FST gets ‘Reel’ celebrating movie music in cabaret show for kids

Music and movies have gone together since cinema began, creating a magical bond that is highlighted in the cabaret show “Reel Music.”

The show being presented by Florida Studio Theatre’s children’s theater takes audiences on a musical journey through the history and heart of the movies.

If the title sounds familiar, it may be because the theater presented a show with the same title in 2012 as part of its cabaret series. But it has been adapted for a younger audience, said Caroline Kaiser, director of children’s theater at FST.

In fact, it’s the the theater’s first-ever children’s cabaret show.

“They are very different shows,” Kaiser said. “I want to drive that home. They share a title and they both incorporate the music from the heart of the movies but they are two very different shows.”

Kaiser, who is the lead writer on “Reel Music,” said that cabaret shows have been an important part of the FST schedule for more than 20 years, and she wanted to bring the essence of the genre to the children’s program.

“It was a no-brainer for me to say, ‘Well, children understand music and they love music. Let’s see how they will respond to cabaret,’” she said.

The show tells the historical story of film and the music of the silver screen. “Those songs are so much more than songs. They’re a part of our culture and the soundtrack of our lives,” she said.

With co-creators Denee Lortz and Greg London, Kaiser looked at the soundtracks to their childhoods and considered what that musical score might be like for 21st century children.

It begins with the song “Hooray for Hollywood” from the 1937 film “Hollywood Hotel,” and moves through “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” from the beloved 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz,” and includes a medley of Disney classics, music from “Stars Wars,” “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter,” and pop songs from “Trolls” (2016) and “The Lego Movie” (2014).

During the 50-minute show, the four-member cast will explain the history of movies and how they went from silent films originally viewed on kinetoscopes to the high definition feature-length motion pictures we view today.

The cast features four apprentice actors — Kayla Fainer, Jabri Johnson, Erin Paxton and Liam Tanner — who are joining the FST company this summer.

Kaiser compared “Reel Music” to “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits,” the adult cabaret series show that finished its run earlier this month. These shows offer audiences “a little bit of history, a lot of heart and music that (they) know and love.”

Unlike a typical theater experience, the show’s cabaret format breaks down the barrier between the performer and the audience member, whose target age is 3 to 13 for the children’s program. And the kids don’t need to be quiet throughout the show because performers will interact with them, asking such questions as “What’s your favorite Disney song?”

Kaiser said she wants the children to feel like the show was tailor-made for them, which it was.

“I wanted a space where (kids) could do that. Where they could laugh and clap and ask a question to their friend, or their parent and it feels enjoyable,” she said. “I don’t want to squash their participation at all.”

And “Reel Music” is designed to be enjoyable for parents as well because it will feature songs that adults know, possibly from singing along at home or in the car. There might even be songs they encounter for the first time.

“There’s music for everyone and I think no matter how well you think you know the movies there will be something new that you’ll learn,” she said. “That’s really my goal, that all of the children’s programing is enjoyable for the entire family.”

‘Reel Music’

By Caroline Kaiser and Greg London with Denee Lortz. Opens Thursday and continues on a varied schedule through Aug. 9, with performances at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Bowne’s Lab Theatre at Florida Studio Theatre, 1247 First St., Sarasota. Tickets are $10, or $8 for groups of eight or more. 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org