Writing a musical based on your own marriage break-up must be an emotional, but ultimately cathartic experience, but author and composer Jason Robert Brown did just that.
Here, Kerry Butcher reprised the role of aspiring actress and singer Cathy Hiatt that she performed to great acclaim several years ago and I looked forward to seeing the show again.
This time she was playing opposite real-life partner, Steven Lilly, himself a successful performer with local companies.
Lilly plays Jamie Wellerstein, a writer whose career takes an upward curve in contrast to Cathy’s.
The story is told from opposite ends of the timeframe, with Cathy’s story told in reverse, starting after the break-up, and Jamie’s from before their first date.
Both are accomplished actors and singers and under Peter Ward’s direction and with Alasdair MacNeill’s musical accompaniment, they made good use of the single set to chart their emotional break-up with passionate vocals.
ALAN JOHNS
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