Review: Liz Callaway A Diamond In Every Way In SCREEN GEMS at 54 Below

“Are you fans of Liz’s?”

That was me, talking to my tablemates at the new Liz Callaway show SCREEN GEMS, last Friday night.  Whenever seated with strangers, I like to find out what brought them to the club.  It turns out, I learned, that these kind folks did not actually know who Liz Callaway is, they just remembered having a wonderful time at 54 Below a few years ago, so, when they wanted to get out and have some fun on a hot summer night, they looked to see who was playing Broadway’s Living Room, they liked the description of Liz’s show, and they made a reservation.  And aren’t they the lucky ones?  You bet.  Naturally, it fell to me to explain to them that they had made the right choice because, as I offered them, Liz Callaway is simply one of the great voices of this time, the time before us, the time that will come after us, and any other time you would care to nominate.  This is not opinion, it is gospel.  Liz Callaway is The Best.  And SCREEN GEMS is also The Best.

As Liz was beginning her July 7th performance, I thought how nice it would be for her to just get up there and sing songs that she loved to sing.  Her previous outing, the smash hit TO STEVE WITH LOVE, was such a personal show, with so many memories of her dear friend Stephen Sondheim, and a weighty duet with her son, Nicholas Foster, that it must have really taken a lot out of her to dig so deep for a cabaret show.  At least with Screen Gems, it would just be about favorite songs from the movies, something fun without a lot of emotions to carry around for ninety minutes.  Wrong.  It seemed, at first, like those instincts were in the right lane, as Liz opened the performance with a wonderful mash-up of the classic “When You Wish Upon A Star” and the exceptional Carly Simon song “Let The River Run” (WHAT a way to start a show) but before too long it became incredibly clear that this was not a theme night.  This was not just movie songs brilliantly arranged by Alex Rybeck.  This was not just a “set”... and shame on me for even allowing that thought to enter my head because when was the last time that Liz Callaway ever did a “set”?  Liz Callaway always brings a fully considered, totally constructed, expertly executed program to any stage that bears her name on the bill.  So even though the face value of Screen Gems sells a show of movie music, it isn’t a show about movie music.  This is a show about Liz Callaway, about her family, about her life, and about how this movie music relates to all of that, and as good as the music is (strike good and replace it with great), it is in the Callaway storytelling and history where the foundation of the play lies.  And that is because Liz and her director, Dan Foster, build a script and a show for each and every outing.  

There are those who think that walking out on the stage and winging it without a script or a director, or either or both, will cut it but Liz Callaway and Dan Foster (and Screen Gems) are proof positive that working with a director and working from a script that has been written, structured, and memorized will make your show the best it can be.  Screen Gems could be filmed, could be blueprinted, could be bound, and could be presented as a master class in how to make a proper cabaret show.   There she is - Liz Callaway, up on a stage, talking about the time that her sister, Ann, made a huge gaffe while talking to Dudley Moore, and then applying that blunder to a song in her show of movie songs, and the segment is executed to artistic, professional, accessible perfection.  There is no flaw.  There is no hesitation.  There is no coy disguise.  Every moment is articulate and intentional - just like the segment relating to Mary Poppins and the loss of a loved one, or the portion of the play that links Liz and Dan’s courtship and marriage to a Dustin Hoffman comedy.  Throughout Screen Gems, Liz casually and eloquently shares her personal self with her audience, letting them know her, know who she is, and what she has lived through, all the while making happy those souls who love movies, who love movie music, and who (particularly) love movie music from the Eighties.

There is movie music that was created after the decade that is, patently, Liz’s primary passion, and there was, most certainly, movie music created before it - and Liz Callaway lovingly presents a bit of Doris Day, by way of some sweet “Secret Love,” some Audrey Hepburn, through a lovely “Moon River,” and even a double dose of Judy Garland because you can’t do movie music without Judy.  The older offerings are delectable musical morsels, especially with that special Rybeck touch, but it is in the movie songs of David Shire, Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz, The Bergmans, Marvin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager, and other artists whose songs filled the film screens of the Seventies and the Eighties where Liz Callaway comes to life.  Who else would have the imagination to take the theme song from Heartburn and put it into a club act?  Carly Simon devotee Liz Callaway, that’s who.  Who else would mashup two songs about rain, written four decades apart?  Liz Callaway, that’s who.  And who else could and should do a mashup of two Flaherty and Ahrens movie songs?  Liz Callaway, and only Liz Callaway… unless it were a Broadway show and the headliner was Christy Altomare.  Yes, Anastasia fans, the medley is in the show, and let us all be honest: there are few thrills as great as hearing those opening chords of “Journey From The Past” and knowing that you are about to hear Liz Callaway sing the song that, first, was hers and, in the final analysis, always will be.

Screen Gems is the cabaret art form at its best - it simply doesn’t get better than this.  And even though the run comes to a close tomorrow night, July 11th, at 7 pm, everyone should hope that it will have more life to come, that it might have been recorded for an album release, and that Liz Callaway will get to sing these movie songs again and again.  Because even though it’s just a simple show about songs from the cinema, there are life lessons here, starting with the most basic and obvious life lesson of all:  Liz Callaway is one of a kind, she is essential, she is musical storytelling personified.

Get a ticket to the closing performance of SCREEN GEMS on July 11th HERE.

Visit the Liz Callaway website HERE.

The SCREEN GEMS personnel list is Dan Foster in the Director's Seat, Ritt Henn behind the bass, Ron Tierno at the drums, and Musical Director Alex Rybeck arranging and playing the Piano.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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