However, being such a big theater nerd has also made me extremely critical of the new musical films that have graced the big screen. I have found that some adaptions of beloved musicals breathe new life to these beautiful pieces, while others have failed to meet my admittedly lofty expectations. I do want to preface this by saying that it is a challenge to take a stage show and reproduce it in a completely new medium. For one thing, breaking out in song and dance on stage is more acceptable than out of the blue singing on the streets of NYC or in the middle of the woods. Nevertheless, when done tastefully, a musical on film is a breathtaking combination of story and music. The camera definitely captures a new dimension that live performance cannot.
The Last Five Years is one of the newest film adaptions to make its debut in Hollywood and definitely one that does a exceptional job of capturing the dynamics of a turbulent, though passionate romantic relationship as well as the preserving the beauty of the music that drives the entire film. Released appropriately on Valentine’s Day weekend, this Jason Robert Brown musical is a moving love story about a struggling actress (played by Anna Kendrick) and a successful, ambitious young writer (Jeremy Jordan).