Whitney White’s Booked and Busy Year: Directing Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas in The Last Five Years and Premiering Liberation

“Moving too fast,” Jamie sings in The Last Five Years—and it’s not a bad way to describe Whitney White’s current pace. A rising force in American theater, White is a director, writer and performer, who was recently nominated for a Lortel Award for helming Liberation, a memory-driven drama by Bess Wohl, and earned a Tony nod for last season’s Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.

Now, she brings her vision to Jason Robert Brown’s widely performed two-hander, starring Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas, in its long-awaited Broadway debut—all while preparing to take the stage herself in Macbeth in Stride at BAM this month. And, of course, she’s also kept very busy as the mother of an adorable two-year-old boy. White sat down at the Hudson Theatre on the morning of her birthday to talk about her new show. Who needs sleep when you’ve got momentum?

You saw the world premiere of The Last Five Years as a kid. Now that it’s finally on Broadway, how did you want to honor the original while making it fresh?

Jason Robert Brown created such a beautiful, original piece with stunning orchestrations and a story so many of us relate to. We’ve all been in relationships that didn’t work out. A lot of us have gotten into relationships hoping they’d work out, and they don’t.

What’s brilliant is the structure: One character starts at the beginning of the relationship, the other at the end. I wanted to make that feel real, and most of all, help the audience fall in love with both Jamie and Cathy. They’re artists trying to make it in a big city, on different timelines, and that’s what makes the show so special. So with my production, I wanted to stay true to that.

Tell me about casting Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas. What made you think they were right for the roles?

They are both powerhouse performers who bring an undeniable strength to their characters and to anything they do. I was attracted to them because I wanted the couple to feel well matched. In past productions, it’s clear from the start that Cathy and Jamie aren’t going to make it. But that feels cynical—no one falls in love or gets married expecting it to fall apart. I wanted to cast two people who made you believe it could work if things were just a little different—if they listened better and supported each other more, maybe they’d go the distance. Nick and Adrienne, both on stage and off, are incredibly well matched. Their work ethic is amazing, and it shows that they’re there for each other.

The characters in The Last Five Years are on different timelines and don’t interact much. How do you build chemistry in a two-person musical like this?

I wanted to play with that. Even though they're in different timelines, I wanted them popping in and out of each other's memories. That’s the first time I think it’s been done in a major production that I’ve seen. You still get the feeling they’re in different timelines, but they are also there in each other's lives. We didn’t overdo it, but we played with it. We had to excavate these little moments to make sure it wasn’t too much, keeping only the ones that felt really good. We really worked together to find the map of experience for them on stage.

What did you do to help them bond, especially since they didn’t know each other before this show?

We did all kinds of things: We stretched and moved every day. We spent a whole week not even singing—just focusing on the language of the text and doing devised movement. We had choreographic sessions with the Kupermans. I think the body work helped them feel comfortable with each other and stay in the moment. I’d do it with them. I’d be like, “Get out the yoga mats!”

This is the first major production of The Last Five Years with a Black woman playing Cathy. How does Adrienne Warren’s portrayal bring a unique dimension to the role?

Adrienne Warren is an artist who has starred in big musicals, and all of the musical theater girlies have to start somewhere. For me, the reason I fell in love with this musical is because I was also a musical theater girlie, and I did summer stock in Ohio...

Tell me you played Anita at the matinee!

I didn’t get to do Anita, but I was in Show Boat. But in all seriousness, every artist starts somewhere. There are years when you're on the grind, circling for the big job—everyone can identify with that, Black women included. And so for me, why couldn’t Cathy be like that? Cathy is Catholic, Cathy is a musical theater artist—those are things that describe half of the city. It wasn’t a big leap for me to see Adrienne Warren filling that character’s shoes. What Adrienne brings to Cathy is a beautiful warmth and soft heart. She comes out with that letter, and you just feel for her. You’re not annoyed by the character. It’s not a joke that she’s sad. We’re laughing with Cathy, not at Cathy. That’s important to me.

