When a relationship breaks down, the two people involved inevitably see things from different perspectives, and usually one of them is far more heartbroken than the other. Jason Robert Brown captures this to a tee in his cleverly constructed musical The Last Five Years, which has become something of a cult hit since it premiered in Chicago in 2001 before moving off-Broadway in 2002.

Christian Charisiou and Elise McCann. Photograph © Phil Erbacher

The show is written for two performers. Jamie is a young, Jewish novelist whose star is rising fast. Cathy is a struggling actor, who finds herself doing summer stock in Ohio, while hitting a brick wall in her attempt to break into the New York scene. As Jamie’s fame grows, so does Cathy’s insecurity. The two hander traces their five-year relationship from first meeting to breakup.

In his musical Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim told the story of the breakdown of a relationship between three close friends, from back to front. Brown rolls the dice again. Not only does he tell the story from both sides, but the two versions run in different time directions. Cathy’s...