The Last Five Years: an intimate musical of love and career dreams

Cody McRae and Chelsea Sheehan-Gaiger are Cathy Hiatt and Jamie Wellerstein in the Jason Robert-Brown musical, The Last Five Years.

The Last Five Years is an intimate musical made up of two actors and a band of string instruments and piano, telling the story of two New Yorkers navigating love and career dreams.

The Jason Robert-Brown musical explores the five-year relationship of Cathy Hiatt and Jamie Wellerstein, played by Cody McRae and Chelsea Sheehan-Gaiger.

Wellerstein rises to fame as a novelist and Hiatt struggles as an aspiring actor.

Unique in style, the show progresses with Hiatt telling the story in reverse chronological order, and Wellerstein in chronological order, which creates an insightful and emotional experience for musical-theatre-lovers and heartbreak-survivors alike.

McRae and Sheehan-Gaiger have recently hit the five-year-mark themselves, meeting while studying at the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (Nasda) in Christchurch, in 2014.

The couple married this year.

"We love the theatre scene here in Palmerston North," says McRae.

"We've met some amazing people and have been pleasantly surprised to discover that moving here from Sydney has offered us so many opportunities to work together in creating theatre.

"Manawatu has something pretty special going on and we love being a part of that."

The Nasda project has been used to upskill musicians and local theatre enthusiasts; recruiting a new director, developing techies and performers who are ready for the next challenge in their creative pursuits.

The band in the musical are all Manawatū locals, on cello, violin, guitar, bass and piano, who play non-stop through the entire show, which tells the story through the music.

Feilding High school head of music and The Last Five Years' musical director Danielle Grové, says the band is the third character of the show.

"Working on this show and getting to play with amazing musicians has been a huge highlight for me.

"It's exciting to see so much passion from the musicians, performers and everyone behind the scenes.

"We are so lucky to have this talent in the community."

Nasda graduate and show director, Chris McRae, says he is excited to be making his directing debut after a rocky start.

"It is no secret that 2020 has given us some of the most difficult challenges we have had to tackle in a generation.

"The arts have had to face the full force of having these disruptions.

"Having begun work on this project over a year ago with an intended season in May, it is very heartening to be able to see a final product on the horizon.

"We have been very fortunate in having the opportunity to reschedule this show without too much difficulty, thanks to the amazing team at The Globe."

The show opens on December 17 and runs for a four-show season at The Globe Theatre with support from PNCC Creative Communities Scheme and local businesses.

Tickets can be booked on The Globe website or at The Globe box office.