Jared recently starred as Jamie in THE LAST FIVE YEARS by Jason Robert Brown. This is one of Jared's favorite shows, with only 2 cast members....and what a score ! This musical is very unique: featuring only 2 actors, it tells the story of a 5 year relationship chronologically for Jamie, but backwards for Cathy. Click the pic above for more on the show and the Actor's Theatre of Phoenix, AZ ! ...yes: Arizona! The show ran March 4-20th. SOME REVIEWS: "The strongest performance of the evening comes from Bradshaw. He creates an appealing schmuck with his strong voice and likeable way. He keeps Jamie true to life, and he has an electric personality. It’s easy to fall in love with this creation, especially during “The Schmuel Song.” Likes is good, ...Vocally, she aces Catherine’s songs, especially “Still Hurting” and “Climbing Uphill.” She just doesn’t quite rise to the energy level and involvement of Bradshaw. Still, the two of them together are an engaging disconnected duet." -from: Goldfish Publishers...."Actors Theatre’s production of “The Last Five Years” ups the ante with a talented cast and a solid five-piece backing orchestra. The cast and director/choreographer Dennis Courtney fill the stage with enough energy and measured playfulness to pull our attention toward the good stuff: Brown’s gorgeous cabaret-pop score. As Jamie, Jared Bradshaw is at his best navigating the successes of his character, whose first novel is published to great acclaim. He spends the tune “Moving Too Fast” whipping around his corner of the stage like a dancing Tom Cruise in “Risky Business,” only with pants on. But as his story progresses, Bradshaw has a harder time keeping Jamie from morphing into a success-hungry, self-absorbed jerk, and when he rationalizes infidelity (“Nobody Needs to Know”), it feels oddly hollow. Not that it’s his fault. He’s been painted into a corner by Brown’s clever device. So, too, has Catherine, played with wide-eyed charm by Stephanie Likes, whose hilariously frustrating letter home from summer stock hell, “A Summer in Ohio,” is an adorably memorable highlight. By casting her story in reverse, Brown has relegated Catherine to the role of pathetic booster, a pitiful victim of Jamie’s reckless ego. Like Bradshaw, Likes effuses charisma no matter how awkward her role under the thumb of composer Brown. If the couple of “The Last Five Years” is doomed to break up, the musical itself is destined to remain a flawed bit of cleverness, less an engaging story than a quirky vehicle for powerhouse performers." -from GET OUT ARIZONA, Chris Page
"See I'm Smiling"
"The Schmuel Song"
Will you share your life with me - for the next ten minutes?
Stephanie Likes and Jared Bradshaw, singing "The Next Ten Minutes"
"If I Didn't Believe in You"
"A Miracle Would Happen"
Jamie's book reading "Light Into Darkness"
"I'm a part of that"
"Nobody Needs to Know"
...Goodbye...
Jared performing live on a Phoenix morning TV program with our great musical director, Jivie
Jared and Stephanie Likes on opening night with brilliant director Dennis Courtney
Actor's Theatre of Phoenix, AZ: A review from Robert Pela of the NEW TIMES: "I'm crazy about the actors....Both have the pipes to handle intricate solos, and sing beautifully together during the brief period where they inhabit the same moment in time. There's a believable mix of love and tension between them...Jared Bradshaw is a personable Jamie, a guy who is understandably confused by his wife's sometimes upbeat, often gloomy outlook...it's a pleasant example of how talent can overcome tricky material." also from THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC: "the heart tugs for Likes and Bradshaw, who couldn't be better in their portrayals of the ill fated couple. He has the task of making the audience understand why Jamie finally gives up on the relationship. He succeeds admirably. Jason Robert Brown shares Sondheim's ability to express complex emotions in music that challenges the heart as well as the intellect. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Jamie's "If I Didn't Believe In You", given a showstopping performance by Bradshaw....Brilliant is not too strong a word."
