The Last Five Years

The Last Five years is a compelling, emotion wrenching piece of art that I hope will be handed down through time. It had a short run on broadway, but has been popping up in small town theatre across the U.S. I fell in love with the music the first time I heard it, and wish I could have caught it when it ran in New York or Illinois.

amaizing!

This is the best song book that Brown has come out with. When i first heard this music i didn't really like it. Now it has grown on me and i can't stop listening to it. He gets so much emotion i can't believe a human actually wrote this! i also saw the closing show of this in NYC and it really shows that there are 3 sides to a story, his, hers and the truth...

a terrific songbook

Let provide a little more information about this book, which i absolutely love. Like all of the other Jason Robert Brown vocal selections, this one is characterized by complex piano arrangements (for the most part transcriptions of the actual piano parts you hear on the recording). The casual player will find these arrangements MUCH more difficult to play than the average broadway vocal selections (such as Phantom, Les Miz) because they are not simplified. However, the intermediate player will find much to love in these pieces. I think of the JRB trifecta (last 5 years, parade, songs for a new world) to be a pretty great workshop in how to play rock piano accompaniments.

This book is definately my favorite of the 3. The first reason is that it is by far the most complete. All but 2 songs are presented (See I'm Smiling, and A Miracle Would Happen), although a few songs lose interludes (the intro to Still Hurting and the matching exit from Goodbye Til Tommorow). Climbing Uphill is combined into "When you come home to me".

Second, wow, the music. This stuff just feels great under the fingers and I think Brown has really matured as a composer with the variety in this work.