Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Andrew Martin and Alyssa Alonte of St. Dunstan's Theatre's 'The Last Five Years'

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Exclusive Interview: Andrew Martin and Alyssa Alonte of St. Dunstan's Theatre's 'The Last Five Years' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Love stories are rarely as simple as they seem,
• 0:02
  and Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years makes that especially clear.
• 0:05
  At St. Dustin's Theatres, Andrew Martin and Alyssa Elonte take on the roles
• 0:10
  of Jamie and Kathy, a couple whose five-year relationship unfolds from
• 0:13
  two completely different perspectives.
• 0:14
  Thank you both for being here.
• 0:17
  Yeah, thank you for having us.
• 0:18
  Yeah, thank you.
• 0:19
  So this is again, I kinda saw this off camera,
• 0:21
  but say it again, I have not seen this live.
• 0:23
  I am so excited for it. And I can only imagine how excited the two of you
• 0:25
  are to be in the show. How are you feeling when you're just about a week
• 0:28
  out from opening night?
• 0:31
  ~ I th I think it's the the the the home stretch jitters,
• 0:35
  but ultimately the adrenaline's pumping and we're we're really excited.
• 0:39
  Yeah, I'm really excited. We've been running the show in front
• 0:44
  of just the director, assistant director,
• 0:47
  music director. We've had an audience of like five.
• 0:50
  So I'm ready to be in front of a real audience and like get the energy from them
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  and just like have a a
• 0:58
  a group of people to perform to,
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  so I'm I'm excited.
• 1:02
  What was your initial reaction when you guys found out that you were doing
• 1:04
  the last five years together?
• 1:06
  ~ it was it was a really cool experience because we were
• 1:12
  on our way home from auditions and I had gotten the call first.
• 1:18
  ~ and Alyssa was really excited for me.
• 1:21
  But as we like turned the corner and like parked,
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  ~ she was getting a call simultaneously.
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  So we kind of found out within a minute of each other.
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  ~ and it was just a really
• 1:34
  Really special experience to be able to celebrate at the same time.
• 1:37
  There was no like, well, you got a call and I haven't heard anything
• 1:39
  for 45 minutes or or a day or or whatever.
• 1:42
  So I I thought that it was a really cool experience to get those calls
• 1:45
  at the the same time for the most part.
• 1:47
  Yeah. We were really excited. I was freaking out.
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  I could not believe it. I was like,
• 1:51
  did that just happen? Like, there's no way.
• 1:53
  It felt like unreal. ~ yeah,
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  like it was just excitement and craziness.
• 1:59
  Cause we were also at the time.
• 2:01
  in a show together and we had a show,
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  we had a performance that night and we had gone to auditions that morning
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  and you know, we were didn't know what to expect.
• 2:12
  And then we yeah both got those calls and it was like,
• 2:14
  what? Like what just happened?
• 2:18
  I mean it's so cool when you the two,
• 2:19
  you know, a couple can do a show together,
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  but also then to do a two person show when there's nobody else to kinda act off of.
• 2:25
  I mean, that's gotta be a level of excitement to be in a show together when it's
• 2:30
  just the two of you.
• 2:31
  Yeah,
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  definitely. I will say though,
• 2:33
  it's strange to only be on stage alone.
• 2:37
  I mean, I'm on stage by myself most of the time.
• 2:39
  We're not like interacting together.
• 2:42
  So it is really interesting that we're like doing the show together,
• 2:45
  but we're not on stage together for most of it.
• 2:49
  Is that an extra level of I mean 'cause it goes like a two person show actually
• 2:54
  to like a one person show that you're kind of running.
• 2:56
  Is there an extra like level of the best word coming to mind is kind of stress
• 3:00
  to a show where it's just like you being on stage by yourself?
• 3:04
  Yeah. Yeah, I I think there is an extra layer of difficulty,
• 3:08
  a little bit more of a challenge.
• 3:09
  ~ when you're doing shows with other people on stage,
• 3:15
  you can react to how they're reacting and and you can just kind of go
• 3:18
  off of body language and ~ and make your moves that way.
• 3:22
  ~ I have to act like Alyssa is on stage with me.
• 3:27
  And I have to anticipate how she would react or ~
• 3:31
  and anticipate my next move. So it is a it is a a an added level of difficulty
• 3:37
  or or an additional challenge.
