Matinee performance of the musical The Last 5 Years at The Arts Asylum in Kansas City, exploring the complexities of love and ambition through a dual timeline.
The Arts Asylum is running The Last Five Years in Kansas City from October 16 through October 24, with a matinee performance on Sunday, October 18. Emma Whitney plays Cathy Hiatt and Carson Tate plays Jamie Wellerstein.
If you've never seen it, The Last Five Years is a two-person musical that follows the five-year relationship between Cathy and Jamie, and it does so with a bit of a twist: their stories move in opposite directions. Cathy's story runs backward, starting with the heartbreak and working its way back to when they first fell in love. Jamie's moves forward, from that first infatuation through to the separation. The two timelines run side by side, so you see the beginning of the relationship and the end of it at the same time.
It's a small show—just the two of them on stage—and the score mixes humor with a fair amount of vulnerability. It looks at the messy parts of love, ambition, and how time changes people. Because of the way the timelines work, you often get the context for one character's scene from the other's, so you're seeing the same relationship from two very different perspectives.
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Behind the scenes, Ryan Fortney directed the production, and Bailey Rose handled the scenic design, creative direction, and costume design. Ruthie Wu did hair, Lacey Pacheco took on music direction and lighting design, and Scott Crause served as stage manager. David Emerick produced the run. The show runs from October 16 to October 24 at The Arts Asylum, with a matinee on Sunday, October 18.
