry point to Robert Brown’s score. For those familiar (and in love) with earlier versions, it’s a welcome and fine addition to any collection. And for Sh-K-Boom it’s a celebration of twelve years of essential contribution to the preservation of (mostly) musical theatre music. Unlike Jamie's stratospheric journey into success, this album may not be moving (too) fast, it's moving just right.
