The Women Who Ruled the Radio Are Back in Songbirds of the Seventies

There was a glorious moment in music history when women did not need backup dancers, costume changes every four minutes, or a wind machine powerful enough to launch them into another zip code. They simply walked up to a microphone, opened their mouths, and told the truth.

Florida Studio Theatre celebrates those women—and the unforgettable soundtrack they created—with Songbirds of the Seventies, a vibrant new cabaret playing in FST’s intimate Court Cabaret. Created by Nancy Allen, the production pays tribute to powerhouse singer-songwriters including Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Helen Reddy, Linda Ronstadt, and Stevie Nicks. In other words, this is not background music. These are the women who supplied the emotional instruction manual for an entire generation.

The show stars Victoria Boland, Samantha Duval, and Madalyn McHugh, three dynamic performers who bring different vocal colors and personalities to the stage. Together, they create a winning combination of vocal power, warmth, humor, and just enough attitude. They remind us that the women being honored were never interested in politely staying in their lane.

Why would they? They were far too busy creating the road.

The evening moves from the earthy authenticity of the Woodstock era into the polished glow of ’70s soft rock. The music may be nostalgic, but it never feels trapped under a dusty stack of old vinyl records. These songs still have teeth. They speak about independence, desire, heartbreak, loneliness, ambition. And resilience, and the complicated business of being a woman who refuses to shrink herself to make someone else comfortable.

Apparently, that never goes out of style.

Boland brings an assured international polish to the production, along with the kind of commanding presence that makes an audience immediately pay attention. An award-winning vocalist whose career has included performances around the world—including an appearance before Queen Elizabeth II—she knows how to hold a room without begging for its approval.

Duval is a familiar and welcome face at FST, having previously appeared in productions including Little Shop of Horrors, Divas Three, and Rhinestone Cowgirls. She delivers theatrical flair, charisma, and a sense of fun that keeps the evening buoyant. She can lean into the emotion of a song and then turn around and give the audience a playful look that says, “Yes, we have all made that particular romantic mistake. Let us move on.”

McHugh, an actor, musician, and singer-songwriter, brings an appealing naturalness to the stage. Previously seen at FST in Three Pianos, she possesses a musical versatility that fits beautifully within a show traveling through folk, country, pop, and soft rock. Her connection to the singer-songwriter tradition feels particularly genuine because she is not simply interpreting the music—she understands the impulse to create it.

The trio works especially well because the production does not attempt to turn them into carbon copies of the original artists. Nobody needs a bargain-bin Stevie Nicks impersonator twirling across the stage in a lace shawl. The goal is not imitation. It is celebration.

And celebrate they do.

The Court Cabaret is the ideal setting for this material. Its intimate atmosphere allows the audience to experience the songs up close, where the lyrics can truly land. The cabaret format also creates the delicious sensation that you have stumbled into a private concert. Featuring three extremely talented women—except your living room does not have professional lighting, excellent sound, or someone nearby willing to bring you a drink.

Kate Landry’s lighting design gives the production visual warmth. Nicholas Christensen’s sound design keeps the vocals and musicianship at the center of the experience. Her result is polished without being overproduced. It allows the personalities of the performers and the emotional strength of the music to lead the evening.

What makes Songbirds of the Seventies particularly satisfying is that it recognizes these artists as more than beautiful voices attached to popular songs. The artists were storytellers. These musicians wrote about their own lives. They claimed their own identities, and helped change who was allowed to speak with authority in popular music.

They were vulnerable without being weak, glamorous without being manufactured, and powerful without asking anyone’s permission.

Imagine that.

For audience members who lived through the era, the production is a musical time machine. It is filled with memories of radios, record players, road trips, first loves, and bad boyfriends. Also questionable hairstyles, and jeans that required lying flat on a bed to zip. For younger theatergoers, it offers a reminder that long before playlists and viral clips there was life. Women were already turning private experiences into public anthems.

At approximately 90 minutes, including intermission. The show moves briskly and leaves the audience wanting more rather than checking the time. Songbirds of the Seventies is smart, spirited, beautifully sung, and unapologetically female.

The women celebrated in this production did not merely provide the soundtrack of the ’70s. They gave women permission to be complicated, outspoken, romantic, furious, ambitious, heartbroken, and completely unforgettable.

Florida Studio Theatre lets those songbirds fly again—and they still know exactly how to command the sky.

Songbirds of the Seventies runs through September 13, 2026, in Florida Studio Theatre’s Court Cabaret in downtown Sarasota.

https://www.floridastudiotheatre.org