The story, and backstory, of ‘The Last Five Years’ is exceptional

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 | 5:30 p.m.

It’s not often that Boman himself takes the stage at Boman Pavilion, but that was the scene at the most recent Composers Showcase at Cabaret Jazz in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Dr. Keith Boman, whose endowment helped construct the building that houses Cab Jazz, was given a few minutes during that late-night show Sept. 17 to promote a project of his. The production is titled “The Last Five Years,” being staged from Nov. 6-9 at Judy Bayley Theater at UNLV. Tickets are $30, with a $50 VIP ticket offered that includes a backstage tour and meet-and-greet with the cast. The stars are Adam Kantor and Betsy Wolfe, who headed up the cast on the highly successful off-Broadway revival of the musical last year.

As Boman describes “The Last Five Years” to the Composers Showcase audience, he recalls being introduced to the musical six years earlier by young artists just out of Las Vegas Academy several years ago. Suddenly, a voice in the middle of the room starts saying: “Wait. I can’t believe this.”

She’s Lisa Marie Smith, an LVA graduate well-trained and educated in musical theater who is currently the vocalist in “Pin Up” at the Stratosphere.

Smith and Joey DeBenedetto, also an LVA grad, co-starred in the musical. DeBenedetto sold Boman on the budding musical, during the days when Boman was reviewing blueprints for the Smith Center. An avid supporter of the arts in Las Vegas, Boman took in a rehearsal and immediately fell for the story, the musicians — and Smith and DeBenedetto.

“I saw it at the black box theater at the (College of Southern Nevada) Cheyenne Campus, maybe 100 seats, and it was love at first sight,” Boman says during an interview at his Las Vegas practice, his feet resting on a desk in his office. “It’s a hauntingly beautiful story, and I put it on my bucket list to bring it to a Las Vegas audience.”

Smith and DeBenedetto were just 19 when they started assembling the parts of the show that played at CSN.

“We had auditioned for regional theater, and we didn’t want to just get normal 9-to-5 jobs, so we said, ‘Let’s just create our own theater company and direct it and arrange it ourselves.’ It turned out really cool.”

The story of “The Last Five Years” centers on a New York couple, Cathy and Jamie, who were married after a swift and intense courtship. The relationship fractures under the characters’ divergent careers (she is an actress and he a novelist), with Cathy telling the story of the five-year relationship backward and Jamie telling it from the start.

The production premiered off-Broadway to great acclaim, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics. Time magazine named it one of its 10 best musicals of the year. “The Last Five Years” was revived last year, at Second Stage Theater, starring Kantor and Wolfe. The musical was twice extended and became one of the longest-running productions in that theater’s 34-year history.

Boman had taken note of that success and seized this moment to fulfill his goal of bringing the show to Las Vegas. It would not be easy, simple or cheap to make this happen. But he was pleased that Kantor and Wolfe were not priced out of his budget.

A portion of the funding is provided by a grant to the Nevada Conservatory Theater from the Reynolds Foundation, which donated $250,000 this year to help support all of its programs.

Corporate support emerged from MGM Grand, which is supplying rooms for the visiting cast. Nevada Ballet Theater and the Smith Center are supplying promotion.

“We have some investment money coming in, but this is a very expensive production,” Boman says. “This is not a concert show. This is full-scale musical."

Don’t discount the relevance of the relationship between the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the UNLV Performing Arts Center. Before this production, that relationship was practically nonexistent. The Smith Center has drawn considerable attention from Ham Hall, Judy Bayley Theater and Black Box Theater.

Officials at UNLV cringe when anyone asserts that Las Vegas never had a performing arts center until the Smith Center opened. As it is, this is the first performance backed by the Smith Center — produced by one of its lead benefactors and founders — to be performed at UNLV.

Fortunately, UNLV has a 500-seat theater suitable for “The Last Five Years.” Many Las Vegas arts supporters forget that the original plan for the Smith Center included a 600-seat venue that would ideally serve as a stage for such community projects as “The Last Five Years.” But that plan was scuttled in favor of the construction of the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum.

“The decision to put the museum in place was purely for economic reasons, and it was a good business decision,” Boman says. “We are now using this opportunity to build a bridge between the Smith Center and UNLV. This is really the first major move to do that.”

As to why Las Vegas residents, given so many entertainment options, should see one of the five performances — and there will be no extension, given the scheduling commitments of those involved — Boman says it simply:

“For $30, you will never see talent like this on a stage in Las Vegas.”

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.