Five Years This Year: Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years will have its Broadway premiere in a new production starring Tony winner Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) and Nick Jonas (The Jonas Brothers, How to Succeed…) directed by Tony and Drama Desk nominee Whitney White (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, On Sugarland), set to open in spring 2025. The two-character musical premiered at the Northlight Theater in Skokie, Illinois. It opened Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater in 2002 with Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott, winning Drama Desk Awards for Brown’s Music and Lyrics. A 2013 revival at Second Stage starred Adam Kantor and Betsy Wolfe. The 2014 film version directed by Richard LaGravenese was headlined by Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick.
The plot follows the five-year relationship between author Jamie Wellerstein and actress Cathy Hiatt. The unique structure follows Jamie’s story moving forward chronologically and Cathy’s moving backwards. The two did not directly interact except for the wedding scene when the meet in the middle of each other’s story.
The musical is based on Brown’s real-life marriage to Theresa O’Neill who sued her ex-husband for violating a non-disclosure agreement in their divorce proceeding. Brown countersued O’Neill for interfering in his creative process. In the settlement, Brown altered certain parts of the script to lessen Cathy’s resemblance to O’Neill.
“The Last Five Years is one of the greatest original American musicals in the canon. I could not be more excited to bring it to Broadway for the first time with Nick and Adrienne, two powerhouse performers and lovers of theatre,” said director Whitney White. “I fell in love with this musical many years ago when I was a student at Northwestern. I found it then, and still consider The Last Five Years to be such a human portrait and a beautiful exercise in making time – the one thing we are all bound to – feel consequential. The songs are iconic, and the vibes are very two-thousand-and-now because this is a story about artists falling in and out of love and what happens when something has to come to an end. There is no place in the world that can rip people apart and bring them together like New York City. I think we all understand how hard it is to leave something behind; a lover, a job, a country, a relationship that doesn’t serve you anymore. But for me, the heartbreak at the center of the show walks hand in hand with abundant love and possibility. I know that audiences will be blown away, once again, by the brilliance of Jason Robert Brown’s one-of-a-kind composition, orchestration and musical vision, and that they will see themselves in Jamie and Cathy– two young people trying to figure it all out.”
“On June 15, 1999, I wrote the first song of a new project,” said Jason Robert Brown on June 14, 2024. “It was the first time I had started a project without knowing where it was going to end up, without a producer or collaborators, just me very much on my own needing to find the music and words that would tell a story that was twisting my heart into impossible shapes every day. For twenty-five years, I have let The Last Five Years lead me on its journey, through our very first production in Skokie in 2001 to our Off-Broadway premiere a year later, a thrilling film version, a record-breaking revival at Second Stage, and thousands of productions spanning every continent. I have always believed that when the time was right, The Last Five Years would make its way to Broadway. To have Nick and Adrienne taking on these roles is a composer’s dream come true, and to have Whitney’s extraordinary guidance and vision is the hope of every playwright. It has taken twenty-five years, but the time is right.”
Idina Menzel in Redwood: Tony winner Idina Menzel will return to Broadway in Redwood, a new musical she co-conceived. The original musical which premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse this past February is slated to open sometime in 2025. Written and directed by Tony Award nominee Tina Landau, with music by Kate Diaz, and lyrics by Landau and Diaz, Redwood is conceived by Landau and Menzel, with additional contributions by Menzel. Landau will also be directing the Broadway premiere of Floyd Collins, set to open next April at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
“I’m so thrilled to be returning to Broadway, and the fact that I get to do it with Redwood, a musical that means so much to me, makes it even more special,” Menzel said. “This show has lived in my bones for fifteen years, from the very first time Tina and I discussed working together. Finally getting to do it on Broadway is really a dream come true.” After her Tony-winning performance in Wicked, Menzel’s last Broadway show was If/Then in 2014.
Redwood is a transportive new musical about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwood forest. Jesse (Menzel) is a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who seems to have it all, but inside, her heart is broken. Finding herself at a turning point, Jesse leaves everyone and everything behind, gets in her car and drives… Thousands of miles later, she hits the majestic forests of Northern California, where a chance meeting and a leap of faith change her life forever. With its deeply personal story, refreshingly contemporary sound, and awe-inspiring design, Redwood explores the lengths –and heights– one travels to find strength, resilience and healing.
Menzel will launch a career-spanning North American tour this summer, which will give fans an opportunity to hear a few songs from Redwood ahead of the show’s Broadway premiere.
