Review: Everybody Needs to Know About the Israeli Production of THE LAST 5 YEARS

In less than twenty years it received an Off-Broadway production, an Off-Broadway revival, numerous productions worldwide and a big screen film. Last month, Jason Robert Brown's one of a kind musical The Last 5 Years, directed by Eidan Lipper, finally made its long-overdue Israeli debut and premiered at The Cameri Theatre.

This two-actors musical is a story about the five-year relationship between actress Cathy Hiatt (changed in Hebrew to Katie/Katy) and novelist Jamie Wellerstein, uniquely told in alternating solos by the two in different directions of time- in chronological order by Jamie and in reverse chronological order by Cathy.

In such a musical everything relies on its two actors. As Jamie, Ben Naftaly shows extraordinary vocals and acting talent, flawlessly handling Brown's famous male singing challenges and only needs to reduce the amount of hands gestures he uses while singing, especially since he hardly needs them given his natural emotion projection through song abilities.

It's inspiring that Meital Kalika not only plays Cathy but is also the person who's behind bringing this musical to Israel (with assistance from director Eidan Lipper) and is part of the three-women translating team. Kalika has a beautiful singing voice and acts well, especially in the show's more comic parts, but there's one thing that the person who plays the role of Cathy Hiatt needs to bring- everything. Meital, who seems like she has such abilities, holds herself back in all fields. She tries to feel the meaning of the song but doesn't express all the emotion that she should, when a good example for that could be seen in the song A Part of That where while Naftaly succeeded with subtle facial expressions to express so much more than she tried to express through song. She can sing beautifully, but when powerful singing is required, and such a task is definitely required in many of Brown's songs, she doesn't reach such vocal strength and power. Perhaps it's a matter of time, but if she could break through these barriers and reach her true potential this production could easily have its right cast.

As mentioned, the musical's translation to Hebrew was not a one person's job but was made by Amit Levit, May Baum and Meital Kalika, and this team work is evident in their terrific work that not only keeps the original intention of the songs, especially in The Schmuel Song, A Summer in Ohio and Climbing Uphill, but also adds funny and sharp translations. That being said, there are a few songs that did lose their meaning or depth, such as Moving Too Fast which somehow became too repetitive, or the powerful last line in See I'm Smiling which was very much missing, but thanks to the clever rhymes and an overall flowing sound cases such as these weren't too eminent.

Being a Jason Robert Brown musical, a most important component such as the music should receive a central spot in the production. Thankfully that was the case, with a combination between Eidan Lipper's direction, Arnon Ziv's outstanding musical direction and Karin Naftaly's original set design where the live band was seated behind a courtroom judge's bench. If that weren't enough, it definitely helped having excellent musical arrangements played by four musicians that include Naomi Kern and Orly Shapiro on strings, Tamir Baider on the drums and Ziv on the piano.

The only thing that's needed for this production is to receive more upcoming performances dates and more support from its hosting theatre, because with a relatively new musical, a rising star actor, and a creative team that actually feels like everyone in it is part of one same team, it should definitely be seen more and inspire others to create more productions like this.

Photo Credit: Oz Hayun and the production's official Facebook page.

For tickets and further information, visit The Cameri Theatre.

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