Sometimes moving forward involves looking back onto the past. After all, it’s where we can learn from our mistakes and triumphs to gain a sense of where we are headed today. This season, one of the productions in Florida Studio Theatre’s Cabaret Series will do just that. The ‘70s: More Than A Decade is a spiritual sequel of sorts to 2019-20’s production Light My Fire, which saw its run cut short by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cabaret Series, which features three shows in both the Winter and Summer seasons that run for 18 weeks, was created in 1996 by Richard Hopkins, the Producing Artistic Director and CEO of Florida Studio Theatre. Housed in the company’s Parisian-style dinner theaters, the musical revues are developed in-house by Hopkins and other members of the Cabaret development team—to date, Hopkins and his team have created over 40 original musical revues. While Light My Fire focused on the social change brought about by the cultural and musical revolution of the 1960s, featuring hits such as Somebody to Love and California Dreamin’, The ‘70s: More Than A Decade will focus on the subsequent decade. “The pop music for that era really outlines and reflects the cultural revolution that was fermenting through the 70s. People that lived through it like me, realize that the ‘70s was when that social change enveloped society as a whole. Clothing, hairstyles changed, people’s attitude towards sex changed, eating healthier changed,” says Richard Hopkins.. “The ‘70s was when everything changed at a mass level instead of the youth level which is where it originated in the decade prior,” he adds. The show will chronicle the decade’s music and its influence on the events of the time —weaving in historical context between each song number. Hopkins’ inspiration to delve into the 1970s through one the company’s cabarets was drawn from the similarities between that decade and our current time period. “The ‘70s were so reflective of what’s going on today. Now in the 2020s, we are in the midst of another major cultural revolution,” says Hopkins. “ We look at that decade with a backwards lens saying that we survived it, but when you’re in the midst of it, you’re not sure how it’s gonna turn out. Some of the biggest social conflicts in American history, from the Vietnam War to the sexual revolution are a great reflection and mirror to the divisiness we find in our country today,” Hopkins adds.