Theatre Thursdays: The Last Five Years Film Ready for Release

Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years never had a particularly long run in its off-Broadway productions, but it has proven immensely popular through the years. The story is simple: a young couple meets, marries, and divorces, but there’s a small twist that makes the show unique. The characters, Cathy and Jamie, each tell the story of their relationship in episodes. While Jamie’s go from start to finish, Cathy’s begin at the relationship’s demise and go back in time to their first meeting.

A movie adaptation of the musical was announced in early 2013, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan; however, with the exception of releasing the poster, there was almost no news concerning the production. Few photos were released, no premiere date was announced, and I started to question whether the movie was still on track. Happily, the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival this month and is scheduled for commercial release Valentine’s Day, 2015.

With the movie finally ready to be released, I have begun doing what every fan does when a book/TV show/play is announced for a film adaptation: wondering how the magic of the original will translate to the big screen. There are a lot of aspects of the musical which make it difficult for a film adaptation. With the exception of one scene, the two characters never dialogue; there isn’t really a narrative thread to the show, and the back and forth structure of the storytelling can be confusing.

Trailer Tuesdays: Pitch Perfect

Possible Spoiler Alert!

Pitch Perfect is loosely based on Mickey Rapkin’s non-fiction novel of the same name, which was about many different a capella groups and how amazingly competitive they are. The movie is about Beca (played by Anna Kendrick) a brand spanking new freshman at fictional Barden University. After making the mistake of singing in the communal shower, Beca is practically forced to join the school’s all-female a capella group: The Bellas. Finding the repertoire boring and old-fashioned, she helps create new and, dare I say, sexy (oh my!) mixes, mash ups, and routines. The Bellas then take on their rivals, the all-male a capella group: The Treblemakers.

The funniest person in the movie will likely be ‘Fat Amy’ played by Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson. I was excited to see her in the trailer because I loved her character Brynn, Gil’s vacation visa sister that helps kick Annie Walker (Kristen Wiig) out of the apartment in the movie Bridesmaids. I was hoping to see the hilarious Wilson in more movies and Hollywood, for once, complied.

Another person I am happy to see is Adam DeVine who I know and love from the Comedy Central show “Workaholics.” DeVine plays ‘Bumper’, the head bad boy (asshole) of The Treblemakers. If he is half as funny in this as he is on “Workaholics” I have a feeling Fat Amy and Bumper are going to be the most memorable parts in the movie.

Pitch Perfect has been mostly advertised as a cool “we can accomplish anything” sort of movie, but it has also been called a romantic comedy. Hopefully Pitch Perfect, will only have a little romance on the side and will be awesome and memorable like Bridesmaids and not sappy and annoying like well, a romantic comedy. Pitch Perfect will be in theaters nationwide October 5th!