'Swingaroos' brings swing style to new music at FST Cabaret

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Though it was popular decades before she was born, Kimberly Hawkey fell in love with the music of the 1930s and 40s and the sound of swing bands.

The Swingaroos create the spirit of a 1930s swing band with a contemporary flair and classic and new songs in their show at Florida Studio Theatre. PHOTO PROVIDED BY FST

The Swingaroos create the spirit of a 1930s swing band with a contemporary flair and classic and new songs in their show at Florida Studio Theatre. PHOTO PROVIDED BY FST

Now she gets to lead one as the vocalist and co-creator of the Swingaroos, a group that performs some of the great music of the Great American Songbook and original songs she writes with pianist and musical director Assaf Gleizner in a style that emulates that period.

The Swingaroos bring their show to Florida Studio Theatre’s Court Cabaret as the closing act of the theater’s summer cabaret series.

Hawkey said she and Gleizner have been performing together for about seven years, but when she suggested creating a swing band, he hesitated because “that stuff’s been done before.”

Kimberly Hawkey is the co-creator and lead vocalist of the swing band The Swingaroos, who perform in the Florida Studio Theatre Cabaret series. Photo provided by FST

Kimberly Hawkey is the co-creator and lead vocalist of the swing band The Swingaroos, who perform in the Florida Studio Theatre Cabaret series. Photo provided by FST

But they began craft new arrangements for old songs and writing their own music in a style that recalls the era of such swing bands as the Hot Five or Savoy Seven, small ensembles that often emerged from some of the most popular Big Bands.

For their FST show, the Swingaroos are combining theater and music with a story about a midwestern group of musicians “who just banded together and toured around the lower level circuit until we made it big,” Hawkey said. “There were a lot of those in the 1930s and they faded out by the 1940s. They were groups that traveled to places that bigger booking agents were overlooking.”

THEATER PREVIEW
THE SWINGAROOS
Through Sept. 20 in the Florida Studio Theatre Court Cabaret, 1247 First St., Sarasota. Tickets are $34-$36. For more information: 366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

THEATER PREVIEW
THE SWINGAROOS
Through Sept. 20 in the Florida Studio Theatre Court Cabaret, 1247 First St., Sarasota. Tickets are $34-$36. For more information: 366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org
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Jay Handelman

Jay Handelman is the theater and television critic for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, where he has worked since 1984. He also is President of the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time past chairman of the association's executive committee. He can be reached by email or call (941) 361-4931. Follow him at @jayhandelman on Twitter. Make sure to "Like" Arts Sarasota on Facebook for news and reviews of the arts.
Last modified: August 26, 2015
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