Some Songs for Mother's Day

And one of my more “embarrassing” moments...

“So this is the tale my mother told me…”

Hello Friends,

Happy May! As Mother’s Day is almost here, I thought I would begin this issue of Between Flights with a joyous video of my beloved Mom, sister, and me singing “Sing For Your Supper” together back in 2004. How I cherish this memory!

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It occurred to me that I have sung a LOT of songs about motherhood over the years, so I thought it would be fun to make a Mother’s Day Playlist on my YouTube channel. It includes songs from Baby, Into the Woods, Waitress, Dear Evan Hanson, Sunday in the Park With George, Big, A Christmas Story, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, plus 2 duets with my son, Nicholas! Click Here To Watch/Listen

Singing The Story Goes On on The Merv Griffin Show in 1984

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Needless to say, Mother’s Day can be a hard day for many. For those of you who are missing your Mom or loved ones like I am, here’s a beautiful song from the movie Mary Poppins Returns. (with a little Cameo appearance by Oliver).

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About Last Month…

The last time I wrote, I was in the process of putting together a show celebrating 55 years of The York Theatre Company. I’m happy to report that the evening was a huge success. Although, it started with a hilarious blunder, which has inspired me to create a new section for this newsletter called:

Lessons in Humility

Whenever I do a new show, I work my tail off to learn my lyrics and to be prepared. I’ve learned not to expect perfection from myself, but I aim to be close. I opened my York Theatre show with an arrangement of Jerry Herman’s “It’s Today” and the Schmidt & Jones song “Celebration.” I had never sung “Celebration” before, and I didn’t decide to sing it until a week before the concert- it has a lot of lyrics, so I was nervous about screwing it up. But it went great!

Until the end.

This photo was taken at the very end of the opening number. Notice the expression on my face. (I’ll give you a moment to zoom in…)

And here’s what happened.

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Making such a spectacular mistake at the beginning actually relaxed me for the rest of the show! This was the first concert I’ve ever done with “visuals,” and The York did a beautiful job with them.

Photos by Russ Rowland

At the end of the night, Jim Morgan presented me with the great honor of being named to the Honorary Board of the York Theatre.

It was a very special night, with a wonderful audience including lyricist Richard Maltby Jr (Baby) and Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty (Anastasia.)

I hope I get to do this show again. And perhaps even record it.

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When You’ve Got Friends (and Family) Like Mine

My birthday was April 13th, and my sister-in-law, Kari (Ann’s wife), made me this incredible decoupaged globe with photos and images from my life and career. I won’t lie, turning 63 this year was a little hard for me. Looking at this made me realize, wow, I really have had a wonderful life—such a beautiful, thoughtful gift.

I love how Kari added my love of sports- I know Ann had a big hand in creating this- especially including the first love of my life- number 24 of the NY Knicks, Bill Bradley! “Bill! I love you so, I always will!”

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Where in the World is Liz?

I’m staying closer to home for the most part this month. If you are in the CT/Westchester/NYC area, on May 22, I’m bringing my Sondheim show to the Ridgefield Playhouse in CT. I’ve seen Alan Menken, Randy Rainbow, Lea Salonga, and Jimmy Webb perform there, and it’s a great venue.

And I’m super excited to be singing with my dear pal, the hilarious Jason Graae, at 54 Below in early July. Other summer gigs include concerts in Bucks County, the Catskills, and Provincetown.

• May 19 NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ George Street Playhouse 50th Anniversary Gala

• May 22 RIDGEFIELD, CT To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim

• July 3, 5 & 6 NEW YORK, NY Happily Ever Laughter w/ Jason Graae (It’s not announced yet, but we will livestream our show on Sat. July 6.)

• July 7 ELDRED, NY To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim

• Aug 2 HAWLEY, PA Liz Callaway & Joseph Thalken From Broadway to Hollywood

• Aug 30-31 PROVINCETOWN, MA John McDaniel’s Broadway Series: Liz Callaway

Click here for my full schedule, including my August NY Mets anthem date!

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That’s all for this edition of Between Flights. Thanks so much for reading. If you know anyone who might enjoy this newsletter, I would love it if you would spread the word.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful weekend.

XOXO Liz

PS LET’S GO KNICKS!!! (I’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day by watching game #4 of the Knicks vs Pacers series on TV with Dan, Nicholas, and Oliver. For my birthday, Nicholas took me to game #2 of the Knicks vs 76ers- truly, the craziest win I’ve ever witnessed!

At game #2 of the Knicks vs. Indy with composer Marc Shaiman (right) and his husband, Lou Mirabal, who kindly invited me to join them. It was an incredible game with another miraculous Knicks win. At the game, I told Marc how I had just recorded an at-home video of The Place Where the Lost Things Go for this newsletter- Marc wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics with Scott Whitman for that song!