The Swingaroos have audiences swinging and swaying to their jazzed-up versions of songs from 1925 to their own 2018 “11 O’Clock Number.” Their cabaret act gives just enough background of their songs and the composers, lyricists, and Broadway shows they came from to allow appreciation of their progress. While singer Kimberly Hawkey gets showcased (and rightly so), every Swingaroo is shown off highlighting a number or two. They come onstage individually, as Kimberly begins with “Tea for Two,” and gradually become an ensemble backing her. Starting with “Manhattan,” they offer songs we might not know were from Broadway shows. So “Ain’t Misbehavin’” follows--with Steve Morley very hot on his trumpet. Then “Without a Song” with bass Nathan joining Kimberly singing lyrics. Songs by Rodgers and Hart predominate next: “I Could Write a Book,” “Blue Moon” with Kimberly on banjo, “Thou Swell” with lyrics rendered by Kimberly and Nathan. She scores alone on Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top” as does Nathan on “Come Rain or Come Shine.” The weather theme continues as he plays a mean harmonica on “Blue Skies.” After “On a Clear Day” what is called the quintessential jazz number, “I Got Rhythm,” gets a rousing treatment by all. Next: Intermission. Though the guys keep their street clothes (a few with hat or caps) as costumes, Kimberly wears attractive different dresses in the two acts. She’s in higher-necked, full-skirted red gown with black straw hat and only earrings as jewelry in Act I. For Act II she dons bracelet and a sophisticated black, sequined long sheath with halter-top gathered jeweled beneath the bust. Cut low to her waist in back and slit between lower legs, it’s more mod and sophisticated, like opening song “Cabaret” followed by “My Man.” The instrumentalists take the spotlight with “Guys and Dolls” and then Nathan singing “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Kim sits on a stool and sings next to the featured piano of Assaf Gleizner, who has mainly been a secondary musician in all the preceding numbers (Uri Zelig is mostly on drums). Some Sondheim and Irving Berlin lead to the piece that gives the show its title. And a very unexpectedly fast-tempoed, jazzy version it is! The penultimate song, penned by Kimberly and Assaf is “The 11 O’Clock Number” admitting an audience member’s difficulty recalling the endings of musicals she missed because she fell asleep! Finally, The Swingaroos urge their audience to “Give My Regards to Broadway!” And I think most audiences will join with me in expressing my regard for the group in their return to FST’s Cabaret after a bleak first visit a few years ago. “A Hundred Thousand Miracles” seem to have visited them since then.
