A contemporary song-cycle musical, The Last Five Years chronicles the five-year relationship of a successful young writer, Jamie, and a struggling actress, Cathy, from the excitement of dating to the zenith of marriage to the slow and agonizing disintegration of separation.

Except, it does it backwards. Well, half-backwards.

At the beginning of the play, Cathy's performance marks the end of their relationship and looks back, while Jamie begins at the beginning and goes forward. The two interact only at the middle -- their wedding day.

The striking narrative form isn't the only aspect of this production that's atypical. With only two characters and the stripped-down accompaniment of piano, cello, violin and guitar, it little resembles the whopping main-stage productions for which Paragon is becoming known.

Yet it is not out of line with the troupe's mission. The program notes attribute Paragon's choice to produce The Last Five Years as an attempt to demonstrate "just how far musical theatre has come in the past 100 years" and to indicate where it might be heading in the 21st century. It certainly does that. This is the kind of musical that would easily win over non-musical fans. For one, it is impossible not to be drawn into the complex emotional entanglements of Jamie and Cathy's romance.

The innovative juxtaposition of timing makes this non-traditional love story -- or divorce story, depending how you see it -- even more heart-wrenching. While one of the duo swells with the promise of love's beginning, the other struggles to come to terms with its inevitable doom, as external events and internal doubts work in tandem to unravel what remains of their marriage.

Playing the only two characters at different points in time, Wes Nelson and Laura Kitchel do not have easy jobs. Their performances are staged separately and, except for the interaction and duet when their timelines poignantly overlap at the couple's wedding, they must carry the narrative and emotional heft of the play largely by continuous solo performances. The pair proves up to the task, although it does take them a couple of numbers to seem to hit their stride. Once they do, they do an excellent job of drawing the audience into their separate experiences of the same relationship. From the well-timed humor in Kitchel's Summer in Ohio to the magical moodiness in Nelson's The Schmuel Song to the bittersweet final duet of Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You, the duo conveys a realistic range of emotions that never seem gimmicky or a stretch.

The small, cozy setting at Natasha's Bistro lends an almost cinematic atmosphere to the audience's experience of the two, almost as if you are watching through a close-up camera lens. To be able to see the wet, glistening eyes of a hurt Cathy, or Jamie's physical tension behind a frustrated "I love you" are the kinds of emotionally charged details that make the audience feel as if they are voyeurs into the characters' private inner lives.

The only down side to seeing the show at one of its Sunday brunch viewings, as I did, is that Alex Joans' lighting can't be fully appreciated. A little help from an overcast sky made it easier to detect Joans' creative intentions and maximum use of a minimal space. Still, a night viewing might be preferable for those desiring the full effect.

Kudos to co-directors Ryan Shirar and Diana Evans for taking a risk on a format that, like its theme, is as difficult to execute as it is universal to relate to. The Last Five Years reminds us that there is something beautiful amid the disorienting recollection of a failed romance. Or perhaps it just frames the totality of an experience in a way that is almost impossible to fully grasp in our individual lives.

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