Ann Hampton Callaway has written songs for Barbra Streisand, she wrote and sang "The Nanny Named Fran" for TV's The Nanny, and garnered a Tony nomination for Best Actress in 2000 for her performance in Swing! on Broadway. Liz Callaway made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, performed in the original cast of Miss Saigon and earned a Tony nomination for Best Actress in 1984 for her role as Lizzie in Baby. They're sisters who sing "Sisters" from White Christmas and a whole lot more from musicals to movies, and their show, Sibling Revelry has been a mainstay of New York City cabaret since 1995.
They're as different as night and day, but they'll be together on stage with the Grand Rapids Pops for Broadway Showstoppers at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10 in DeVos Performance Hall for the concert in the Fox Motors Pops series. (Please note that 7:30 p.m. is a new start time for concerts on Fridays and Saturdays).
"We look different, we sound different - that's what makes our relationship theatrically interesting," Ann said to the Arizona Republic last year. "But there is a blend that we have. Liz's voice is sunlit, my voice is moonlit, and together we make twilight."
Decide for yourself which sister Mom and Dad liked best when Associate Conductor John Varineau welcomes Ann Hampton Callaway back for her third appearance with the Grand Rapids Symphony, and Liz Callaway for her DeVos Hall debut.
The Callaways tackle well-known songs from some of Broadway's biggest hits from "Defying Gravity" from Wicked to "All That Jazz" from Chicago.
Liz Callaway, who spent five years as Grizabella in Cats employs her clear-as-a-bell soprano to sing "Memory." But the actress who served as the singing voice of characters in several Disney films also sings "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia.
The dusky-voiced alto sings "The Nanny Named Fran," but Ann Hampton Callaway, dubbed Performer of the Year by Broadwayworld.com, also sings songs such as "People," which transcended its original musical, Funny Girl, and became a classic all by itself.
Originally from Chicago, the daughters of a TV journalist father and a pianist mother who also taught singing, the Callaways later moved to New York. Their early careers traveled in different directions - Ann was a jazz and cabaret singer and a songwriter while Liz was an actress on stage and screen - before their paths crossed again in cabaret.
Ann Hampton Callaway first appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony in a show titled The Great American Songbook in January 2010. During the show, she took ideas from the audience and wrote songs on the spot, bringing the house down with a love song involving Grand River's celebrated Fish Ladder. She returned in January 2017 in a show titled Hits of Barbra Streisand, which she has performed with over 100 symphony orchestras.
A special guest performer with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, she has performed for President Clinton in Washington, D.C. and at President Gorbachev's Youth Peace Summit in Moscow.
Ann made her feature film debut opposite Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon in the Robert De Niro film The Good Shepherd, singing the standard "Come Rain or Come Shine." She recorded "Isn't It Romantic?" and "The Nearness of You" in Wayne Wong's Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah.
Liz Callaway, who was the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and the Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, received an Emmy Award for hosting Ready to Go, a daily, live children's program on CBS in Boston.
Her Broadway stage credits include The Look of Love and The Three. Off-Broadway appearances include The Spitfire Grill (Drama Desk nomination), No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little and Brownstone. She recently starred in the one-person play Every Brilliant Thing at TheatreSquared.
Her TV credits include In Performance at the White House, Inside the Actor's Studio: Stephen Sondheim, The David Letterman Show and Senior Trip (CBS Movie of the Week).
Tickets for Broadway Showstoppers start at $18 adults and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
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