Sisters Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callway borrowed one of Broadway’s techniques, offering a preview performance of their new cabaret show-to-come, Boom!. Terming it a “sneak peek,” the baby boomer siblings combined a tribute to the music of their growing-up years, the ‘60s and ‘70s, with reminiscences of living in Chicago and New York.

Critiquing a show while it’s still a work in progress is the reviewer’s version of a “sneak peek,” if not just sneaky, but when a forthcoming show promises to be as captivating as this one, it’s too difficult to keep it to oneself. But these two, even in rehearsal, are such an exhilarating duo that I feel an obligation to get out the word.

Liz is a cabaret and Tony Award-nominated Broadway performer whose longest gig was five years playing Grizabella in Cats. Ann is a cabaret performer and songwriter who also earned a Tony nomination for her Broadway performance in Swing!. In spite of little advance notice, scores of admirers and Callaway aficionados filled Iridium almost to overflowing.

Their voices are different. Ann’s is lower and Liz’s higher, a shading that works for them extremely well in their duets. So do the engrossing harmonies the two seem to create on the fly, although their long-time musical director and accompanist, Alex Rybeck, surely had a hand in this.

Work in progress or not, the Callaways and their show-to-be were gratifying delights. The show’s content may change before its formal debut. But one has to hope that Liz and Ann’s rendition of Carly Simon and Jacob Brackman’s “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” Liz’s solo of John Denver’s “Leavin' on a Jet Plane” and Ann’s poignant “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by Gerry Goffin and Carole King will be included for those audiences-to-come to cherish.

Many years ago, I watched Ann and Liz, as part of The Russian Tea Room’s Sunday Night Series, perform their first joint cabaret show. Titled, or described at the time as Together Again – For the First Time, it opened with the sisters, each already a success in her musical career, entering from opposite sides of the room singing Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better).”  For a cabaret enthusiast, it was easy to fall in love with the two of them on the spot, and the ardor hasn’t cooled since. It was also the night that our table neighbor, Darrell Henline, first mentioned to us his plans to originate a cabaret magazine, to be called Cabaret Scenes.

Remember the show: Boom! When it’s fully jelled and scheduled, it will be worth a special trip.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
January 10, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org