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Do you know what you’ll be doing next Wednesday morning? We do: sitting hunched over a computer, refreshing the Town Hall landing page over and over. That’s because tickets (starting at $50) go on sale August 17 at 10am for a one-time-only concert of Tony-winning powerhouse Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple) and Joshua Henry (Shuffle Along) in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years. Brown himself will lead the orchestra on Monday, September 12.
Last seen in a revival at Second Stage Theatre three years ago, this song-cycle two-hander follows the intense love affair between novelist Jamie (Henry) and musical-theater trouper Cathy (Erivo). They’re young, urban, artistic—and only one of them is bound for success. Anyone who has seen Erivo belting “I’m Here” at the end of Color Purple or savored Henry’s muscular, velvety work in Violet, Scottsboro Boys or Shuffle, knows that the audience is in for a night of great vocals and heartstring-tugging. About the work itself, Adam Feldman wrote in 2013:
"Its appeal to show-tune lovers is obvious: Brown’s work overflows with verbal acuity, deftly combining Broadway and pop influences into music that is catchy, surprising and character-specific. Each number is in essence a theatrical monologue, because [the] central couple…shares only a single scene in the middle of the show."
The event isn’t just a chance to see two Broadway showstoppers pour their hearts and souls into a terrific bunch of songs; all the box-office proceeds benefit the Brady Center, an organization determined to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half by 2025.
