Hear a Holiday Song for Our Time on 'Tipsy Tuesday' with Broadway's Mary Callanan

Broadway star Mary Callanan was on a national tour of "My Fair Lady" when the show had to go into an indefinite intermission due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Back home in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and needing a creative outlet, Callanan joined her longtime musical partner Brian Patton started a virtual weekly cabaret they call "Tipsy Tuesday."

When Callanan saw a Facebook post from friend and Broadway composer Caleb Hoyer introducing "At Least There's Christmas," a holiday song specific to 2020's COVID-tinged holiday season, she identified at once with the lyrics, which talk about talk about separation and isolation, but also hope and connection that transcends distance. Callanan had worked with Hoyer on the 2015 production of the stage musical "The Bridges of Madison County," for which Hoyer had played piano and served as associate conductor. She lost no time in contacting Hoyer and arranging to make the song part of the lineup for her online cabaret act during the Yuletide season.

EDGE had the tremendous pleasure of chatting with Mary Callanan to hear about her approach to creativity during COVID, the idea behind "Tipsy Tuesdays," and the big gay following that for years has enjoyed Callanan and Patton's performances in Provincetown and at Club Caf� in Boston. Check out Callanan's rendition of Hoyer's new holiday song below, and join her and Patton tonight when "Tipsy Tuesday" is livestreamed at Mary Callanan's Facebook page.

Watch Mary Callanan sing "At Least There's Christmas"

EDGE: "At Least There's Christmas" seems like the perfect holiday treat for 2020.

Mary Callanan: When I saw it, I had to stop what I was doing and take five minutes and find some extra toilet paper that was hidden to have a good little cry about it. It's such a perfect song.

EDGE: A lot of people have been feeling the way that the lyrics describe – that even if we can only connect through Zoom or whatever, at least we're here and we made it this far.

Mary Callanan: I quite agree. And if you really think about it, of course it applies to this season, but it could apply to any [holiday season]. It's an "I'll Be Home for Christmas" for today. "I'll be home, but only in my dreams."

EDGE: You worked with Caleb Hoyer on "The Bridges of Madison County," in 2015. What did he think when you suddenly phoned him up and wanted his new holiday song?

Mary Callanan: When you're in the theater you're a deep, dark family and you're best of friends – and then you move on to the next project. You know what I mean? I'd spoken to him a couple of times because he's also an accompanist in New York, so if I had an audition or something I would call him, so it wasn't like we were in complete non-contact. So, when I called and said, "Caleb! I have to have that song!" he said, "Hiii!"

[Laughter]

Mary Callanan: And I said, "No, seriously, Caleb, this is the most beautiful thing. Would you mind if I sang it?" And he said, "Oh, sure!" He was pleasantly surprised.

EDGE: And you've found a way to bring it to audiences online.

Mary Callanan: We have a standing show on Tuesday nights on Facebook, a virtual piano bar that my partner [Brian Patton] and I do. Caleb only "released" the song on December 1, which was a Tuesday, so I had missed that Tuesday, so I only had three Tuesdays to sing it before Christmas was over.

It's been the greatest gift of the season for me, because it's nice to feel creative again. My only creative outlet in this whole situation has been doing these virtual piano bars with [Brian], so they've turned into quite a balm for us; and then this song has given me something in the last couple of weeks – learning it and singing it and making sure it fits for my voice, and finding a recording studio that would actually be open during the pandemic, and going in to record it. It's really given me the Christmas spirit.

EDGE: Your virtual cabaret is called "Tipsy Tuesday."

Mary Callanan: Yes, it is. Brian used to have a steady gig at Club Caf� in Boston, and his piano bar family / fans said, "What are we gonna do without you on Wednesday?" He said, "I guess I could do it from home."

I came home in March, and he was doing this by himself. The phone rang one day and I saw that it was him, and before he even asked me I said, "Yes." He started laughing and said, "How do you know what I want?" and I said, "I'm just praying that you want me to come to your house and sing with you, because I can't just sit in my house and not have any creative outlet."

I don't know how your pandemic is going, but those of us who are still drinking are drinking! And so I said, "Why don't we call it Tipsy Tuesday, and we'll find weird cocktails and we'll sing a song about it, and then we'll go into what we always do." And he said, "I love it, let's do it." So, that's why it's called Tipsy Tuesday.

EDGE Has this online cabaret opened up new creative territory for you, or brought you new audiences?