• 3:38
  Yeah, I mean,
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  Sure.
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  and you know, it's like acting is reacting,
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  except there's no one there to r react off of because you're there on stage alone.
• 3:49
  So it's definitely a completely different experience than any other show that I've
• 3:53
  been in. yeah, because like you said,
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  like I'm
• 3:58
  Singing, I'm on stage alone and I look over to sing to you,
• 4:01
  but you're not there. So that's just it's it's interesting.
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  And and even when we're on stage together during like scene transitions,
• 4:09
  ~ it's been made explicitly clear Don't look at the person don't look at the person.
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  Ha ha.
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  Like we
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  we have to pass each other multiple times on transitions.
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  It I mean, again, having only seen the movie,
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  there's only like one part truly where the your paths kind of cross because
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  ~ the story is kind of told a little unusually where Jamie's moving straight forward
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  through the story and Kathy's moving backwards.
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  but there is there a moment where the two of you do kind of cross or
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  is that also not in the stage production?
• 4:37
  We do, yeah. So we do get to meet in the middle,
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  we get to sing together, we have that little moment together,
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  and then there's ~ at the end we're on stage together,
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  but again we're not like in the same time.
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  So you'll
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  Sure.
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  see us together again, but we're not together.
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  So how do you kind of approach then telling a story where
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  the characters are essentially experiencing the relationship in opposite directions?
• 5:02
  I hate to sound selfish. It's easier for me because
• 5:05
  Yeah.
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  I'm going from start to finish.
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  ~
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  Sure.
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  but no, I I get to get my really belty difficult songs out of the way
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  and just kinda tone it down towards the end where ~ I mean you have
• 5:18
  it to channeling what what you need to at the beginning.
• 5:22
  Yeah,
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  I mean, we had to reconstruct the show and one of our rehearsals,
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  we ran it in chronological order so that I could experience
• 5:29
  Okay.
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  what it would be like to, you know,
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  have that straightforward timeline instead of moving backwards in time,
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  which was really helpful for me to be able to just give context to
• 5:42
  the songs and add more of that emotion.
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  Cause it is hard to work.
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  Backwards and figure out, like,
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  okay, what am I feeling in this moment?
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  And you know, where am I in the relationship in this moment?
• 5:55
  ~ yeah, so I'm really glad we have ~ our director,
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  Jamie, had wanted us to do the chronological order,
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  and I'm really glad we got to do that.
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  He even wanted to do a run where I was moving forward in time and
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  you were going backward.
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  But we just ended up not doing that.
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  We kinda ran out of time. I'm kinda glad we didn't do that 'cause that just seemed
• 6:18
  complicated.
• 6:19
  I do love the idea of you doing it,
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  like getting to do it chronologically as well,
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  because I feel like that does add like well,
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  you can sell the story anyway,
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  but like be able to like live it that way and then be able to like you
• 6:31
  Yeah.
• 6:31
  know, you build all those natural moments that you can reverse backwards.
• 6:35
  Yeah, exactly. I'm really glad we got to do that.
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  Because it did like inform so much.
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  Like by the time I got to the end,
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  which was my first song, it was like colored in such a way where I had
• 6:45
  so much more just context and emotion to the piece that I'm able to like,
• 6:50
  okay, let me tap into that when we first begin.
• 6:52
  yeah, I'm really glad we got to do that.
• 6:56
  So what do you think maybe makes Jamie and Kathy work as a c couple
• 6:59
  in the first place? And at the same time,
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  what do you think ultimately makes their relationship fall apart?
• 7:05
  I think what works for them is that they they both have big ideas for what they want
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  to do. ~ and they both want somebody to be by their side while they're experiencing
• 7:16
  all of this. So I I think the ability to have a partner or a cheerleader,
• 7:21
  ~ supporting your your your your theater ~ adventures or your writing adventures,
• 7:27
  I I think that that works for them.
• 7:31
  I I think what ultimately leads to their demise is kind of the focus
• 7:36
  on only needing a partner for that as well.
• 7:40
  So I think having that want for a partner to be alongside of them is both their
• 7:46
  pro and their con, because it does not necessarily mesh well with
• 7:52
  ~ with just their overall focus in and what they want.
• 7:57
  It's like it seems like they just want like
• 7:59
  that extra body there alongside them,
• 8:01
  but kind of lacking in in some of that emotional and romantic depth.
