(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – For one night only, cabaret megastars Ann Hampton Callaway and Amanda McBroom will share the spotlight in “Divalicious” at Barrington Stage Company on Monday, July 25, at 8pm. In addition to being great vocalists, Callaway and McBroom are also acclaimed songwriters, and the pair will be accompanied by yet another great songwriter, Michele Brourman.

Amanda McBroom has been called “…the greatest cabaret performer of her generation, an urban poet who writes like an angel and has a voice to match.” Her name first came to the attention of the music public when Bette Midler’s version of Amanda’s song “The Rose” hit number one all over the world in 1979. But it was Amanda’s performance of her own song on the Golden Globes (she won), Grammys (she didn’t), and The Tonight Show that launched her career as a singer as well as songwriter.

Her songs have been recorded by the likes of Bette Midler, Leanne Rimes, Barry Manilow, Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, Anne Murray, Harry Belafonte, Betty Buckley, Stephanie Mills, The Manhattan Transfer, Donny Osmond,West Life, Nana Mouskouri, and the Chipmunks.

Ann Hampton Callaway is one of the leading champions of the so-called great American Songbook, having made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer. Voted recently by Broadwayworld.com as “Performer of the Year” Ann is a born entertainer. Her unique singing style that blends jazz and traditional pop, making her a mainstay in concert halls, theaters and jazz clubs as well as in the recording studio, on television, and in film. She is best known for her Tony Award-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 and Barbara Carroll to name a few.

Callaway’s live performances showcase her warmth, spontaneous wit and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics and originals. She is one of America’s most gifted improvisers, taking words and phrases from her audiences and creating songs on the spot, whether alone at a piano or with a symphony orchestra. Ann has been a special guest performer with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood and is featured at many of the Carnegie Hall tributes. She has sung with more than thirty of the world’s top orchestras and big bands, and has performed for President Clinton in Washington, D.C. and at President Gorbachev’s Youth Peace Summit in Moscow.

Callaway performed with her sister, Broadway star Liz Callaway, in their award-winning show Sibling Revelry at London’s Donmar Warehouse. Their act “Boom!,” a critically acclaimed celebration of the baby boomer hits of the 1960s and ‘70s, was recorded on PS Classics which debuted in the top 25 on Billboard Jazz. Ann was featured in the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade telecast watched by 6 million people singing Emmy Award winning song “Yes, Virginia.” She took the symphony world by storm with her latest show “The Streisand Songbook” which she premiered with The Boston Pops and continues to tour with top orchestras across the country. Said Randall Fleischer after conducting the show with The San Francisco Symphony, “Ann’s tribute to Streisand is a glorious evening of great songs, brilliantly orchestrated and sung magnificently.” After performing the show at 54 Below, she garnered two Broadwayworld.com Awards and the 2013 MAC Award for Show of the Year.

 

Michele Brourman is the winner of the Johnny Mercer Award for “Emerging American Songwriters.” A frequent performer in ASCAP’s songwriter concerts, she has appeared in the prestigious Lyrics and Lyricist Series at New York’s 92nd Street Y, at the Smithsonian Institute, and at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.

Her songs have been recorded by Olivia Newton-John, Cleo Laine, Margaret Whiting, Amanda McBroom, Billy Stritch and Thelma Houston. Her best-known song, “My Favorite Year,” was recorded by Michael Feinstein and featured in the television drama Santa Barbara. Other Brourman songs have been performed in the television series Cagney & Lacey and in Designing Women.  The song, “Are There Angels,” recorded by Sheena Easton, can be heard in the critically acclaimed movie Shiloh.

With lyricist Amanda McBroom, she created songs for three sequels to The Land Before Time for Universal Studios and the animated feature Hercules and Xena. They also completed songs for American Tail IV. Brourman’s film scores include an award-winning documentary for PBS, Dixie Carter’s two platinum selling Yoga videos (both for MCA) and Conscious Heart with authors Gay & Kathlyn Hendricks.

Brourman has helped to create and arrange Dixie Carter’s acclaimed cabaret show for the Cafe Carlyle and has produced two record albums with Ms. Carter. As musical director Michele has also worked with Amanda McBroom, Sandra Bernhard, Bernadette Peters, and Lesley Ann Warren.  She composed the music for the 2006 film, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit.  She has written special musical material for artists ranging from Aretha Franklin to Crystal Gayle, was a staff writer for NBC’s John Davidson Show, and played piano in Bob Dylan’s band. Michele has two sons — Noah and Luke.

Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA, was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. Barrington Stage’s mission is three-fold: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways to bringing new audiences into the theatre—especially young people.  Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway, where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway and played for two years. St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (which premiered at BSC as Dr. Ruth, All the Way in 2012) played Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in fall 2013. BSC’s all-time record-breaking musical, On the Town, originally presented in 2013, opened on Broadway in 2014 with BSC as a co-producer, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival. Barrington Stage was voted “Best Live Theatre” by The Berkshire Eagle readers in 2011 and 2012 and was named “Best Theatre Company” in Metroland’s Best of the Capital Region 2009-2012.