Welcome back to Broadway, Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren!
The two stage actors returned to the boards on Tuesday, March 18, as director Whitney White’s revival of The Last Five Years kicked off preview performances at the Hudson Theatre in New York City. And they had two special people cheering them on: Nick’s brothers and bandmates, Joe Jonas and Kevin Jonas.
Posing together for a photo on stage after the performance, the Jonas Brothers were all smiles as they surrounded Nick, 32, and Warren, 37,
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Prior to that, the pair made their first bows to a standing crowd of enthusiastic theatergoers. They then celebrated their debut with a congratulatory hand slap and a hug, according to video of the milestone shared on the show’s official Instagram account.
Nick and Warren were then joined by White, who welcomed three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown — the composer, lyricists and book writer of The Last Five Years — to the stage. It was a special moment for Brown; despite his musical first premiering in 2001, the production marks the first time the show has ever been on Broadway.
“Giving a big cheers to him for the Broadway debut of The Last Five Years,” White said, presenting Brown with flowers.
Joe Jonas shares a photo from the audience of ‘The Last Five Years’ as he supports his brother Nick Jonas.
Joe Jonas/Instagram
The Last Five Years follows the demise of a relationship between a rising novelist named Jamie (Nick) and a struggling actress named Cathy (Warren), across two different timelines. His perspective is told in chronological order from when the couple first got together, while hers is told in reverse, from the end of their marriage.
“Putting the whole thing together has been an absolute joy,” Nick said during a joint appearance with Warren on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this month. “We’re having the best time.”
“He’s such an incredible teammate and such a hard worker,” Warren added of Nick. “He ups the ante every single day and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I gotta step up!’ ”
Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas in ‘The Last Five Years’ on Broadway.
Matthew Murphy
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Nick went on to call playing Jamie “a dream role,” but admitted in a video on The Last Five Years’ Instagram account that doing the show feels “very intense.”
“It’s natural to feel a little nervous, so I’m trying to step into this with real focus and confidence. But it’s a big show and it’s got a lot of fans over the world,” he said.
Adrienne Warren in ‘The Last Five Years’ on Broadway.
Matthew Murphy
That would be an understatement. In the years since The Last Five Years premiered — first at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre in 2001, and then, in a 2002 New York City production starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott Off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater — the piece has become a favorite among the musical-theater crowd.
Much of that is thanks to the OFf-Broadway cast recording, which helped songs from the show like “Nobody Needs to Know,” “Still Hurting,” “If I Didn’t Believe in You” and “The Next Ten Minutes” become showtune staples.
An Off-Broadway revival at New York City’s Second Stage Theater came in 2013, with Adam Office and Betsy Wolfe in the roles of Jamie and Cathy. Two years later, a movie adaptation was released starring Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick.
In 2016, a one-night-only concert of the musical was staged at New York City’s Town Hall, led by Joshua Henry and Cynthia Erivo. That same year, a production of The Last Five Years opened in London led by Bridgerton and Wicked star Jonathan Bailey and Samantha Barks, a breakout star of the 2012 Les Misérables film.
Nick Jonas in ‘The Last Five Years’ on Broadway.
Matthew Murphy
This revival of The Last Five Years officially opens on April 6. The limited-run production is currently set to play for just 14 weeks, through June 22.
When the production was first announced back in June 2024, it came almost exactly 25 years to the date after Brown wrote the first song for The Last Five Years (June 15, 1999). “I have always believed that when the time was right, The Last Five Years would make its way to Broadway,” he said in a statement at the time.
As for Nick and Warren, their returns to Broadway are reason enough to celebrate. He was last in 2012’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, while she is a 2021 Tony Award winner for her portrayal of Tina Turner in Tina, based on the music icon’s life.
Tickets to The Last Five Years are now on sale.
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