Elise McCann is starring with Christian Charisiou in Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years at the Ensemble Theatre. The musical is a two-hander, which traces the beginning and end of a love story between a successful writer and a struggling actor, told from two different perspectives and time frames. Elise McCann, who recently gave an award-winning performance as Miss Honey in Matilda The Musical, spoke to Limelight about the musical and why she was so keen to perform in it.

Elise McCann and Christian Charisiou. Photograph supplied

 I believe this is a musical you have loved for a while? When did you first come across it?

I first heard of The Last Five Years in 2003 when I was doing the Musical Theatre course at NIDA. One of my friends, Amy Robertson, told me about it, and subsequently burnt me the original cast recording and I played it in my car until it died! Later that year our NIDA class was taken to Adelaide for the Cabaret Festival and coincidentally Jason Robert Brown was one of the International Stars of the Festival. Our class did a masterclass with him and then we were...