There hadn’t had a great deal of time to prepare for Between Flights, Liz Callaway informed her Metropolitan Room audience. She had come to the microphone just forty-eight hours after walking off a fifteen-hour flight from concerts in Korea, and immediately after this engagement was to be off to a gig in Iowa. But they’d seen her on Broadway and in cabaret with her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, and were in a welcoming, holiday mood. Her solution, “Since it’s my party, I’ll sing what I want to,” evoked cheers of delight, as she followed this feigned defiance with, appropriately, "You Don’t Own Me." One had to question just how little preparation honestly was involved, for Alex Rybeck’s arrangements were a perfect match for Callaway’s stunning voice, and included Callaway’s signature rendition of Stephen Schwartz’s "Meadowlark," a poignant "Didn’t We" by Jimmy Webb, plus others as unexpected as Pete Seeger’s "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"

Liz Callaway bantered with her Metropolitan Room audience easily.  Anecdotes, not a theme, were the glue that held the show together, but two numbers did connect directly to her tales of hop-scotch performing all over the world.  A tongue-in-cheek plaint about a myriad of annoyances aloft, "What Do We Do? We Fly" by Richard Rodgers with Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics, and her closer, John Denver’s "Leaving on a Jet Plane." 

She encored with "The Story Goes On" from her Tony-nominated role in Maltby and Shire’s Baby.  Surprisingly, it was the only number of the evening in which the musicians swamped the lyrics.  But that didn’t cloud the case that Liz Callaway enjoys a magnificent instrument, as singers refer to others’ voices, and between flights or not, is a poised and charming entertainer to boot.  Rybeck accompanied on piano, with MaryAnn Sweeney on bass, and Ron Tierno on drums.  Michael Barbieri was technical director, and Dan Foster directed the show. 

Liz Callaway presents Between Flights at The Metropolitan Room at various dates and times through Sunday, December 2nd, before leaving on a jet plane.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
November 20, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org