It has been four years since Ann Hampton Callaway’s last appearance at Pizza on the Park. In that time she has appeared to critical acclaim in the Broadway musical ‘Swing’ an experience that seems to have had a positive effect for she now seems happier, more confident and willing to take more risks with her incredible voice.

Her instrument was given a workout right from the start, with a stirring version of ‘I’m Beginning To See The Light’ which found her soaring and dipping through her remarkable range with deceptive ease.

By choosing to accompany herself on the piano, she had to pull off the very difficult trick of engaging the audience and being fully aware of what her hands and voice are also doing. The bonus is that she can make last minute decisions about how to approach a song and can play around with the tempo and rhythm almost at will. Fortunately there probably isn’t an un-musical bone in Callaway’s body - every choice she makes seems to be informed by her astute musical instincts.

Of course no Callaway show would be complete without some diversions along the way to both parody and pay tribute to the work of other female vocalists. Callaway is renowned as a wicked mimic. She can do out and out impersonations - including Bob Dylan singing ‘Send In The Clowns’ (sic) or subtly introduce a tinge of a singer’s vocal nuance that emphasises a new facet of a familiar song, be it Sarah Vaughan, Anita O’Day, Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holliday.

An example early in the first set allowed all these factor to come together in a wonderfully moving rendition of ‘In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning’, where every ounce of emotion was wrung from the piece without once crossing over the mark of making it sentimental. Callaway has a haunting, reedy and yearning part of her voice quite unlike any other singer that she uses to stunning effect. The first act finished with her big number from the second act of ‘Swing’: ‘Blue in The Night’. This was preluded by some patter about how she had approached the song differently following certain things that were going on in her personal life - the result was a virtuoso performance nearly took the roof clean off the building.

By now she was working with her audience so well that her trademark conjuring of a song from a random ragbag of suggested lyrics from the floor just could not fail. Never have ‘foot and mouth disease’ and ‘half a pound of twopenny rice’ pulled at so many heartstrings!

If set one had been emotional, it in some ways merely set the scene for the second. For some, this would be the epitome of the cabaret experience - the hour getting late, a responsive and attentive audience in an intimate space - time to get down to high risk and raw nerves. Laughter and tears were served in quick succession and sometimes even simultaneously

It seemed like one gem followed another, with many highlights: a wonderful ‘Old Friend’, ‘The Nearness of You’ seamlessly merged with ‘You’re Nearer’ - surely one of Rodgers and Hart’s’ most underrated masterpieces. This was followed by one of her own compositions (an “Ann-dard”): ‘Where Does Love Go?’ Typical of Callaway’s writing style, this looked at its subject matter from a reverse angle and did so with great creativity and skill. But surely the highlight of the set, and perhaps the entire evening, was a searing rendition of ‘How Deep Is The Ocean?’  Callaway explained the reason for her choice of this song, its impact on and significance for one of her fans and proceeded to move the whole house to tears. The lesson to be learnt here by any would-be cabaret singer - don’t contrive emotions for when the feeling is true, the connection with the audience will be made almost ineffably.

The evening ended with another “Ann-dard”: ‘Perfect’. What better way to sum up the whole evening that had encompassed almost every emotion? But sometimes, isn’t the very best laughter tinged with sadness? Next time she’s in town, hurry to see the remarkable talent that is Ann Hampton Callaway.