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“I start out really, really sad and end super happy,” Abigail Barhight, 18, of Wyoming said, speaking of the character she portrays in “The Last Five Years.”

For her co-star, Michael Eckert, 20, of Quakake, emotions run in the opposite direction, as his character starts off with the heady excitement of newfound love and ends with the rueful realization that even if it once worked, it no longer does.

So … what exactly is happening in this two-person play?

“It can be very confusing if you know nothing about it,” said associate professor of theatre Dave Reynolds, who is directing the live-streamed production at 7:30 p.m. each evening April 14 through April 17 at King’s College.

But if you’re familiar with this show, written by Drama Desk Award-winning Jason Robert Brown, you’ll know that while the character Jamie tells a five-year story chronologically, starting at the beginning; the character Cathy starts at the end and goes backward.

“The only time they’re fully present in each other’s lives is this piece of magic (in the middle of the show) when they get married,” Reynolds said. “They never make eye contact except in that one beautiful moment.”

Few would deny it’s a beautiful moment, when the two characters gaze into each other’s eyes and use their strong vocal power to proclaim their love “till the world explodes, ‘til there’s no one left who has ever known us apart.”

Throughout the rest of the show, Barhight and Eckert take turns singing. And Brown’s clever lyrics let you know, often with a touch of humor, what’s going on in their lives.

For example, part of the reason Jamie found Cathy attractive at first was that she wasn’t Jewish. “I’m breaking my mother’s heart … my grandfather’s rolling, rolling in his grave … Hey! Hey! Shiksa goddess! I’ve been waiting for someone like you.”

As for Cathy, she’s so eager to see Jamie at the beginning of their relationship, she finds “the torture is just exquisite, while I’m waiting for you to visit.”

But while Jamie’s writing meets great success, Cathy’s acting career does not. “Don’t stare at my resume. I made up half of my resume,” is one thought she directs toward the judges at an audition.

“And in a perfect world, every girl would look like Mr. Ed,” Jamie sings at another point, wishing in vain that, now that he’s married, he’d have more control over his roving eye.

By the way, the young thespians know Mr. Ed was a horse in a television comedy that first aired in the 1960s.

“I would go to my grandparents’ house after school, and it (the reruns) would be on,” Eckert said.

But another classic TV show proved more obscure. “Abby didn’t know who Leave it To Beaver was,” director Reynolds said, noting that reference comes up in another song.

Cathy and Jamie’s relationship, as you might guess, doesn’t resemble the idealized family of Leave It To Beaver.

“Jamie is self-motivated to a fault,” Eckert said. “He’s really always looking for the next best thing. He has boxes he wants to check off in life, and Cathy checks off less of the boxes.”

If she had a friend like Cathy, Barhight said, she wouldn’t encourage her to get involved with Jamie.

“Probably not,” Barhight said. “She’s too dependent on him.”

Reynolds said he’s wanted to stage the musical for a long time. “There’s something about the music. I find it really haunting. And it’s very difficult music to sing; these two deserve a lot of credit.”

“Usually I try to have a bigger cast,” the director said. “To give more people a chance.”

But with the pandemic creating a need for social distancing, a two-person show became an attractive option, especially since the two actors usually aren’t even on stage at the same time.

“This is a new adventure for me,” Reynolds said of lifestreaming the show. “It’s like directing a movie.”

“It’s exciting,” Eckert said. “People from around the world can watch.”

Members of the public are invited to livestream the show, any evening Wednesday through Saturday. If you go to the kingscollegetheatre Facebook page, you’ll find a link for the appropriate page at showtix4u.com/.

King’s College presents musical ‘The Last Five Years’