The most buzzed-about musical in recent years, Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years opens at Hudson Backstage Theatre. The show’s searing subject matter blazes with originality and emotion, and its young stars are not to be missed.

Brown's time-warped song cycle, first performed in 2001, charts a couple's turbulent love affair from start to finish and back again simultaneously. In a few short years, the tunes have developed a rabid cult following, with bootleg copies of the soundtrack devoured by fans of musical theater as far away as Japan and Australia.

Already embraced in performances around the globe, Brown’s modern classic makes its Los Angeles debut thanks to the Musical Theatre of Los Angeles. The MTLA is on quite a roll lately, mixing top-notch established talent with exciting newcomers to create energetic, inspired musical bliss. Their reputation for staging extravagant spectacles that are small in scale yet large in ambition remains currently unparalleled around town.

Reviews for the MTLA revival of Chicago were resoundingly positive, even reaching the approving ears of the film version’s director, Rob Marshall. And at the benefit premiere for their recent Broadway Revue inside the Ford Amphitheatre, the company received a rare early standing ovation as the last number of act one reached its climax. Hosted by Ugly Betty star Michael Urie, the revue had the audacity to cover the Beatles in a staging inspired by Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe.

The Last Five Years explores a five-year relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, a rising novelist, and "Shiksa Goddess" Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress. Cathy travels backwards in time while Jamie travels forward. The device allows for an inspired juxtaposition between his grinning optimism and her growing unhappiness.

The impressive cast features rising star Jon Paul Burkhart (Dirt, Mr. Brooks) as Jamie and newcomer Morgan Weitz as Cathy. Burkhart was a sensation as Amos in Chicago, his sweet dulcet voice quite an earful to behold.

Drawing on a number of musical genres including pop, jazz, rock, classical—even klezmer—the orchestration for The Last Five Years consists of piano, guitar, bass, two cellos, and a violin. The story flies by with no intermission in less than ninety minutes.

The Last Five Years is a smart, entertaining piece of theater, mainly for those who like their musicals to engage brains and hearts equally. It's easy to admire its lyrical intricacy and musical richness all while falling deeply in love with its characters.