FST celebrates the Rat Pack era in ‘That’s Life, Again’

The swagger of the Rat Pack era comes roaring back to life along with hits from the 1950s and 1960s in “That’s Life, Again,” which opens Wednesday at Florida Studio Theatre’s Goldstein Cabaret.

The show is a sequel to the 2009 cabaret hit “That’s Life,” which focused on the songs and stylings of such stars of the time as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin and others.

The new show features a more mature version of some of the singers whose music was featured in the original.

Director Dennis Courtney is bringing back three of the four original castmembers: Eric Collins, Arthur W. Marks and Stacey Harris, who are joined by FST veteran Stephen Hope, who was recently seen in “Laughing Matters” and “European Cabaret.”

“Like the first ‘That’s Life,’ we’re not doing imitations of the performers. We’re presenting the material in their style,” Courtney said. “What was so great about this era and those types of showman entertainers is that they also had the ability to touch people personally. These songs will touch your heart, soul and funnybone.”

“That’s Life, Again” was developed by FST’s Artistic Director Richard Hopkins along with Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins and musical accompanist Jim Prosser.

The production features such iconic songs as “My Way,” “New York, New York,” “Blue Skies,” “Everybody Loves Somebody,” “Luck Be a lady,” “Beyond the Sea,” “Botch-a Me,” “Mona Lisa,’ “Nature Boy” and “That’s Amoré.”

“They all reflect some wonderful aspect of life. . . they’re classic, sophisticated, elegant and most importantly timeless,” Courtney said. “We’ve managed to take these universal themes in the songs and make them very personal,” Courtney said.

The music in “That’s Life, Again” may be a sharp contrast from most of the current Top 40, but Courtney hopes that the lack of superficial “glitz and autotune” will make audiences relate to the “heart and humanity” of the songs.

“It really is a celebration of all those things in life that make us emotional,” he said. “It was important to me that the show has great style, but it also have content and substance.”