FST salutes ‘Cabaret’ and ‘Chicago’ creators in summer-opening revue
Since he last performed in the John Kander and Fred Ebb revue “The World Goes ‘Round” at Florida Studio Theatre in 2013, Zak Edwards has experienced a lot of life changes, which only adds to his appreciation of the work of one of Broadway’s most popular and enduring songwriting teams.
“It hits you differently,” he said before a recent rehearsal for a new production of the show. “The brilliance of their writing is that there are so many nuances and layers. There’s always something new to find in even a deceptively simple song.”
He was single the first time around, but now he’s engaged so “all the love songs have a different vibe to them.” He also had the chance to make his Broadway debut last fall in the short-lived Broadway musical “Harmony,” and with his other theater experiences in the last 11 years “it changes the meaning of some lyrics for me.”
Edwards returns for a new production of the musical revue that features songs from about a dozen Kander and Ebb shows, including their earliest – “Flora the Red Menace” and “The Happy Time” – through major hits like “Cabaret," “Chicago” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” along with other shows that generated songs filled with emotion and humor. They include “70, Girls, 70,” “Woman of the Year,” “The Rink,” “The Act” and the films “New York, New York” and “Funny Lady.” Liza Minnelli starred in many of their shows and the team created most of her concert programs.
Edwards is joined by four performers making their FST debuts – Lani Corson (a veteran of “Chicago” national tours), Dayna Dantzler, Dion Simmons Grief and Crystal Kellogg – working with director and choreographer Ben Liebert, who has joined the theater’s staff as an associate artist and resident director. The musical opens FST’s summer mainstage season.
Liebert said he has been a Kander and Ebb fan since he saw the still-running revival of “Chicago” not long after it opened in 1996. “I wore out the grooves in the CD we had,” he said.
“There’s something about Kander and Ebb’s work that is universal while still being really funny and really poignant,” Liebert said. “It’s not all sunshine and gumdrops, especially Fred Ebb’s lyrics. He admits the world isn’t great, it goes around and around and we either lay down and die or we pick up and go on. That spirit of perseverance is inherent in their songs.”
The revue was created by writer David Thompson, director Scott Ellis and choreographer Susan Stroman for the Roundabout Theatre Company in 1991, and has had a long life at theaters across the country.
Liebert said even though the show is more than 30 years old, and some of the songs even older, “it is always my philosophy to look at a show, whether it was written yesterday or 70 years ago, to see how it fits today. I have these five brilliant performers and this production team. Let’s make the show that works for us now.”
He is inspired by Stroman’s choreography, but would rather emulate “her style of creativity” than recreate the dance routines. The cast will be dancing a variety of styles, from tap to tango and will be roller skating in one number that is a nod to “The Rink.” Other numbers, like “All That Jazz,” pay homage to the original stage, including Bob Fosse’s choreography for “Chicago.”
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Edwards and Liebert said many of the songs tell stories of their own so they become mini-plays outside the context of the story for which they were written. Others, like the early Barbra Streisand hit “My Coloring Book” and the comical “Sara Lee,” about a singer’s love for the packaged pastry products, were not written for specific shows.
Liebert said he told his cast that they’re “all capable of faking sincerity. Instead, let’s talk about these stories, find out who the characters are and what they’re going through and having that foundation. It’s the x-factor that takes you from someone who sang it well to ‘wow, that moved me.’”
‘The World Goes ‘Round’
Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb. Directed and choreographed by Ben Liebert. Runs June 5-30, Florida Studio Theatre Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St., Sarasota. $39-$59. 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida Studio Theatre opens summer season with Kander and Ebb revue
