Review: Liz Callaway Holds a Love Fest for Richard Maltby & David Shire at Lincoln Center's American Songbook

There are audible sighs of pleasurable recognition from the audience at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center (on March 30) when Liz Callaway's band plays opening bars from "The Story Goes On" (Baby)." Every morning I awake with sunlight in my hair . . . ("Song of Me") she begins, immediately warming the room. We feel her experience. Arms stretch up and out with coltish readiness. Boys smell like boys/Nothing like I've known/I guess I'll have to take my chances . . . ("I Want to Know" from Big) she sings, seamlessly transposing Josh Baskin's number to the reflections of a girl.

Songwriting partners Richard Maltby & David Shire have been "in" Liz Callaway's life since she was a teenager with exposure to her parents' extensive Barbra Streisand collection (the icon sang Maltby/Shire) and a recording of Starting Here, Starting Now. Her first New York cabaret presentation (at The Duplex) opened with "Just Across the River" from the revue. That show lead to an audition for a piece directed by Richard Maltby Jr. which eventually paved the way for Callaway's role in the collaborators' musical Baby. The young actress thought she was helping out writers she admired by letting them hear new material out loud, but, in fact, was auditioning. (This is actually not difficult to believe.) And the rest is history.

The authors, who are happily present, could not have a better tribute than The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway Sings Maltby & Shire. The personal, heartfelt, beautifully produced evening features numbers included and cut from Staring Here, Starting Now, its successor, Closer Than Ever, Big, Baby, and Take Flight (a 2007 Wright Brothers musical). Songs are symbiotically grouped, tales captivating, pacing perfect. Bravo Director Dan Foster.

Liz Callaway remains uncommonly real. She's one of us, albeit one with extraordinary talent. Emotions are direct, comprehensible, sympathetic. Storytelling songs (Maltby/Shire are masters at this) seem like firsthand experience. There are no affected gestures. The genial intimacy and easy humor of this evening's reminiscences make one want to take her home to a cozy dinner.

"Crossword Puzzle," a girl chastising herself for being so aggressively smart she loses her boyfriend, is deftly interwoven with a crossword completion: What's a five letter word meaning . . . here's an example . . . 2 Down: "A Peruvian poison dart." . . . Delivered properly, it's wry, not angry. Callaway aptly projects an attitude that says 'big deal' as she easily fills in the blanks and an expression of 'what?!' surprised at her own overreaction.

The performer can take us soaring. "I Hear Bells" is exultant. Callaway's vocal actually sounds as if it comes forward, strikes and recedes. The complexity of MD/pianist David Loud's overlapping passages makes it seem as if he has four hands producing sparkling clarity. (Arrangements are knockout.) Sarah Seiver's otherwise ethereally bowed cello is plucked while virtuoso percussionist Bruce Doctor plinks on vibes. The word "shine" circles the room like an ephemeral hug.

Just the opposite is achieved with "Autumn," incredibly Maltby/Shire's first collaboration-at the age of 19. Callaway's potent interpretation is simply gorgeous. Loud seems to breathe piano keys to life; Seiver's bow seems to stroke one's breastbone, Doctor's vibraphone creates the last sun dappled leaves floating down. It ends--airbrushed.

Songs from Big include, in part, "Little Susan Lawrence" (which was cut) and "Stop Time." These showcase the performer's ability to morph in unexpected ways. The first, a child's yearning, becomes scrapbook memories without changing a word. Nor does Callaway pretend to be age 12, she just vividly recalls. Lyrics arrive with authenticity that takes into consideration both then and now. "Stop Time," Mrs. Baskin's ballad about not wanting her child to grow up, couldn't sound more haltingly genuine following anecdotes concerning Callaway's now 25-year-old son. Later, "Patterns" also projects a life of deep engagement.

"I Chose Right" (Baby) was originally performed by Danny, Callaway's (Lizzie's) romantic interest in the show. Again, transition is apparent. The vocalist might just as easily be singing this to her longtime husband as to her 20-something baby daddy. She plumbs it for truth, finds, and shares it. I saw the 1983 Broadway show and bought the recording. Callaway was stellar.

Every original member of that cast is in our audience . . . all grown up. Guest Todd Graff, the original "skinny, quirky" Danny, reprises their duet of "What Could Be Better?" At the lyric, he'll have my smile and your hair, the now bald actor quips "It's not sporting to go for the easy ones." There are flashes of being back in time. The charming song exudes freshness and innocence which both singers convey. Graff at first looks like a deer in headlights; both radiate teasing affection.

Guest Kate Baldwin joins Callaway in the tandem "It's Never Been That Easy" and "I've Been Here Before," as solos, then braided. These are clearly two characters with shared history swapping relationship stories. Both vocals are supple and sincere. Both ladies make light work of octave changes, both come in for soft landings.

"This has been something I've wanted to do for so long," Callaway tells us. She caps the evening with her show-stopping turn from Baby, "The Story Goes On." The number has vigor, heart and infectious joy.

Photos by Kevin Yatarola

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