Interview: Liz Callaway Is Kicking Off a New Theatre Season at BOUND FOR BROADWAY!
By: Nicole Rosky Sep. 20, 2015
Kaufman Music Center's Bound for Broadway, previewing some of the best new musicals headed to New York theaters, is set for Monday, October 12th at 7:30 pm at Merkin Concert Hall. Tony nominee and Emmy Award winner LIZ CALLAWAY will, for the 16th season, host the annual event eagerly anticipated by New York's most serious and knowledgeable musical theater fans.
Callaway will perform songs from upcoming musicals and introduce the creative masterminds behind them during this sneak peek evening. Joining her on stage will be CRAIG LUCAS, playwright of An American in Paris; NATHAN TYSEN, songwriter and lyricist for Tuck Everlasting; and Murder for Two songwriters JOE KINOSIAN and KELLEN BLAIR, who will discuss their newest projects including Amelie, written by Lucas with lyrics by Tysen; The More Things Change, written by Blair with music by Kinosian;LMNOP, and The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen. For additional information, visit: http://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/series/broadway-close-up/
Callaway just checked in with BroadwayWorld about the upcoming concert and you can get the scoop on what's to come below!
How did you first became involved with this series?
Well Sean Hartley, who puts these together, he.... boy it was so long ago I can hardly remember! I think I just got a call one day from him saying, "Hey let's just do this." I think it might have been the second year of the series or maybe the third year and I think maybe he had just lost his host or hostess and said, "Hey! Would you be interested in doing this?" And I said, "Sure!" Not really having any idea what it was, and I remember that it was terrifying but really fun and it went really well and I actually had experience doing interviews. For three years I co-hosted a television show for kids on CBS in Boston. So, it had been a while but I kind of went, "Alright wait, I can do this!"
And I guess he was pleased with how it went because he asked me again the next year and basically said, "I always want you to do it!" I think there was one year where I couldn't do it because I got a last minute job with Marvin Hamlisch and I said to him, "Please can I take this job with Marvin?!" Other than that it has been a regular gig now for at least 10 years.
So when it comes down to it, what do you love so much about the series? What keeps you coming back?
I really enjoy it. Well first off it's great to see previews of new musicals. You know, we are so starved for new shows that it's exciting to see how much great work is being done and it's interesting to see them at a very different stage of development. Some of them are much more early on than others, but I think my favorite part though- just talking to the writers about their creative process. I'm fascinated by that (and by having nice conversations). The audience is mostly there to see the musical numbers and they really enjoy getting to know more about the process of how they came up with it and what it's like to collaborate with each other. Every year, something really interesting happens too. It's kind of like a tightrope act for me. Every year I go, "Oh God this is so hard" and then once I'm out there, it's not, but it's the idea of it. It's like, "Okay, let's see how this goes this year." It's challenging but it's a very rewarding show to be a part of.
Do you have any favorite memories of years past? I know there have been some really big shows that have made their way through...
Oh, so many shows. I should ask them for a list of things. I mean we've had so many good shows and writers that have gone on and done so well and sometimes they'll revisit. They'll come back and visit. The Avenue Q people and The Drowsy Chaperone people - that was really cool to see them come back.
We used to do it at a different time of year. We've done it in the Fall, we've done it in December, I think. We used to do it the evening after the Tony Awards. And I really liked it because something funny ALWAYS happened. You know that I could somehow relate or bring up. You know, Sean gives me information and he writes some questions for me, I write questions for myself but then sometimes you just throw it all out and just have a conversation. So, that's fun. Last year was a GREAT one and it's like, "How are we going to top that this year?" And you can't. You just have to be in the moment.
I think this year it looks like some great, REALLY great and interesting shows. I'm looking forward to talking to the writers and then I always sing a song or sometimes two, usually at the end of the evening. That's fun too. It's an opportunity for me to meet new writers. A few years ago, one of the writers we had on was Adam Gwon, who is a FABULOUS composer. I sang a song of his that was very good and afterwards I told him how I really liked his work and I said "I'm always looking for good material to sing in concerts and stuff." And I said, "Do you have anything?" And he sent me a song that was wonderful, I just didn't have an opportunity to sing it and then he asked me to sing it for him at a composer showcase he did at 54 Below. And then I just did a concert this summer, working on a new album, so I need to do a live show because I wanted a couple of live performances for this album. So, I made an evening of songs that I've always wanted to record. So I recorded this song of Adam's and it's actually going to be on my album. I wasn't planning on it being on and I think a lot of people have heard it. It's called 'I'll Be Here.' It's a beautiful song. So, it's because of doing Bound for Broadway that I met Adam and that he sent me this song and it's going to be on my album coming out in November.
