DECEMBER 2017 | SARASOTA SCENE 99
Once Once
Florida Studio Theatre
plans to unwrap two
musical treats just in
time for the upcoming
holiday season — the Tony
Award-winning musical “Once”
and a rock and roll revue called
“Blue Suede Shoes.”
“Once” tells the tale of a
Dublin street musician about
to give up on his dream when
a beautiful young woman takes
an interest in his haunting love
songs. FST Producing Artistic
Director Richard Hopkins and
his wife, Rebecca Hopkins, said
the production’s uniqueness
drew them to it.
“It’s not your typical Broadway musical at
all,” Hopkins said. “It has a very real subtlety
and emotionally shifting moods of a different
kind of theatre.” Rebecca Hopkins, who is FST’s
managing director, agreed. “It’s one of those
said. “There’s a great thing happening in American
theater right now, where the line between a
musical and a play is starting to get shaded. You
have outright musicals and then plays with lots of
music in them.”
“I think the musical ‘Hamilton’ helped move
that form forward,” Richard added. “Sometimes
you’re not really sure if you’re watching a play, an
operetta or a musical. ‘Once’ is a piece of music
we’re accustomed to here at FST, where you have
twelve people on stage who all sing, act and play
musical instruments.”
Those instruments include
cello, stand up bass, violin,
ukulele, guitar, piano, harmonica
and two different kinds of
percussion pieces. In addition,
FST plans to have an operating
bar for this production, where
audience members can buy a
drink and hang out on stage
with the cast as they perform a
jam session before the show.
“We’ll be recreating a live
Irish pub where the action takes
place,” Rebecca said. “That’s to
create intimacy, which is one of
the great things about ‘Once.’
Although it’s a musical, it’s
also a really intimate piece of
theater. And by opening it up, it
creates a real connection with
the audience before the show
even starts and continues right
through intermission and to the
end.”
“Blue Suede Shoes,” written
by both Rebecca and Richard
Hopkins, celebrates the birth of
rock and roll with such hits as
“Rock Around the Clock,” “Blue
Suede Shoes,” “Mustang Sally”
and “Johnny B. Goode,” among
many others.
“Over the past few years we
have been doing an exploration
of a lot of 60s shows,” Rebecca
said. “As we were writing this
one, I kept hearing Elvis Pres-
I wanted to get to the core of
-
tial. Once my research delved
into the music of the 50s and
where rock and roll came from
— and how it evolved — it
was a revelation. It’s incredible
music. Some people dismiss it
on the surface as bubble gum,
but once you get into it you
Once