What's Old Is New

From The Taming of the Shrew to thirtysomething, writers have been interpreting and reinterpreting the marital relationship for stage and screen in scrupulous detail for as long as the pen's met paper. Man and woman, in the most simplistic terms, are what make the world go 'round, after all; "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" is a mantra known intimately by the entire heterosexual population, probably since prehistoric times. But don't suppose that The Last Five Years, a Denver Center Attractions production of Jason Robert Brown's musical, is just relationship redux. Like any well-written yarn, the five-year chronicle of a couple, Cathy and Jamie, who meet, marry and eventually fall apart follows the old boy-girl story in a unique "he said, she said" form punctuated with songs mostly sung solo. The Bard — and everyone since — would approve.

The play with a theme that never gets old opens for previews tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Garner Galleria Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, for a run that continues Tuesdays through Sundays until the end of June; for showtimes and tickets, $34 to $40 ($27 for previews, February 5 to 8), go to www.denvercenter.org or call 303-893-4100.
Tuesdays-Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 & 7:30 p.m. Starts: Feb. 5. Continues through June 29, 2008