• 8:06
  Yeah, I feel like they are so similar.
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  You know, like they're both like young,
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  ambitious people who want, yeah,
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  a partner and like want to be in love.
• 8:18
  And I think that's what draws them to each other.
• 8:20
  And I think ultimately too, they're so similar that that kind of ends
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  up being their downfall.
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  Because
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  one of them is, you know, excelling in their career and the other one isn't.
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  And it I think the career paths
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  and the relationship that they go through are so intertwined that it
• 8:44
  it becomes a little blurred. Like,
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  is this, you know, successes in our marriage or is it successes in your career?
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  You know, like I feel like that ultimately is why they
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  Don't end up together. Mm-hmm.
• 8:58
  Yeah.
• 8:59
  Agree, there's definitely like that blurring of like what is what is
• 9:03
  our life and what is the life that is existing with us in it,
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  but outside of that realm.
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  Right. Right.
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  So Andrew, you know, getting to experience it chronologically,
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  and as the audience watches you,
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  they kinda watch you fall in love with Kathy and then essentially move towards
• 9:16
  the end of your relationship. How do you feel like ~ it affects the
• 9:20
  way you play Jamie, getting to start with the love and kind of end with
• 9:23
  the ~ the breakup?
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  ~ I I think that it gives me the ability to have
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  to tap into getting people to like me right off the bat.
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  ~ and and just see that it's not just this diabolical
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  ~ person which eventually comes into his character traits throughout the rest
• 9:45
  of the show, but ~ especially with the the first song being such a sad number
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  i in the show. ~
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  It's it's my responsibility to show the people that are coming to see
• 9:56
  the show that that Jamie does love Kathy,
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  and Jamie did love Kathy, and Jamie can be a good guy ~
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  and a good partner because he does show flashes of that throughout the show,
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  and then ~ being able to pivot and and kind of rework that
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  ~ aesthetic or those optics as the show goes on to show that.
• 10:21
  character development from becoming a likable person and and starting
• 10:25
  off on that note to to to being this person where it's like it's not just,
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  Jamie's a jerk. It's like, ~ I I kind of see what happened during the events
• 10:35
  of the show that caused Jamie to go down the the path that he went down.
• 10:40
  Yeah, I definitely think there's some there's some perspective that
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  I think that it's easy to see him as a villain sometimes.
• 10:46
  And you know, and I think that what you do with his story is that you
• 10:48
  see that he's not as villainous ~ as he may be people see
• 10:53
  him from Kathy's perspective as you kinda see her story.
• 10:56
  Alyssa, so Kathy's journey can be particularly heartbreaking because
• 10:59
  the audience knows where she's headed ~ while she's experiencing those earlier
• 11:03
  moments. So how do you kind of approach that emotional complexity?
• 11:06
  It's hard to especially start from.
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  I mean, the first song is called Still Hurting.
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  It's hard to, especially just like in the rehearsal process,
• 11:16
  to go about my day and then show up at rehearsal and then have to like
• 11:20
  be in a really like somber, serious headspace to portray that.
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  ~ so yeah, the first couple songs are quite sad.
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  But it is nice to kind of get that out of the way at the top of the show
• 11:35
  and then kind of just like show like Kathy's whimsy and her joy and
• 11:41
  her falling in love. And it is,
• 11:43
  I mean, obviously, like we know how the story ends,
• 11:47
  but it's feels good to like you have to end the show on a very somber note.
• 11:53
  I get to like live in that space of like just finding.
• 11:59
  new love and like it's a space of like excitement and possibility and
• 12:04
  ~ it it's really fun to be able to portray that
• 12:08
  ~ at the finale of the show to be like excited and looking forward
• 12:15
  to the future and close out the show with those emotions.
• 12:21
  For sure. I I want to say that I feel like Kathy's journey is the one that when
• 12:25
  I watch the film specifically,
• 12:26
  I'm always drawn to that because there's just something
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  so interesting about watching somebody do love backwards,
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  you know what I mean? Like and
• 12:33
  Yeah.
• 12:33
  getting to kind of end on that happy note,
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  but not you get to see so much of the anger and the fr and the the sadness
• 12:39
  and all of those pieces that come with what is essentially a breakup.
