Interview: WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED? Mary Callanan returns to Provincetown with new cabaret show

Mary Callanan has long been a fixture on Boston area stages and in piano bars and cabaret rooms in Provincetown.

A dozen years ago, however, Broadway beckoned and the Brighton, Massachusetts, native relocated to New York. Now back home and busier than ever in local productions, Callanan will be at the Post Office Café and Cabaret in Provincetown on July 23, accompanied by composer, conductor, pianist, and three-time Emmy Award winner John McDaniel.

Called “What More Do You Need?” the show will feature songs from musicals she’s done on Broadway, on the road, and in Boston. For the singer, whose local career has included multi-year runs in “Nunsense” and “Menopause: The Musical,” there is much to choose from.

Callanan landed her first Broadway role in the 2012 revival of “Annie” as Mrs. Pugh, and understudy to Jane Lynch and later Faith Prince in the role of Miss Hannigan. When “Annie” closed in 2014, Callanan was cast as Rosie (“Take a Chance on Me”) in a sit-down production of “Mamma Mia!” at the now-shuttered Tropicana Las Vegas and, when that production wrapped, moved to the Broadway production of the ABBA jukebox musical. Callanan – who first played Rosie in the North American tour of “Mamma Mia!” – was in that role in the final Broadway cast when the New York run ended in September 2015.

Two years later, the song-and-dance woman originated the role of Jean Ann Ryan in the new musical “Bandstand.” Since then, Callanan has played Marge in the first national tour of “The Bridges of Madison County.” Most recently, she was on the road again, as Henry Higgins’ maid Mrs. Hopkins, in the first year of the North American tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady.”

When the covid pandemic wreaked havoc on Broadway shows and national tours, most of which were shut down, Callanan headed home. After a series of virtual cabaret shows with longtime accompanist Brian Patton, and with covid restrictions lifted, Callanan has returned to the stage – as Dee Dee Allen in the SpeakEasy Stage production of “The Prom,” and at North Shore Music Theatre as Gladys Presley in “Elvis: A Musical Revolution,” Frau Schmidt in “The Sound of Music,” and, most recently, Grandma Tzeitel in “Fiddler on the Roof.”

By telephone recently from her home in Weymouth, Callanan talked about returning to Provincetown, collaborating with McDaniel (“The Rosie O’Donnell Show”), and revisiting music from the Broadway shows she’s done.

Tell me about developing your new cabaret show, “What More Do You Need?”

It’s not a show I’ve ever done before. When I was first speaking to John about it, he said, “Let’s have fun.” I said, “I always try to!” Adding color to this whole wonderful experience is my relationship with John. I’ve gotten to know him socially over the years, because we have some of the same friends. What’s been most important to this project, however, is that we respect each other’s work. And we definitely have that in common.

Where did the idea for the show come from?

By the time John and I got together this spring, I had already started pulling together a list of possible songs. People have heard me do all kinds of material – from pop songs and jazz to show tunes – over the years, so I wanted to shake things up a bit and give the audience something a little different. With that in mind, I decided to pull together music from the shows I’ve done on Broadway and on tour. It will probably be half songs I’ve sung in shows, and half songs I wish I’d done.

We’re still finalizing the set list, but I would bet there will be songs from “Mamma Mia!” and “Annie,” and maybe also from “Gypsy,” “Mame,” “Chicago,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “The Bridges of Madison County.” And I might do something from “Nunsense,” because I was in that one for five years in Boston and my husband, Larry Finlayson, was the company manager. It depends on if the song comes with a story I can tell.

A few years back you did shows in Boston and Provincetown with the late jazz great Mike Renzi, who was Peggy Lee’s pianist and music director. What was that like?

It was amazing, just amazing. With Mike, I tailored my show to his status as a world-class pianist. I did a program of American Songbook standards and jazz. Mike was wonderful to me. The whole time, however, the list of incredible performers Mike had worked with – from Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, and Mel Torme to Tony Bennett and Blossom Dearie – kept running through my head. Sharing a stage with Mike Renzi was an experience I will never forget.

What is that you enjoy so much about cabaret?

What I like, love really, about cabaret as an art form is that it takes you on a journey. I see the music and the stories through my prism, and the audience’s experience is through its own prism. It’s an experience I love sharing.

Photo captions: Mary Callanan is seen here in evening wear by designer David Josef. Photo by Matthew Murphy/MurphyMade. Head shot of Callanan by Nile Scott Studios.

To post a comment, you must register and login.