The Last Five Years presented by One Theatre at Athenaeum Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended

"...So it goes with the One Theatre Company's atypically disappointing new production at the Athenaeum Theatre. The piece is sincerely performed by Andrew Weir and Diane Mair. And it features a highly proficient musical ensemble, led by conductor Kim Beasley. And that's about the sum total of its assets."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Josh Solomon's One Theatre Company staging features a full orchestration (as in Northlight's 2001 debut), and Andrew Weir and Diane Mair deliver ardent performances, his songs recounting their five-year affair from the start, hers chronicling it backward. But the staging is out of balance: an overwhelming six-person orchestra forces the singers to nearly scream, obscuring the lyrics. And because the performers share some of the supposedly solo scenes, the chronology gets confused. A few quiet moments register, but overall these five years feel more like Divorce Court than a rueful musical celebration of love."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...The imbalanced casting skews the he-said/she-said musical in the guy’s favor, which turns Brown’s nuanced, it-takes-two-to-tango work—one of musical theater’s most honest and sensitive accounts of how a relationship lives and dies—into a solo dance, a narcissistic grab for pity. Arguably, Brown’s lyrics and scant dialogue flesh out the composer’s stand-in with greater detail. But he gives both characters their equal due of musical depth..."

ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended

"...Andrew Weir’s performance was so strong that he makes The Last Five Years worth seeing. He shines especially in “The Schlemiel” song. Weir seems at home with Brown’s pastiche of pop-rock idioms. Now if Mair would start projecting so we can hear and understand her lyrics, The Last Five Years would become a fine two-hander."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Not Recommended

"...Listening to the romantic foibles of two self-absorbed, whiny twenty-somethings can only go so far, and the material really cries out for exciting, empathetic performances. Diane Mair registers two qualities as Cathy: shrill and annoying. And while Andrew Weir fares somewhat better, it's hard to imagine why this couple ever got together in the first place. Composer Brown is a proven talent, unfortunately his work here sounded like "American Idol" rejects."