Julie Atherton and Paul Spicer shared the stage at the prestigious Theatre Royal Haymarket for a gala staging of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years. Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the West End’s Notes from New York series, this much anticipated theatrical event brought the concept full circle to the work of one of the composers with whom it all began.

Creative tensions combine with complexities of the heart in this emotionally wrought and unequivocally moving song cycle. Newly published novelist Jamie and aspiring actress Cathy tell the tale of their raw and impassioned relationship in opposite directions and from destructively differing standpoints. Unique in structure yet familiar in its universally resounding themes, this celebrated two-hander reminds us it's possible to feel claustrophobically close to and yet worlds apart from the one you hold closest to your heart.

The Last Five Years received its world première at the Northlight Theatre in Chicago in 2001, starring Lauren Kennedy and Norbert Leo Butz. It was subsequently produced Off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre in 2002, starring Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz. It received its UK première at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2006 and returned to London for three nights only.