HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS THREE PERFORMANCES OF JASON ROBERT BROWN’S “THE LAST FIVE YEARS” NOVEMBER 23 AND 24
(BOSTON) – The Huntington Theatre Company presents a concert version of Jason Robert Brown’s powerful contemporary musical The Last Five Years for three performances only November 23 and 24. Adam Kantor (Rent, Avenue Q) and Betsy Wolfe (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture) play the two twenty-something New Yorkers who dive head-first into marriage, fueled by the optimism of finding “the one.” Winner of Drama Desk Drama Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, The Last Five Years takes a bold look at one young couple’s hope that love endures the test of time.
This concert is based on the acclaimed, twice-extended production Brown directed at Second Stage last spring that Daily News praised as, “Graceful, gripping, and break-your-heart beautiful. Betsy Wolfe and Adam Kantor are simply irresistible.” Time Out New York said, “A stunning score! Brown may have won a Best Original Score Tony Award for 1998’s Parade, but this is far and away his finest work.” The 2013 Off Broadway Cast Recording is released today by Sh-K-Boom and Ghostlight Records.
The Last Five Years tells the story of a relationship from rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein’s perspective in chronological order, while struggling actress Cathy Hyatt’s experiences are revealed in reverse-chronology. The characters do not interact directly except for one song that takes place during their wedding. The beloved score features memorable Brown favorites such as “Moving Too Fast,” “I Can Do Better Than That,” and “Shiksa Goddess.”
“The Last Five Years is a cult favorite of musical theatre lovers,” says Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois. “I can’t wait to share it with Boston audiences this fall.”
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Adam Kantor (Jamie) most recently played Jamie in the acclaimed New York revival of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years at Second Stage Theatre. He previously starred in Rent on Broadway as Mark, the final performance of which was captured by Sony Pictures for Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway. He also played Henry in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal on Broadway and Princeton/Rod in Avenue Q Off Broadway. Mr. Kantor originated the role of Jeff in Nobody Loves You by Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter at The Old Globe. On television, he appeared as Ezra on “The Good Wife.” He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago and studied at the British American Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and Stella Adler Studio in New York. He is a co-founder of the nonprofit arts education organization Broadway in South Africa.
Betsy Wolfe (Cathy) will be seen on Broadway as Ellen in the upcoming Woody Allen musical Bullets Over Broadway, directed by Susan Stroman. She previously appeared on Broadway in Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Miss Deirdre Peregrine/Rosa Bud, Everyday Rapture (also Off Broadway) 110 in the Shade, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Merrily We Roll Along with Encores!. Ms. Wolfe recently appeared as Cathy in the Off Broadway revival of The Last Five Years at Second Stage Theatre. She created the role of Mary Ann Singleton in ACT’s world premiere of Tales of the City, a musical based on Armistead Maupin’s novels, with music by the Scissor Sisters, originally workshopped at the O’Neill Theatre Conference. She can be heard on the recordings of Merrily We Roll Along, 35MM, 110 in the Shade, Everyday Rapture, and Stage Door Canteen. Ms. Wolfe starred in the San Francisco and Boston companies of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Additional regional credits include Tommy at Dallas Theatre Center and Ragtime at Paper Mill Playhouse. She has been a guest artist for over 25 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras across the US and internationally. At 23, she made her concert debut at Carnegie Hall as a headliner with the Cincinnati Pops under Maestro Erich Kunzel. Ms. Wolfe was a guest soloist for the New York City Ballet where she performed at Lincoln Center and at The Coliseum in London.
Andrew Resnick (Music Director/Pianist) served as music director for the Huntington’s production of A Civil War Christmas. He is a New York-based music director, pianist, and conductor. Broadway credits include the upcoming Bridges of Madison County, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Book of Mormon, and Wicked. He was the music director for Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas at NYTW (2012) and Long Wharf Theatre (2008). Associate music director credits include Far From Heaven (Playwrights Horizons), A Room with a View (Old Globe), Sycamore Trees (Signature Theatre), and Dangerous Beauty (Pasadena Playhouse). Mr. Resnick is the pianist on the recently released 2013 Off Broadway Cast Recording of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, as well as on Vernon Duke’s Sweet Bye and Bye and on Loesel and Burkell’s Sorta Love Songs. He is a graduate of Yale University.
Jason Robert Brown (Music, Lyrics, Original Director) is the composer and lyricist of 13 with Robert Horn and Dan Elish, which began its life in Los Angeles in 2007 and opened on Broadway in 2008; The Last Five Years, which was cited as one of Time magazine’s “10 Best of 2001” and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics; Parade, with Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold Prince, which premiered at Lincoln Center Theater in 1998 and subsequently won both the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best New Musical and the Tony Award for Best Original Score; and Songs for a New World, a theatrical song cycle directed by Daisy Prince, which played Off Broadway in 1995, and has since been seen in hundreds of productions around the world. Parade was also the subject of a major revival directed by Rob Ashford, first at London’s Donmar Warehouse and then at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Upcoming musical projects include Honeymoon in Vegas with Andrew Bergman, a musical adaptation of the 1992 film, and The Bridges of Madison County with Marsha Norman, adapted from the bestselling novel. He is also working with Daisy Prince and Jonathan Marc Sherman on a new chamber musical called The Connector. His orchestral adaptation of E.B. White’s novel, The Trumpet of the Swan, premiered at the Kennedy Center with John Lithgow and the National Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Brown is the winner of the 2002 Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyrics and the 1996 Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Foundation Award for Musical Theatre. As a soloist or with his band The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, he has performed sold-out concerts around the world. His first solo album, Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes, featuring The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, was named one of Amazon.com’s Best of 2005 and is available from Sh-K-Boom Records. His collaboration with singer Lauren Kennedy, “Songs of Jason Robert Brown,” is available on PS Classics. Jason is also the composer of the incidental music for David Lindsay-Abaire’s Kimberly Akimbo and Fuddy Meers, Marsha Norman’s Last Dance, David Marshall Grant’s Current Events, Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery, and the Irish Repertory Theater’s production of Long Day’s Journey into Night. Jason will be serving as the musical supervisor and arranger for the upcoming musical, Prince of Broadway, a celebration of the career of Harold Prince. Jason studied composition with Samuel Adler, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.