Memorable music for a 20th anniversary
In 1996, Florida Studio Theatre produced its first musical revue in the Goldstein Cabaret, featuring the melodies of Cole Porter. A string of familiar songs, delivered by gifted vocalists and tied together by a loose narrative of dialogue, it was a formula that would prove reliably popular. Over the past two decades – and year-round since the addition of a summer series in 2014 – the cabaret musical revues have become a mainstay for the organization.
They’ve covered a wide gamut of genres, from swing, country and blues, to Motown and Broadway. For the 20th anniversary season, Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins, Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins and Resident Pianist Jim Prosser have turned to that seminal period in American musical history catalyzed by the Beatles’ first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. “Yesterday,” which opens this week, focuses on the music of “the British Invasion” from 1965 to 1972 – including not just the Beatles (whose music makes up a third of the playlist) but the Kinks, the Hollys and the Rolling Stones.
“So much happened in that period,” says Richard Hopkins, who was in high school at the time. “Our whole world changed. It was really a transitional time that energized the rebellion of a generation and also allowed its expression. Before that, there was not a lot of social consciousness in music. These were artists willing to wear their conscience on their sleeve. These were the lyric poets of our age. They were saying things that really mattered to us.”
The song selection process for the show began nearly a year ago with “listening sessions,” during which each person prioritized his or her favorites. Among the indelible tunes that made the cut are “Bus Stop,” “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” “Do Wah Diddy” and, of course, “Yesterday.” But the one that made everyone’s “must have” list? John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
“It sums up to me the entire moment,” says Rebecca Hopkins. “And talk about something that is still timely!”
FST Associate Artist and Literary Manager Catherine Randazzo, who is directing the show, is old enough to remember that "turbulent time in history" and the soundtrack that went with it. But the cast members -- Eric Scott Anthony, lead guitarist; Ben Mackel on bass and rhythm guitar; Hunter Brown on drums; and John Bronston on piano -- who range in age from early 20s to early 40s, were yet to be born in 1965. Still, that doesn’t mean they haven’t connected to the music.
"It is awesome and a little scary to be presenting songs by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones," says Bronston. "Even if you didn't grow up on this music, everyone has heard these songs somewhere and they probably have ideas about what they think these songs are about and how they should sound. Luckily, since these are all really great songs, they afford us the opportunity to stretch them to fit us as performers while still paying tribute to the original performances."
The goal of a revue is not just to evoke nostalgia, Richard Hopkins, says, but rather to connect to the “emotional anchors” people have with the songs. Nor is the dialogue between the four musicians meant to detail an overt story, but rather to create an “inferred narrative” that evokes the era, which will be aided by video projections of historical pictures on a backdrop screen.