Mary Callanan: I do believe it has brought us new audiences, because it's on Facebook, so my 84-year-old mother in law in Canada watches. Our friends in Las Vegas [watch it]. Whoever happens to be on [can see it]. Since it stays on my page, you can just see it whenever.

[The online cabaret] is open to new creative things. Unlike in a regular piano bar, instead of just saying to the 20 or 40 people who are in the room, "So what do you guys want to hear?," we basically are saying [that] to [all of] Facebookland. We get all kinds of requests, everything from "The Music in the Mirror" from "A Chorus Line," to Gloria Gaynor, to Irving Berlin, to, "Do you guys do any metal? Like, can you maybe piano bar up some Guns N' Roses?"

[Laughter]

Mary Callanan: It's great, because every week there's gonna be one or two [requests for songs] that we don't sing every day or know. Last night we were celebrating Dionne Warwick's 80th birthday, [and] it was also, this week, Connie Francis' birthday and Frank Sinatra's birthday. So, I put my hair in a big bouffant and wore sixties clothes with a fur capelet, because, of course, don't you have one? And so we did "White Christmas," and then I would go and put on the shaky-shaky top, and we'd do a bunch of Dionne Warwick songs. The whole night was fun and exciting.

Because it's live and you don't know who's out there, you don't want to mess it up. [In a live piano bar, if someone requests an obscure tune] I'll go, "Yeah, I think I remember that," and Brian will play it, and then we'll sing a little bit, and we'll fall flat on our faces, and everyone will laugh, and we'll move on. But doing that live on Facebook, you know, eek! That just makes it funnier to me because, you know, 2020 is 2020, and we can't all be perfect. I think people appreciate that, as well.

EDGE: You wouldn't have gotten this far through 2020 without a sense of humor, anyway.

Mary Callanan: Amen and hallelujah! So, yes, creatively speaking, it's quite fun! I love Tuesdays now.

EDGE: That brings us back to the song's lyrics, which dive right into what a year this has been and expresses gratitude despite the horrors.

Mary Callanan: Yes, and again, the first time I heard that... of course, you go to the first level of grief because, I don't know if you [have lost anyone], but I know people who aren't here anymore that were here in March. And it's horrible! In a regular year you get to December, and you look at the things you have to do before the holiday: You have to shop, and visit family, and travel... but not this year. It's different: Stressful, sad, out of work... you know, "Where's the toilet paper?" I didn't think we'd make it to December. It really does hit home right from the first line: "I made it December, wasn't always sure I would." You know?

EDGE: You've been a longtime draw for crowds in Provincetown. I know your touring production of "My Fair Lady" had to be suspended, but did the pandemic also affect any plans you might have had to return to Provincetown?

Mary Callanan: [The pandemic] gave us a gig in Provincetown this year that we wouldn't have had: In October we closed the season at the Crown and Anchor. It sold out almost instantaneously; people traveled in from New York, because people are desperate for live interaction, and to see all of our friends and fans was the big creative highlight!

That's the last time we were able to hear applause, and it's not about the applause so much as the certain something that's in all live performance – the sharing of emotional journey with another live human being, be it storytelling, dance... it's the sharing. So, actually, that was an unexpected gift of 2020, which was being able to go back to Provincetown and remind everyone how much we love them and miss them. We were very grateful to be able to go back, and I would love to go back again.

EDGE: It's clear you miss your gay audience and your straight audience, too. What a gift to them that now you've created something they can look forward to tune in to online.

Mary Callanan: Which is funny, because normally if we were at Club Caf� or anywhere else the patter that we use would just be assuming that everyone there is either gay or gay-friendly. And now that we're on Facebook, our patter is... not different, but cognizant.

[Laughter]

Mary Callanan: Last night Brian was telling a story because one of the Dionne Warwick songs was the theme from "The Valley of the Dolls." He was saying to the camera, "Now, of course when I hear this song, I think about Judy Garland." And then he went, "Of course, you know that Judy Garland was supposed to be in it." I said, "Well, Brian, maybe not everybody knows that." And he looked at me and said, "Honey, if they're watching this broadcast, they know that Judy Garland was supposed to be in 'Valley of the Dolls.' "

And I screamed, because we haven't said anything like that in a long time. It just gave me so much joy to be like, "You know what? He's right." Because, if you're watching us, then you do know what "Valley of the Dolls" is.

Mary Callanan and Brian Patton present "Tipsy Tuesday" on Tuesday evenings at 7:30. Tune in at Mary Callanan's Facebook page.