• 12:44
  ~ so it's always kind of cool to see that journey and the emotional complexity that
• 12:48
  it is. But you are starting off the show with.
• 12:50
  the emotion, the heightened emotion,
• 12:52
  which I mean, from start to finish,
• 12:54
  like does it take a like what does it take to kind of hit that you have
• 12:56
  to start really high and kind of emotionally strong?
• 13:00
  Yeah, I mean, I really have to like lock in at the top of the show to be like,
• 13:04
  okay, like I'm here to portray like devastation and sadness
• 13:10
  Yeah.
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  and like hurt. Like it it is, it's really difficult to like get to that place.
• 13:16
  when I was saying earlier we ran it chronologically,
• 13:19
  like that's why the first time we did that,
• 13:21
  it just gave like being able to see the story,
• 13:25
  how it actually happens, like gave me so much.
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  emotion
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  for those first couple songs and being able to like
• 13:37
  tap into like okay, what are these feelings,
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  like what are these strong emotions?
• 13:41
  ~
• 13:41
  Sure.
• 13:42
  is it it's tough. So I'm again glad we got to do that and glad that ~
• 13:49
  I can get those out of the way and then be able to kind of sail through
• 13:53
  the rest of the show.
• 13:56
  You know, something interesting about the show too is that I think
• 13:58
  it could be argued that neither Jamie nor Kathy is completely right or wrong when
• 14:01
  it comes to the relationship and how it kind of all falls apart.
• 14:04
  ~
• 14:04
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:05
  how do you approach playing characters who can,
• 14:07
  I guess, maybe sometimes be frustrating for the audience to see that they
• 14:10
  are maybe not they're they're telling they're like they're narrating their
• 14:13
  own stories, but maybe they're not reliable narrators to everything that's going on.
• 14:17
  Ooh, that's that's a good one.
• 14:19
  You looked right at me. So I'm like,
• 14:20
  okay, I gotta answer this one.
• 14:21
  I know, I know. Yeah
• 14:21
  What's that like? I feel like it's more for you than Yeah.
• 14:24
  No, that you're that's absolutely right,
• 14:26
  is is you you have to bring a human element to it.
• 14:30
  And I think one of the things that Jason Robert Brown did when writing this show,
• 14:36
  ~ was he took his story and he didn't paint himself as a victim.
• 14:41
  So
• 14:42
  I I need to be able to tap into his personal vulnerability
• 14:46
  to essentially call himself out through the through the course of this show.
• 14:49
  ~ but also bring it from a perspective
• 14:54
  of getting them to like you and into kind of coercing them or persuading them into
• 15:01
  just being like, this guy's not evil.
• 15:03
  He's just a a person. ~ and and to be able to
• 15:08
  sell that on stage and and and show the the people that are coming to see this.
• 15:12
  I think that it's important, ~ no matter what character you're portraying,
• 15:17
  if there's a polarizing figure,
• 15:18
  you I think you need to be able to tap into the the human emotion of
• 15:23
  the people that are watching the show.
• 15:25
  So where it's not these folks watching and they're just instantly like this guy's
• 15:29
  a jerk or this guy's an evil person.
• 15:32
  And and I think
• 15:33
  ~ some of the things that we get to do in the show and some of the blocking
• 15:37
  and some of the wording and how we're emphasizing some of that wording ~
• 15:40
  is going a long way ~ to to be able to portray a
• 15:45
  a polarizing character in a in in an empathetic light,
• 15:49
  so to speak. And I would say too,
• 15:52
  like just really leaning into the qualities of the character,
• 15:56
  whether they're good or bad, because at the end of the day,
• 15:59
  like acting and like storytelling is not like
• 16:03
  To it's not meant to please audiences and make them really like my character.
• 16:09
  You know, at the end of the day,
• 16:10
  it's like we're telling a story and you know,
• 16:14
  you gotta lean into the parts that may not be pleasant,
• 16:21
  yeah, favorable for the audience because that's the character's story,
• 16:25
  that's their truth, and you gotta tell that truth,
• 16:27
  you know.
• 16:28
  And what I do love about this show too is that I think that well I'll say this,
• 16:32
  as a relationship counselor, ~ I see a lot of the times that when
• 16:35
  it comes to relationships, we tend to almost villainize the other person.
• 16:39
  Or we can, you know, when things are breaking up or we want everybody kind feeds
• 16:42
  off the fact that like it should be black and white.
