Audiences are rocking out and singing along to the sounds of the British Invasion in Florida Studio Theatre’s new cabaret show “Yesterday.”
A terrific quartet of singing musicians recalls the period when The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Hollies and other groups transformed the sound of Top 40 radio in the early 1960s, kicking off a period of great change in society.
In the production directed with energy by Catherine Randazzo you get a sense of the new sound right from the start, as you hear someone changing stations on a radio dial. There are snippets of Patti Page and Bing Crosby before the sound of an airplane landing washes over the theater, signalling the arrival of The Beatles in the United States on Feb. 9, 1964.
Marking 20 years of FST Cabaret
Beatles hits make up the majority of the playlist, from the opening “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to the closing “Let It Be,” with brief comments that provide a little context to each new song.
The music is played by a cast that features returning artists Eric Scott Anthony, John Bronston and Ben Mackel, and cabaret newcomer Hunter Brown, a local performer who has been accompanying performances of FST’s improv troupe.
They don’t try to recreate the exact sound of any of the songs, and unlike Beatlemania they’re not trying to be an “incredible simulation.”
Instead, they play the songs in a style that sounds both fresh and nostalgic at the same time.
Mackel and Anthony handle the bulk of the solo work, but all four take the lead in one song or another, all while playing keyboards (Bronston), drums and guitar (Brown) and guitar and bass (Anthony and Mackel).
The show, created by Richard Hopkins, Rebecca Hopkins and Jim Prosser, launches the cabaret’s 20th anniversary. It features a large number of songs from their 2007 show “British Invasion,” but they are used in new ways to trace the history and impact of that British onslaught on American culture.
If they’re not exactly performed in chronological order, we hear a shift from the pop and bouncy early hits like “She Loves You” or Herman’s Hermit’s “Wonderful World,” to the grittier sounds of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Paint it Black” that emerged as a response to the divisions caused by the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests.
The song list includes “You Really Get Me,” “Wild Thing,” “Penny Lane,” “Satisfaction,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”
The meaning and relevancy of the songs is embellished by some well-chosen photos that show the bands performing or joking around, along with protests and the era of Woodstock.
Susan Angermann has costumed the performers in a colorful 1960s style, with bold prints, sunglasses, beads and other accessories, and the lighting by Tom Hansen transforms the back wall into U.S. and British flags and other patterns that bring you into the period.
THEATER REVIEW
“YESTERDAY”
Created by Richard Hopkins, Rebecca Hopkins and Jim Prosser. Directed by Catherine Randazzo. Reviewed Jan. 9, Florida Studio Theatre Goldstein Cabaret, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. Through May 1. 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org