Singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer, Ann Hampton Callaway blends jazz and traditional pop, performing in concert halls, 
theaters and jazz clubs as well as in the recording studio, on television, and in film. She is best known for Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing! and for writing and singing the theme song to the hit TV series “The Nanny.” Callaway is a Platinum Award winning writer whose songs are featured on seven of Barbra Streisand’s recent CDs. The only composer to have collaborated with Cole Porter, she has also written songs with Carole King, Rolf Lovland, Amanda McBroom and Shelby Lynn to name a few. She’s also an improviser, taking words and phrases from her audiences and creating songs on the spot, whether alone at a piano or with a symphony orchestra. Callaway also devotes time to philanthropic causes, both as a singer performing in numerous benefits, and as a songwriter composing songs in times of need.
Amanda McBroom first came to the attention music lovers when Bette Midler’s version of her song “The Rose” hit number one globally in 1979. In addition to Midler, her songs have been recorded by a wide variety of artists including 
Amy Poehler and Jack Black, Barry Manilow, Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, LeAnn Rimes, Anne Murray, Harry Belafonte, Betty Buckley, Stephanie Mills and many more. As a performer, McBroom starred in the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and European productions of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and on Broadway in Seesaw, as well as productions of Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music and Mame. McBroom created a musical based on her songs, Heartbeats, which made its debut in 1989 in Los Angeles. Her latest musical, A Woman of Will, made its off-Broadway debut in 2005. McBroom recently celebrated the release of Voices, her sixth recording on Gecko, the label she established in 1985. Other Gecko recordings include Dreaming, Midnight Matinee, A Waiting Heart, Portraits, and Chanson.
The pair team up for Divalicious! from Thursday, March 2 through Saturday, March 4 all at 7 PM at 54 Below, with McBroom’s frequent collaborator, Michele Brourman, as music director. The show will feature numbers they wrote for luminaries such as Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand, alongside standards by Rodgers & Hart, Kern & Hammerstein, Cole Porter and the Gershwins.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Ann Hampton Callaway (AHC) and Amanda McBroom (AM) Six Questions:
NLE: When did you first become really aware of each other’s work as songwriters? What were your thoughts about what you heard?
AHC: I fell in love with Bette Midler’s recording of “The Rose,” and then I fell in love with its songwriter years later when I began performing in LA and we met. Then I started hearing the body of work she had written and recorded and was awestruck by her talent as a songwriter and a singer/actress. I view Amanda as one of America’s finest storytellers. Her humor and her humanity are always chicken soup for the soul.
AM: I had heard about Ann from many of my New York pals ( I am a west coast gal) who raved about her as a singer and a songwriter. We met at various times when we were in the same vicinity, or at each other’s shows. iIloved what i heard. Her musicality is so delicious. The beauty of melody is so in her ball park. and her romantic soul shines forth in every lyric she writes. And when she does that impossibly clever instant song writing that she does so well—well… I am in thrall and envy!
NLE: Who have been your greatest influences/mentors? Do you share any of them?
AHC: Through the years, I have curated what I call my AHC Legacy Series, which includes salutes to inspirations Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Linda Ronstadt and Peggy Lee. In our show, I will sing two songs from my new CD Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration. 
And I will perform a song I wrote for Barbra Streisand’s wedding that she has included on several of her CDs called “I’ve Dreamed of You.” So I get to touch on those influences and, I love that we are honoring one of the great female songwriting trailblazers we three ladies admire—Dorothy Fields—in a delightful medley of her classics. Both Peggy Lee and Dorothy Fields helped pave the way for us to be successful songwriters in a world still somewhat dominated by men.
AM: Inluences: Jacques Brel, Judy Collins, Harry Chapin, Lerner & Lowe. Mentors: Portia Nelson, Julie Wilson, Margaret Whiting. I don’t know if Ann also has been influenced by them.
NLE: As songwriters, is there an overarching intent, theme or “philosophy” you’re aiming for?
AHC: In our show, which we call “a night of standards, Ann-dards and Amand-ards,” the original songs we share focus primarily on the many sides of love and the trials and tribulations of being a human being in this time. Amanda, Michele (Brourman), and I look 
for silver linings, embrace the secret longings of the heart and celebrate the aha moments life brings us. We are united in optimism, mischief and a healthy dash of social concern.
AM: Well, i would have to say that my “intent,” if you can call it that, always seems to be to tell a good story, usually in the voice of a character (my theatre background coming out here). Every good song is a monologue.
NLE: Which of your many songs would you consider your “best” work to date? Why?
AHC: My accountant calls my theme to “The Nanny” “my finest work to date.” But seriously, that is a very hard question—like asking which child is your favorite. The song that has reached the most people, through the voice of Barbra Streisand, is “I’ve Dreamed of You,” and it seems to resonate deeply with people; even straight men cry when they hear it! I think, from trying to imagine how Barbra felt about marrying the love of her life, by genuinely putting myself in her shoes, I was able to articulate the profound beauty of love when two people choose to unite their hearts and their lives as one.
AM: Ooh, that’s a hard one. “The Rose,” of course, and the song I wrote for and about my father, “Errol Flynn.” With my perpetual writing partner, the brilliant Michele Brourman, i have written many iIlove. At the moment one called “London in the Rain” comes to mind. And Ann and I just wrote one I really like called “Almost,” about the wisdom of long-time love.
NLE: What gives you the greatest joy as creatives and performers?
AHC: Collaborating with people I love is a great joy. For instance, I love collaborating with my sister, Liz—the depth of our lifelong relationship makes everything come to life. Getting to write songs with Amanda and Michele and perform together, with our shared vision and our long friendship of openhearted creativity, enriches each moment of our music. Getting to record with people I love is an immense joy, and I am so happy that Amanda, Michele, and I have a single coming out on May 12th of Amanda’s and my song “Almost,” which we perform in Divalicious.
AM: Oh, you do ask the easy ones, don’t you! I find the act of sitting down to write, when I will allow myself to do it, is one of my greatest joys. I disappear away from the dishes and the laundry and into a magical world of my own imagination. Performing… when the audience and I are one—laughing or sighing together.
NLE: How and when did the idea for this joint show come about? Could this be the start of something big?
AHC: We put this show together several years ago and have toured it around the country and even London. Amanda, Michele, and I decided to join our creative forces and carefully crafted an act that follows a beautiful emotional and musical journey that reflects who we are, what we care about, and what is happening around us. It’s received much critical acclaim. And, for some unknown reason, we are finally making our NYC debut of it! And that could not make us happier!
AM: A lovely ( and very wise) producer woman named Rosiota Sarnoff proposed putting the two of us together for a concert at Barrington Stage. The two of us, with the fabulous Michele, stayed at Ann’s house in the country and created, in two days, in our pajamas, one of my very favorite concerts ever—Divalicious. It has already started being big. We have performed it in London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and now…finally…where it belongs, in New York! And hopefully, it will roll joyously on from here.