• 16:44
  There's there's one right person,
• 16:45
  there's one wrong person. ~
• 16:46
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:46
  and this show really highlights that there is a lot of gray area when
• 16:49
  it comes to that and that ~ being a villain doesn't
• 16:53
  isn't necessarily something that happens in real life when it comes to this.
• 16:56
  Even though that's what we kind of like in our brain craves,
• 16:58
  'cause it just makes it simple.
• 16:59
  Like there's not really it's really hard to see Jamie as like a complete villain,
• 17:04
  even though he maybe makes some bad decisions,
• 17:06
  you know?
• 17:08
  Right. No, and that and that's that was the point that I was making about just Jason
• 17:13
  Robert Brown being able to tap in and be like,
• 17:15
  I did wrong things too. ~ but being ambiguous,
• 17:20
  being obscure with the with the story itself to to allow folks to kind
• 17:26
  of sit in that uncomfortability of there is no right or wrong ~ person here.
• 17:32
  There's no winner, there's no loser.
• 17:33
  It's just it's just a relationship that didn't work out.
• 17:38
  Yeah, I will say
• 17:38
  For sure.
• 17:38
  towards like the end of the relationship in both characters' songs where it's like
• 17:45
  they're telling the point of view of the end of their relationship,
• 17:48
  you can see where they have like made the other person the victim or made
• 17:53
  the other person the villain, and you can see where they're kind of like,
• 17:57
  I'm the victim here. There are certain lyrics where it's like,
• 18:01
  Well, you know, maybe they didn't feel like that at the beginning when they were
• 18:06
  In love, but you can see how the ~ falling apart of
• 18:11
  the relationship makes them, you know,
• 18:14
  settle into these narratives of like,
• 18:16
  you wronged me and I didn't I did nothing wrong.
• 18:19
  You know what I mean? I feel like that's really
• 18:20
  Sure.
• 18:21
  present in like to justify like this is why I'm doing this.
• 18:26
  For sure. a thousand percent. And I think that's again the beauty of this show
• 18:30
  is that because you really get to deep dig deep into that.
• 18:33
  ~ and because again, only two characters,
• 18:35
  you know, you're only you're only telling one story while you're each telling
• 18:38
  one story from one perspective.
• 18:39
  And so it's really interesting to be able to dig into that.
• 18:41
  And it's I then at that point it is being able to justify like this
• 18:46
  is why things happen that way.
• 18:47
  And like it it should be okay,
• 18:48
  you know. which maybe it's not okay from either one of them.
• 18:52
  Alyssa, what do you think is kind of like cat what does Kathy want from Jamie what
• 18:55
  that maybe she isn't necessarily able to articulate when it comes
• 18:58
  to their relationship?
• 18:59
  Man, I think she wants
• 19:05
  It's interesting because she wants I think she wants to be loved by him.
• 19:08
  And I think he does give that,
• 19:12
  but I think that like
• 19:16
  his career trajectory
• 19:21
  and his success may overshadow the love that he shows her.
• 19:29
  And I will say also like the and I don't know how much you wanna
• 19:34
  get into the specifics of the show.
• 19:35
  I'm like, I don't wanna give too many like spoilers.
• 19:37
  No, yeah, you
• 19:38
  y you don't have to give that way much that way.
• 19:40
  But I will say like the there's some trust issues in the relationship,
• 19:46
  which I think, you know, I think for Kathy are ~ I think she's right to
• 19:51
  to be wary and we'll see that in the songs,
• 19:53
  you know.
• 19:55
  You know, Andrew, from from Jamie's perspective,
• 19:56
  you know, he does he's very ambitious,
• 19:59
  you know, as we talked about, you know,
• 20:01
  and that obviously is part of the the source of tension.
• 20:03
  But it almost feels like, you know,
• 20:05
  for a lot of the middle part, trying to dance around the snogged way too much,
• 20:08
  he doesn't quite understand maybe Kathy's perspective.
• 20:11
  But do you feel like by the end there's an understanding of where Kathy's coming
• 20:15
  from, or do you think that he still struggles with that as his story kind
• 20:18
  of comes to an end?
• 20:20
  I I think
• 20:22
  That's a multi-sided question to ask.
