Before Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway arrive to begin their Yuletide Revelry — something of a follow-up to their niftily dubbed Sibling Revelry a few years back — the audience gets to see them pictured on two monitors at seemingly ages 7 or 8 (Ann) and 4 or 5 (Liz). The photo is a reminder that the Callaways have been singing together since childhood, under their vocal coach/mother Shirley’s supervision.
At one and the same time, it’s no wonder and a wonder that their singing separately and together is so warm, accomplished and strong. Ann may have higher notes that Liz doesn’t spend much time exploring, but no one with any ear could complain about either of them when either duetting or soloing. They do plenty of both in this celebration of the season.
They devote plenty of their set to Christmas and the carols and pop songs devoted to it (but no “White Christmas here). They kick off cutely with “There Is a Santa Claus” and get around to “Joy to the World.” There’s a meaningful medley of “Silent Night” with “Mary, Did You Know?” The latter is, of course, one of the more recently established Christmas standards. Ann turns “Winter Wonderland” into a chance to scat, and Liz has fun with a swingy “Land of Make Believe.” They don’t pass up the opportunity to make “Jingle Bells” vocally jingle.
Aware, however, that Christmas present has just passed, they venture farther afield with material that nonetheless stresses peace and equanimity at a time that peace and equanimity can use as much bolstering as they can get. Perhaps the highpoint here is Ann singing “At the Same Time,” which she wrote more than 30 years ago. It’s no namby-pamby let’s-all-join-hands-and-kumbaya chant. By now, it could be considered the best anthem we have as an antidote to the divisive world we occupy as 2024 looms.
At one juncture, Ann and Liz take a look at seasonal sorrows that can step on seasonal cheer, and who’s going to say that can’t and doesn’t happen often? To acknowledge the possibilities that sometimes even love doesn’t survive December, Ann sings Joni Mitchell’s “River,” and Liz answers with Carol Hall’s “Hard Candy Christmas.” Whoever thought up this pairing deserves a pat on the back.
Do the sisters make a false lockstep? Well, not unlike The Smothers Brothers and Sonny and Cher, other paired relatives, they indulge in a bit of caustic byplay. It’s Cole Porter’s “Friendship.” While swearing to be at each other’s side through thick and thin, they josh about which of them has Tonys, Grammys, other awards and citations that the other one lacks. The sequence is intended to amuse and sort of does for a while, but eventually it just comes across as forced—especially the final slang word. It’s unlikely that this kind of bickering goes on between the sisters but has just been pumped up for a change of pace.
At the piano is the Callaways’ terrific stalwart, Alex Rybeck, who arranges and sometimes sings along. He’s an invaluable addition to making this merry little Christmas a much larger Christmas than the Hugh Martin-Ralph Blane “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has always wished for.
Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway: Yuletide Revelry opened December 24, 2023 and runs through December 30 at 54 Below. Tickets and information: 54below.com
