The Best of Ann Hampton Callaway – Crazy Coqs

The Best of Ann Hampton Callaway continues at Crazy Coqs, London until 29 November 2025.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

In a review of Ann Hampton Callaway at the much-missed London venue Pizza on the Park written for The Stage in March of 1995, I commented: “Callaway is welcome to bring her romantic world to London any time – it’s cabaret at its classiest, wittiest and best.”

Thirty years later, with several visits to the capital in between, the multi-award-winning American singer, songwriter and actress is back with her latest show, The Best of Ann Hampton Callaway, and these words remain just as fitting as they ever were.

Often biographies of Callaway suggest she is best known for writing and singing the theme song of the 1990s US TV series The Nanny, receiving a Tony nomination for the musical Swing! (2000) or penning the song Barbra Streisand sang to James Brolin on their wedding day.

These are valid suggestions, but for me this first-class artist will always be a standout for representing everything that is unique, enchanting and emotionally powerful about the art of cabaret. Being entertained is one thing, but Callaway invites you to pull up a chair and become part of her personal and professional world through the most skilled and exquisite musical storytelling you could wish for.

On this occasion Callaway performs highlights from previous shows in which she has celebrated a whole host of legendary singers, songwriters and singer-songwriters, many of which have inspired her to create her own compositions. These include Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand and, in the final stages of the set, John Lennon.

One musical gem follows another, but these are not imitations of classic versions of ‘Misty’, ‘Fever’, ‘Tracks of My Tears’ and more. Instead, Callaway interprets these tracks at the piano in her inimitable style, the musicianship outstanding, the multi-octave vocal range capable of being both powerful and tender, the scat singing revealing a whole vocal orchestra in the making.

The performer’s interpretation and phrasing of a lyric, along with particularly memorable arrangements, can mean you experience a familiar song from a whole different perspective. A highlight of this approach is an incredibly touching exploration of vulnerability in Carole King’s ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’, along with the yearning and passion of Sondheim’s ‘Being Alive’ (paired with Jule Styne and Bob Merrill’s ‘People’).

The latter number will of course always be linked to Streisand, with whom Callaway has collaborated on many occasions. In fact, Streisand requested a lyric to a Rolf Lovland melody that she could sing to her betrothed at the wedding in 1998.

It’s fascinating to hear Callaway’s description of the process for this rather unique writing assignment and the impact ‘I’ve Dreamed of You’ had on the big day (“even the straight men cried”).

There’s also room for a couple of other gems from the Platinum-selling songwriter: a jazz waltz in the shape of ‘The Moon is a Kite’, inspired by Callaway’s poem a day series during lockdown, and ‘At the Same Time’, a beautiful plea for peace that is as resonant in the current social and political climate as it has ever been (‘When it comes to thinking of tomorrow; We must protect our fragile destiny; In this precious life, there‘s no time to borrow; The time has come to be a family’).

Before Callaway said her farewells at this show, she gave a special mention to a couple of guests in the audience, one of which was Musical Theatre Review’s very own Jeremy Chapman who has championed the performer’s work in many excellent reviews during the last decade. It was wonderful to see Jeremy recognised in this way, and the credit was so well deserved.

At the beginning of the evening Callaway warned the audience that she was referencing so many past shows that they should be prepared for a 24-hour set. Sadly, she was just teasing us, and the 80 minutes of musical bliss soon flew by.

Callaway equates performing at Crazy Coqs to ‘singing in a human hug’, not such a bad description for how it feels to be in her presence. Don’t miss a chance to witness this cabaret virtuoso in action, and if afterwards you want to relive the experience, there’s always the 83 CDs she has recorded as a soloist and guest to start delving into.

Classy, witty and the best? I stick by my verdict of 30 years ago.

Lisa Martland