• 20:26
  Cause ~ we we've spent time dissecting ~ how we feel about the story
• 20:31
  and how it goes, but ~ we're only us two who are portraying these characters
• 20:36
  in the show. ~ and we may not,
• 20:38
  or we may have the same sort of opinions that that the that the folks seeing this
• 20:43
  will have. But I think throughout the back half of the show,
• 20:49
  I think.
• 20:51
  Jamie understands a little bit more of what Kathy
• 20:57
  is saying through not saying things.
• 21:00
  ~ I think maybe that's maybe that's a little vague,
• 21:04
  but I I think it comes across with as like Jamie just wants to experience
• 21:09
  and he wants to to to feel that there is the the support for for his career.
• 21:16
  And I think that he does it ~ at least optically through the
• 21:21
  beginning parts of the show, ~ does a a great job of like,
• 21:24
  no, like this is your career. Like I support you.
• 21:27
  I'm I'm endearing this. and I think I don't think it's anything that Kathy
• 21:32
  is saying. I think it's less of what she isn't saying or doing that has kind
• 21:37
  Sure.
• 21:37
  of just led him to to check out ~ and just be like,
• 21:40
  hey, like if if if if you're not in this and and reciprocating what
• 21:44
  I'm trying to give, ~ then then I'm just gonna kind of cut ties.
• 21:50
  And I think that's the best way that I can answer your question at
• 21:54
  No, it w that was a great
• 21:55
  at this time.
• 21:56
  answer. That was a great answer.
• 21:57
  ~ you know, we have talked about the brilliance of Jason Robert Brown's show,
• 22:01
  but we his score is also incredibly demanding of a show.
• 22:04
  And so, you know, I'm always kind of wondering what song has been
• 22:06
  the biggest challenge for for you?
• 22:08
  I, because our music director and our director asked us this at the beginning
• 22:14
  of the process.
• 22:16
  What's the song you're gonna, you know,
• 22:17
  struggle with the most? I said summer in Ohio because vocally that is up in the sky.
• 22:24
  Like it's that's it's at the top of my range.
• 22:27
  and it's just hard to sing.
• 22:30
  I always refer to all these songs as roller coasters because they're really long
• 22:37
  and they have moments where you pull back a little bit and then you like speed
• 22:42
  up a little bit, you know, you pull back again,
• 22:44
  then it grows bigger and then it's
• 22:46
  you know, they're they're very complex songs and Summer in Ohio
• 22:52
  now it's become like my favorite one to sing actually.
• 22:55
  Sure.
• 22:56
  ~ but yeah, it was just like vocally very demanding.
• 22:59
  And so that one was my hardest one.
• 23:01
  But now that I've been practicing,
• 23:04
  I quite enjoy telling the story of that song and like showing Kathy's like
• 23:12
  whimsy and like just showing another side of her that you don't really get to see,
• 23:15
  especially in the first couple songs.
• 23:18
  It's awesome. Andrew, how about for you?
• 23:21
  ~ much to the the the same point early on when they asked us the question,
• 23:25
  the the two that really stuck out to me as like my my struggle song,
• 23:30
  so to speak, was ~ a miracle would happen.
• 23:33
  ~ it's just the the story behind it lyrically,
• 23:38
  it it feels a little diabolical.
• 23:40
  ~ but there's also a ton of lyrics that you have to smush into so little space,
• 23:45
  right? So you have to have your timing correct and and you have
• 23:48
  to have your diction, and you can't
• 23:50
  Flub the words, otherwise you you you come off a little foolish.
• 23:54
  So from a technicality standpoint,
• 23:56
  that's a very difficult song. ~ but I I think the one,
• 24:00
  ~ much like Summer in Ohio, being a a a difficult song and then moving into
• 24:05
  to one of the favorites for Alyssa is ~ Myself was the Schmool song.
• 24:10
  ~ because the it's a great song.
• 24:13
  And and I was, I'll be honest,
• 24:15
  I'm not
• 24:17
  I I'm only two years into familiarity with it with this show and and and the movie.
• 24:21
  So I'm still like getting used to ~ everything and developing the just
• 24:27
  the the the things that go into this show and and learning more and
• 24:30
  Sure.
• 24:30
  more about it all the time. But the schmuel song and having to sing
• 24:35
  on stage an eight-minute song,
• 24:38
  but then having to but then having to
• 24:41
  Yeah, that's a challenge.
