BOOM! Ann Hampton Callaway & Liz Callaway – live-streamed from 54 Below, New York.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
If there’s only one thing in the world of cabaret that beats being serenaded by one Callaway sister, it’s being serenaded by both Ann and Liz. With Ann now living in Arizona and Liz in New York, their paths cross less often these days so the opportunity to see them reprise BOOM! at 54 Below was not to be missed.
Conceived in 2011 and recorded at Birdland, another famous New York nightspot, BOOM! is an affectionate trawl through the hit songs of their youth, songs like ‘Mercedes Benz’ and ‘Joy to the World’ which they used to sing lustily in the back seat of the family car as their father drove them on holiday, wishing he was listening to the soothing strings of Mantovani instead.
The sisters could not have been more different. Ann, tall and dark with the rich, bluesy voice, Liz, three years younger, blonde, petite with the pure crystal tone of an angel. Different in their musical tastes too: Ann wanted to be the fifth Beatle, had a Buddha and the collected works of Sylvia Plath by her bedside; Liz, a Burt Bacharach fan and Broadway baby, had Sports Illustrated on her bedside table and a giant poster of the New York Knicks, the local basketball team, on her wall. Ann would spend her time writing poems – “What planet was she on?” asked Liz.
Ann had several strings to her bow – she was an accomplished piano and prolific songwriter too – whose early success encouraged the shyer Liz to follow her into showbusiness. Different as they obviously were, they had one thing in common – a love of music – and how grateful we are they, separately or together, chose to share that gift with the world.
Where Sibling Revelry, their previous collaboration first seen in London back in 1998, saw the sisters wind each other up mercilessly with catty put-downs, BOOM! is more of a mutual appreciation society, a nostalgic trip down memory lane, starting with three Beatles numbers – Ann confesses she had her first kiss at 12 during ‘Come Together’ – and moving on to the Bacharach-David classic ‘Something There to Remind Me’.
The first big highlight comes when Ann takes over from Alex Rybeck on piano for ‘A Case of You’, a deeply personal and affecting Joni Mitchell ballad. When she gets a song that suits her lower register, Callaway Senior can hold an entire room in thrall.
After another dollop of the Beatles, this time the evergreen ‘Yesterday’, a gospelly ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’’ and a slow, spiritual ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ from Ann which Dylan would barely have recognised, the sisters don matching long white go-go boots and trendy shades for a stunning ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’, Lee Hazlewood’s massive 1966 hit for Nancy Sinatra.
Before that Liz shows the acting skills that made her a Broadway leading lady in the Jimmy Webb ballads ‘Didn’t We’ and ‘MacArthur Park’ and the evening wouldn’t be complete without the warmest of sisterly cuddles after a blissful ‘The Way We Were’. We are into the 1970s now (a bit of Carly Simon and a long Stevie Wonder medley) – nine numbers I think – and the perfect encore, Carole King’s ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. They describe King’s Tapestry as “the album that really united us”.
The Callaways’ trio, Rybeck on piano, Ritt Henn on electric and string bass and Ron Tierno on drums, play their part too in 90 minutes of musical heaven. Now we need to get them to the UK!
BOOM! is one of a number of shows available for live-streaming. If you can’t get to Manhattan, it’s a great way of seeing the big names in US cabaret and at $29 (around £22) only a third the cost of a ticket. Catch their programme at 54below.org.
Jeremy Chapman
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