Righteous Sisters: Liz & Ann Hampton Callaway
Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway revisited the music - and memories - of their childhood in a sold out concert last night at Town Hall. The concert, titled “Boom!,” is a celebration of the songs of the 60s and 70s that shaped the musical tastes of the baby boomer generation.
In contrast to Nellie McKay’s tribute to Doris Day, “Normal as Blueberry Pie,” at Feinstein’s cabaret, which has an ingenuous spontaneity, everything about “Boom!” is polished and planned. It feels like a show destined for regional performing arts centers. That’s not to say there isn’t genuine affection between the two sisters or that it wasn’t fun, which it certainly was.
As much as they have in common, the two sisters are very different. Liz is svelte, with a strawberry blonde pixie haircut and a soprano voice; her older sister Ann is more zaftig, with dark hair and a rich alto. Liz has an elfin Ellen DeGeneres quality; Ann is more Rosie O’Donnell. When they sing together, the harmonies are sublime. They opened with a medley of “Got to Get You Into My Life/Happy Together,” segued into a fun deconstruction of “Come Together,” and did a chilling duet on “Yesterday,” where Liz’s voice was like a violin and Ann’s like a cello. When they did “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” Ann was Bill Medley and Liz was Bobby Hatfield.
Everything about it - the patter, as well as the music - was pitch perfect. As carefully scripted as it was, it felt natural as they reminisced about growing up in Chicago and New York (who knew they had a Huntington, LI, connection?), watching “Get Smart” on TV, listening to their very different records in their very different bedrooms (Liz with her white French provincial canopy bed, Ann with her mahogany contemporary - both from Sears). And the good-natured teasing surely was drawn from their lives.
They made you feel they had a personal connection to each song. The Stevie Wonder medley that opened the second half was a tour de force. The solo highlights were Liz’s medley of “Didn’t We” and the middle section of “MacArthur Park” (dedicated to Jimmy Webb, who was in the audience) and Ann’s full-throated version of Joni’s “A Case of You,” accompanying herself on piano. (They were mostly backed by a tight, tasteful piano, bass, drums trio.)
“A Case of You” has that great line, “You are in my blood like holy wine.” I think Ann is like red wine, Liz is like white. And like the songs they sang, they are both great vintages.