• 24:42
  it it it is, it is, and then
• 24:44
  You
• 24:44
  have to be a storyteller, but I have to be a storyteller to Kathy,
• 24:48
  but Kathy's not there. And so I'm just I'm like trying to do
• 24:51
  all these technical things and trying to figure out what to do in this song.
• 24:55
  ~ all while playing Jamie,
• 24:58
  ~ and then playing this magic clock and then changing up language again to
• 25:03
  be in an old ~ an old man in the show.
• 25:07
  So being able to like cut off when I'm schmool or cut off when I'm
• 25:12
  the clock and then
• 25:13
  When am I Jamie in this song? ~ but it being ~ a marathon of a song
• 25:18
  at eight minutes long, ~ in addition to ~ just all those technicalities,
• 25:23
  ~ I was very intimidated by it.
• 25:25
  But
• 25:26
  Sure.
• 25:26
  ~ as we've progressed, ~ it's been a fun song to perform.
• 25:31
  I've been doing some things on stage that have just I don't know,
• 25:34
  take taken me to the to the next level of performing it because it's become
• 25:39
  a very fun song to perform. So I've just got to like lean into that.
• 25:43
  So awesome. Well then one final question for both of you is that,
• 25:46
  you know, the show asks a lot of questions about love,
• 25:48
  timing, ambition, and how two people can experience the same relationship
• 25:51
  so differently. So what do you hope audiences take away from this production
• 25:54
  of the last five years?
• 25:56
  You know, I mean we haven't been asked that.
• 25:58
  We have not. Like what do I hope people take away from this?
• 26:00
  I hope that people see
• 26:05
  the relationship and see truth in both of the characters.
• 26:10
  I hope they see that ~ you know,
• 26:13
  that they can love each other and not be right for each other.
• 26:19
  You know, I hope they see that they can both
• 26:24
  You know, like two truths can exist at the same time and I think ~
• 26:29
  I hope that audiences see that like Jamie's point of view can be true
• 26:34
  and so can Kathy's.
• 26:36
  I love that answer. And that's so true.
• 26:37
  Thanks.
• 26:37
  I say
• 26:38
  that all the time in therapy where both both truths can be real.
• 26:41
  And like that's the difference of perspective when it comes to people.
• 26:43
  Yeah.
• 26:45
  Andrew, how about for you?
• 26:47
  Yeah, I th I think
• 26:49
  I really hope the people take
• 26:53
  From the show, the aspect of love is a magical thing.
• 26:58
  But getting wrapped up into a lot of it,
• 27:01
  like in in almost losing your identity,
• 27:05
  I think it gets to a point where I want the the people who are coming
• 27:08
  to see the show to really understand that these characters do and
• 27:12
  did love each other. Even even
• 27:14
  Sure.
• 27:14
  in the songs when they're hurting,
• 27:16
  like there is a love for for each of these characters from the other person.
• 27:20
  And it's not like
• 27:22
  Go screw off, I hate you. This is this is whatever.
• 27:25
  Like they're they are broken in these sad songs,
• 27:28
  Sure.
• 27:30
  because they've experienced this this special sort of love between the two of them.
• 27:35
  And ~ yeah, there's there's parts of the story with that are a little heavy
• 27:39
  and and diabolical, and they may sway ~ opinions one way or the other,
• 27:43
  but I think ~ just recognizing that this is a story about love and
• 27:48
  and developing in a relationship and
• 27:50
  And and also forming opinions of the things that aren't done in the show that could
• 27:57
  essentially keep that love going and just finding those opportunities of saying,
• 28:02
  like, ~ I wish they would have done this,
• 28:03
  because then these songs wouldn't have happened or or these issues wouldn't have
• 28:06
  arose within the relationship.
• 28:09
  Both beautiful answers. Thank you so much for being here,
• 28:12
  both of you. It has been such a pleasure talking with you.
• 28:14
  And again, we are so excited for the show to arrive.
• 28:16
  And I know lots of people are excited to see it.
• 28:18
  So ~ thanks for being here and chatting about it.
• 28:20
  Yeah, thanks so much. Thank you so much.
• 28:23
  The last five years arrives at St.
• 28:25
  Dunstan's Theater on October 9th and runs through the 18th,
• 28:27
  so get your tickets now and we'll you at the show.