Oak Park Newspaper

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Oak Park Journal Endorses
Senator Don Harmon in the
Illinois Primary Election
Paid for by Friends of Don Harmon

"Highly Recommended, great singers, grand songs....." OPJ

The New PG (Playground Theater) seats 40 and begins its life showing a wonderful production.
© Oak Park Journal

The Last 5 Years
Music and Lyrics by: Jason Robert Brown
directed by Scott Lee Heckman
Runs March 12th - 26th
review by Ed Vincent

Having just reviewed the wonderful opera event at Village
Players only a week ago my mind was still tuned to the
sound of bel canto and not finding that in first few songs
I took a deep breath and began to absorb the sounds of a
tale of woe. If the sets were a bit different, and a narrator
added in a tuxedo, this could be a show that could run
in a race with the likes of Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific
Overtures".

The drama and feel of Heckman's work is Sondheim like and
very good with the fine cast of this performance. The plot has
two married people singing from not only different perspectives
but also from separate directions in time, one forward and one
back. It's not confusing, but rather engaging. Village Player's
new stage is very intimate and allows for an almost one on one
show-and being a musical you will live the tunes.

Scott Lee Heckman also wrote Parade, which was shown
in Chicago a number of times, and to great reviews. This
production (the Last Five Years) was debuted in Skokie,
Illinois in 2001. It was first shown at the Northlight Theatre
and was a hit, even with Mr. Heckman's ex-wife who
demanded in court that he change a number of items in the production so that everyone would not know their business
and the history of their divorce. Mr. Heckman agreed and
changed the play so as to remove all reference to his ex-wife's
Irish-American lineage, named the female Catherine, and
replaced the song "Shiksa Goddess" for the old one called
"I Could Be In Love with Someone Like You".

For Heckman and (current-not West Side Story era...) devotees
of Sondheim this will be a real treat. All others will find this
production engaging, well performed, and evocative of
the joys and pitfalls of love. One couple in the audience
even came from Milwaukee to see this play, they had seen
it recently at home and enjoyed this production more.

Your drive will probably be shorter, but so too is your time.
This 90 minute production has only a week left in Oak Park,
it should be extended....

SONG LIST

Scene One - Still Hurting (Catherine)
Scene Two - I Could Be In Love with Someone Like You (Jamie)
Scene Three - See I'm Smiling (Catherine)
Scene Four - Moving Too Fast (Jamie)
Scene Five - A Part of That (Catherine)
Scene Six - The Schmuel Song (Jamie)
Scene Seven - A Summer in Ohio (Catherine)
Scene Eight - The Next Ten Minutes (Jamie & Catherine)
Scene Nine - A Miracle Would Happen (Jamie)
Scene Ten - Audition Sequence (Catherine)
Scene Eleven - If I Didn't Believe In You (Jamie)
Scene Twelve - I Can Do Better Than That Catherine)
Scene Thirteen - Nobody Needs to Know (Jamie)
Scene Fourteen - Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You (Catherine & Jamie)

Catherine, played by the great singer Ms. Kamaran Madison tells
her side of the tale with tender songs and powerful directions.
© Oak Park Journal

© Oak Park Journal

The Last 5 Years
directed by Scott Lee Heckman
Runs March 12th - 26th
Previews: March 10th & 11th
Parking: Street parking available

The Last Five Years, a powerful, emotional musical for two actors that premiered in Skokie and went to Broadway, inaugurates Village Players Theatre's new performance space, The Play Ground. Formerly, the company's black box, this
small "second stage" allows intimate performances of edgier, experiemental pieces, work in progress, or individual performances.

Five Years tells the story of the disintegration of a marriage
from the perspective of both spouses, a Jewish novelist and his Catholic wife. Catherine's (Kamaran Madison) story starts with their breakup and moves to their meeting, while Jamie's (James Spangler) is told from the first date to their unfortunate split.

Directed by Scott Lee Heckman, this play features James Spangler, who made his Chicago-area debut at Village Players
in Chad Morton's TV Christmas Miracle. An Indianapolis native, his work there included Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Tom Thumb in Barnum. And Kamaran Madison, who charmed audiences at Village Players in December with her performance as troubled chanteuse Mitzi in Chad Morton's TV Christmas Miracle. Also at Village Players, she performed in the musical revue Broadway Snapshots and, this March, takes a classical turn in A Night at the Opera.

Village Players Theatre of Oak Park
708-524-1892
The Last Five Years is showing

Fridays and Saturdays at
8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm

vptmanage@yahoo.com
www.village-players.org

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