Cast Announced For London Premiere of The Last Five Years

By John Nathan
June 23, 2006

The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced casting for The Last Five Years, the musical follow-up to the South London production house’s acclaimed revival of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George.

Jason Robert Brown’s one-act two-hander follows the courtship, marriage and break up of a couple’s relationship, told from start to finish by the man and from finish to start by the woman.

The Last Five Years previews at the Chocolate Factory beginning July 18, opening July 25.

In Matthew White’s production Damian Humbley will play "nice Jewish boy" Jamie and Lara Pulver the nice Christian girl Cathy.

Menier producers David Babani and Danielle Tarento will be hoping to match the success of their production of Sunday in the Park With George, which transferred from the Southwark venue to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre on May 23 following previews from May 13. It’s thought the revival of the Sondheim and Lapine musical will travel to New York in 2007.

Composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown, who won a Tony in 1999 with his score to Parade, is considered by many to be the heir apparent to Sondheim. And, like Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, The Last Five Years distorts time in order to tell its story.

Pulver’s stage credits include touring productions of Miss Saigon, High Society, The Boyfriend and Chicago. Australian-born Humbley was cast opposite Ruthie Henshall in Lloyd Webber’s Woman in White at the West End’s Palace Theatre, and credits in his home country include Billy Boy in Urinetown.

For more on The Last Five Years, which is booking until Sept. 30, call (0)207 907 7060 or www.menierchocolatefactory.com.