(Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Live Theatre)

By Nathaniel Leigh

GPLT

GPLT opens 62nd season with musical The Last 5 Years

Sep 19, 2024 | 3:33 PM

Grande Prairie Live Theatre’s 62nd season opens Thursday September 19 with the musical The Last 5 Years by Jason Robert Brown.

The show follows two people in their twenties as they fall in and out of love over the course of five years while living in New York.

Director Joy Dunn says she took up the position as a favor to a friend who had attempted to launch the show previously before being stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“She asked me if I would pick up the remains, so to speak, and bring it to GPLT as a production for their season,” Dunn says. “We are actually collaborating with the Spotlight Performance Collective. They came with the two characters that are a part of the show already set and they are fabulous.”

Dunn describes the show as an emotional rollercoaster.

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“It has the highs and the lows of a real relationship,” she says. “It takes you through just the five-year span of life for these two people. There are things that are going to make you laugh, make you cry, and possibly be conflicted.”

(Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Live Theatre)

The Spotlight Performance Collective, had already cast the show with actors familiar with the work.

“[The actors] came basically off book.” She says. “And with that, we were able to just dive right in, do the blocking, and really work on characterization. Just finessing a lot of little things that most people won’t even realize are happening but it just adds to the moments that make up the show.”

The show will be performed at GPLT every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from September 19 to October 5.

It will run for 90 minutes, with no intermission.