Jamie’s Jewish identity is central to how he sees himself. What responsibility do you feel addressing that narrative with a non-Jewish actor like Nick Jonas in the role?

When we were casting, it was tricky because it’s a 25-year-old show that’s been done worldwide, including the film adaptation and a version with Black actors in both roles during quarantine. We had to be honest and make a show that everyone can be part of with respect to the cultural themes. That’s why we didn’t cut anything referencing Jewishness, which is so thrilling. We’ve had many conversations about it, and Jason’s been with me every step of the way. I’ve been inspired by his love of his own culture. His last show, The Connector, dealt with these themes, and of course, Parade too. So, at no point in rehearsals has that been erased. But for a show that’s 25 years old, we considered how to keep it alive—by opening doors to people who want to join the cultural conversation.

To pivot a bit, if Cathy and Jamie were forced to go to couples therapy—

Oh my!

What’s the first thing each of them would say?

The first thing each of them would say? “They don’t show up for me.” That’s where the relationship falls apart. He’s begging her to come to his party after a big review. She’s looking for his support after tough auditions. They’d both ask, “Why doesn’t Cathy or Jamie show up when I need them most?” You can’t really psychoanalyze these characters, but I think that’s how it would go down.

This show has a strong legacy through its original cast album, featuring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott, which many people know by heart. How do you feel about the way people connect with the show through the score, even more than the live production?

Yes, I love that. Every musical theater person has that record—whether it's The Last Five Years, Hamilton or whatever. It locks in your mind and creates memories. So when you see the show, you want to relive that.

When we worked with Jason and my music director, Tom Murray, who’s been looking after the show for 25 years, we didn’t just rely on the recordings, but went back to what Jason wrote on the page. Every note is a result of conversations with Jason and Tom. It’s like Hedda Gabler—you can love a production, but when you read the script, you see what’s been cut or changed. The same happens with the recordings versus the score. It’s all a dialogue. This isn’t the Bible, it’s art. What you’ll see is in dialogue with those versions but, most importantly, with the score Jason wrote.

Liberation, which you recently directed off-Broadway, also deals with memory and has an unusual structure. Do you see parallels with that show and this one?

Bess Wohl and Jason Robert Brown are very different artists, but their plays operate at an intellectual level that challenges the audience with structure. In Liberation, we jump between 1970 and now, sometimes multiple times in one scene. Similarly, in The Last Five Years, characters are on different timelines. While my directing approach was different for each, I asked myself how to make the memory structure integral to the staging in both. In Liberation, the narrator guides the audience, so I focused on making her voice feel real and immersive, letting the cast bring the audience through the journey.

How did that experience inform your work on The Last Five Years?

It’s similar. Even though there’s no narrator here, the songs serve as a way to bring the audience in. I wanted to work with the audience through the songs—sometimes you’re talking to Cathy from a distance, but other times the audience should feel like a therapist, confidante or lover. Nick and Adrienne are great at connecting with the audience, which makes that easier.

You’ve directed two major New York City productions this season, and in the middle of all that, you're about to perform Macbeth in Stride at BAM. Tell me about it.

It’s funny, I’ve been working on Macbeth in Stride for almost 10 years. I started writing it in my graduate program at Brown in 2015, so this year marks a decade. I first performed a very rough version of it in 2015, and since then, I’ve performed it in Philadelphia, D.C. and Boston. So, coming to New York feels like a dream come true, but sometimes you can't control when that happens. I’m just grateful it’s finally here.

The show is about ambition but with a deeper layer?

Exactly. It’s about how ambition becomes complicated when you fall in love. That’s actually a throughline for my season. Liberation is about a woman torn between marriage and her ambition, trying to understand how her mother sacrificed ambition for love. And The Last Five Years is about two ambitious artists. except things go better for him than her. My joke is that right after the breakup, Cathy books her first big job.

I love that idea! Can you talk to Jason about a sequel?

Yes, I’d love to see The Next Five Years! We should definitely pitch it.