Well, let's talk more about your album, please!
Well, it's called 'The Essential Liz Callaway.' and it's sort of mostly a compilation album of songs I've recorded songs from my career, but there's also five new songs. Five new tracks. It's kind of a 'Best of' for lack of a better word for describing it. It's going to have songs from Baby, it has two songs from Anastasia, my albums, favorite recordings I've done, some Off-Broadway shows I've done and some of the new stuff there are going to be 4 live songs from this evening I did. There are a couple of Sondheim songs and one is Adam's songs and then a Ahrens and Flaherty song.
How exciting!
I'm putting it together myself and it's so awesome. I've been lucky to do all of these different albums but I thought it would be nice to have one album and I know I will have to do a Volume 2 because it was just impossible to narrow things down. It was kind of fun to curate a collection fo songs that sort of represented highlights of my career and recordings so far. It comes out November 24th.
And I have to ask because you kind of mentioned it... Anastasia is finally premiering on stage. Are you as excited about that as I think the rest of the world is?
Yeah, I can't wait. They are premiering it in Hartford, CT. So there will definitely be a road trip to see that. And it's time. I just think it's really time. It's such a great story and it's a great score and I know that there is new music that they have written for it. You know, I travel a lot fo concerts all around the world and it's amazing to see how many people come up to me and say how much Anastasia means to them. I say, "You know it's gonna come to Broadway!" And people are SO excited about that.
I'm one of those people!
Yeah, it's one of my favorite jobs I've ever had. Lynn Ahren's just wrote the notes for my album and it was so sweet and such an honor. It's such a special score and I do have people asking me if I will play it in the show and I'm like, "Ooohh no!" I will happily be in the audience cheering everyone on!
So, we are about a month out for Bound for Broadway, what are you most looking forward to this year?
Well as I said, I think every year there's a wonderful lineup. I think we have a particularly strong lineup of shows this year and some of the people and writers are friends of mine. People I know, and some I've never met before. I actually think I'm going to sing two songs this year and this morning one of the millions of things I did was write to the writer of one of the show we are doing, which is Amelie. They had sent a song and had said, "Would Liz sing this song?" and it's beautiful. It's really beautiful. So, I wrote to the writer and I said, "I'm excited to sing your song." I have a process for learning music. I like to have a piano track so I can practice and a lyric sheet so I can first try to learn those. I don't generally memorize the songs, I'm close to it but I put my lyrics on a music stand for this particular show just because after interviewing and everything and finally get up and suddenly sing a song I've never sung before is just too much stress. Then I asked him if he could plunk it out for me so I could learn it, just because I have my process. Yeah it's coming up! I've gotta learn, I'm not sure what the second song is, but I have to start learning my music so that I can enjoy singing it at the concert.
But REALLY the most important thing is that I'm sort of the bridge between the audience and the writers and I try to think of, "What would they want to know?" And there usually ends up being some kind of dialogue with the audience who is there and I recognized people who have been there for years and then we always have new faces. It's a great series and it ALWAYS sells out and people really want to come and if they do they need to get their tickets immediately because it's a hot ticket. It's been sort of this secret in some ways. We've been doing it for so many years and people know about it but it hasn't necessarily been publicized all that much. It's a wonderful evening and I'm looking forward to it.
Bound for Broadway host Liz Callaway is a Tony nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer and recording artist. She made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Baby, and for five years, won acclaim as Grizabella in Cats. She has also starred in the original casts of Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers and The Look of Love. Off-Broadway she received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in The Spitfire Grill (Playwrights Horizons), and also appeared in Brownstone (Roundabout), No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, andGodspell. Other New York appearances include the legendary Follies in Concert at Lincoln Center, A Stephen Sondheim Evening, Fiorello! (Encores!) and Hair in Concert. Liz sang the Academy Award nominated song "Journey to the Past" in the animated feature Anastasia and is also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Return of Jafar. Other film work includes the singing voice of the title character in The Swan Princess, Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, Beauty and the Beast, Lyle, Lyle the Crocodile and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.
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