Ann Hampton Callaway may be best known for a song that is only 41 seconds long.

In 1993, Callaway wrote and performed the theme song to the TV show “The Nanny,” which starred Fran Drescher. Since the release of that song, the Chicago native has recorded 11 official albums, most recently 2006’s “Blues in the Night,” and has worked with artists such as Barbra Streisand. Despite her long career, “The Nanny” still seems to follow Callaway around, no matter where she goes.

“When I was singing in Berlin, I found out that day that ‘The Nanny’ was a big hit show in Berlin,” said Callaway during a phone interview. “To hear 1,000 Germans singing along to ‘The Nanny’ in German accents, it was so funny.”

Callaway’s association with the show has only helped her career. When she performs with her band in the Little Theater at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, chances are some audience members will only recognize her from this theme song. But according to Callaway, the song offers a glimpse of the atmosphere at her live performances.

“Of course, I’m a much deeper, more thoughtful, more romantic person than that,” Callaway said. “But I like to say that goofiness is next to godliness. [The song] has that sense of fun and whimsy that I love.”

Extended season

Callaway’s performance kicks off SPAC’s extended season in the Little Theater, as a prelude to the main summer concert schedule in the amphitheater. In addition to Callaway, the extended season includes performances from the Edmar Castaneda Trio on Thursday, May 29, Suzanne Vega on Saturday, May 31, and, in the amphitheater, the Martha Graham Dance Company on Friday, June 13.

This is the third year that SPAC has offered its extended season. According to Marcia White, president and executive director of SPAC, the venue had a small window of time in the Little Theater, in between residencies of the Home Made Theater company and the Lake George Opera.

Part of the goal of the extended season is to introduce new types of programming at SPAC, and hopefully attract a younger audience in the process, said White. “Basically, we feel we need to add more programming and more diversity,” White said.

Many extended-season artists tend to come from the contemporary jazz world, such as Callaway and the Edmar Castaneda Trio. Some, like harpist Castaneda, have performed at SPAC’s Jazz Festival in past years.

Callaway has never performed at SPAC, although she is no stranger to the Capital Region. She has performed at The Egg in Albany, and has found herself in the area on at least one other occasion. “I seem to recall taking a train in the dead of winter, with snow blowing in the middle of the cars, to that area,” she said. “I don’t remember, though — it might have been Albany.”

Musical youth

The soprano singer, born in 1959, was introduced to music early in life by her mother, Shirley Callaway, a singer and vocal coach. She was also influenced by a number of eclectic musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder.

The 1991 album “Cole Porter Revisited” features one of Callaway’s earliest recordings, an original composition set to previously unrecorded Porter lyrics. It marked the first time the Porter estate allowed another musician to write music to his lyrics. The composition, titled “I Gaze in Your Eyes,” eventually kicked off her self-titled 1992 debut album.

Callaway’s SPAC appearance comes after performances for the American Cancer Society, and a handful of shows in St. Louis and Ellis Island. Next up, Callaway will be taking a break from touring to mix her new album, “At Last,” which will be released on Valentine’s Day next year.

The CD, recorded about two months ago, will be a concept album of sorts. The track listing will include “a lot of really great well-known love songs,” including Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide,” Joni Mitchell’s “Carey” and Daniel Lee Martin’s “On My Way to You.”

“It’s a very romantic, kind of fun look at the ups and downs of love, and all the dues you have to pay until you find the right person,” Callaway said.

The album also includes one of her favorite songs, “Over the Rainbow,” which until this time she has been hesitant to perform.

“I hesitated to sing it because it is so identified with Judy Garland,” Callaway said. “But when I play it, I get standing ovations in the middle of the show. I’ll probably include that in Saratoga.”

TV show

After the album’s completion, Callaway will head to Chicago to tape a second pilot to her TV show, “Singer’s Spotlight with Ann Hampton Callaway,” which will air on Wednesday on Chicago Public Television. The original pilot aired last year with Liza Minnelli, and had generated some interest among investors, but the series never got off the ground because of the weakening economy, Callaway said.

According to Callaway, the show is set up like “Inside the Actor’s Studio” for singer-songwriters in the jazz, pop and alternative canons, and will feature a different artist each week. The new pilot is set to feature Broadway singer Christine Ebersole.

“With people around the world so absorbed with ‘American Idol,’ I want them to know who the country’s greatest singer-songwriters are,” Callaway said. “We live in a culture that discards so much and devalues so much. We tear down old, great buildings built with great care, and put up new buildings without the same craftsmanship, and it’s the same with our singers. It’s a crime to let the American songbook not do anything but thrive.”

Broadway career

Callaway has also maintained a Broadway singing and acting career. She starred in and helped create the 1999 Broadway musical “Swing!” and has also acted in shows with her sister, Broadway actress Liz Callaway.

And on top of her busy work schedule, Callaway makes efforts to help out with philanthropic causes. She wrote the song “Who Can See the Blue Again?” after the tsunami struck Southeast Asia in 2005, and also wrote two songs after 9/11. Callaway credits her interest in social causes to her father, journalist John Callaway.

“He always gave me a sense of responsibility, that I’m not here to just entertain but also to unite and uplift people,” Callaway said. “America really lost its appeal to a lot of the world. [I want to be] reminding people that we’re a country of human beings, a lot more than just the president who represents them. The important thing is what we have in common.”