Anna Kendrick keeps belting it out, will star in Broadway adaptation

Anna Kendrick can sing. Her film Pitch Perfect with Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, and a host of other talented young women is getting good reviews, and it was just announced with Kendrick will star in a film version of the musical The Last Five Years.

In Pitch Perfect, Kendrick plays Beca, a rebel with a voice who comes up with an idea to save her a cappella group. For The Last Five Years, Kendrick will be playing Cathy, a woman who begins at the end. The Last Five Years is a musical written by Jason Robert Brown and is unique in its storytelling: Cathy begins at the end of her marriage, and her husband Jamie begins at the beginning. Through alternating solos, they tell the story of their failed marriage, their timelines matching up at their wedding. Cathy is a disillusioned actress and Jamie her self-centered novelist husband.

The musical originally premiered in Chicago and moved off-Broadway in 2002, which starred Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz, both multiple award winners. Richard LaGravenese, director of P.S. I Love You, is adapting and directing the musical for the screen. While LaGravenese has already proven his softer side, and Kendrick's proved her singing chops. Nominated for a Tony Award for her first acting role, Dinah in High Society on Broadway, when she was twelve years old, Kendrick's returning to her roots. Since then, she has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Up in the Air with George Clooney.

The roles of Cathy and Jamie are demanding (JRB is notorious for his difficult scores) and emotional, and with LaGravenese helming and Kendrick's voice, the film promises to be gut-wrenching.