• By Mabel Pais

MELISSA ERRICO is a Tony Award-nominated Broadway actress, singer, and author. Melissa will perform Stephen Sondheim’s greatest New York songs in ‘Sondheim in the City’ for two sensational performances on Saturday May 17th at 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.  at NJPAC’s Chase Room.

Relive the songs of Stephen Sondheim as Melissa performs ‘Another Hundred People,’ ‘Everybody Says Don’t,’ ‘Opening Doors,’ ‘Good Thing Going,’ ‘Broadway Baby,’ ‘Being Alive’ and many more.

“Errico is the finest interpreter of Sondheim’s music in America today”

— THE NEW YORKER

“The premier Sondheim interpreter.”

— BILLBOARD MAGAZINE

“Her new album ‘Sondheim In The City’ is a New York house tour of thrill and heartbreak.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A lot of things make a Melissa Errico show exciting – the way she immerses herself in every moment, the technical brilliance of her vocal abilities, the immaculate scripts that create the framework of the show, and the sheer star power that the lady exudes, as well as that intelligence and utter fearlessness. This is a take-no-prisoners performer, and this is a leave-it-all-on-the-floor show.” — BROADWAY WORLD

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL called Melissa’s first Sondheim album, ‘Sondheim Sublime,’ “the best all-Sondheim album ever recorded.”

Touring the world with her inimitable thematic concerts, from Singapore to Paris to San Francisco and beyond, she has built a unique niche in the world of theater and jazz.

Steven Reineke, principal conductor of the New York Pops, introduced her Carnegie Hall debut as “Melissa Errico is a unique force in the musical life of New York City: a Broadway star, a concert artist, and an author who regularly contributes essays to The New York Times. There’s really no one like her!”

Her concerts in the past year alone have included a Paris duet in 2023 with her frequent singing partner Isabelle Georges, broadcast nationally on Radio France, followed by a sold-out cabaret at the historic Le Bal Blomet. In that same summer, she opened for music icon George Benson at the Montreal Jazz Festival. A writer from London Jazz News wrote that: “Errico was energized, making sure with every breath that she would get the audience in the 3000-seater Pelletier really on her side. Every high note was heroically held, and she got a standing ovation from this audience. Montreal audiences always want to show their warmth, and this one made her deservedly welcome.”

A uniquely wide-ranging performer, a specialist in the seemingly very different musics of Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand, her 2018 album, ‘Sondheim Sublime,’ was called by The Wall Street Journal “The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded,” and her November Carnegie Hall debut performance included three Sondheim numbers, including ‘Losing My Mind’ and ‘Move On.’ On the other shore of her expertise, in 2019 she wrote the eulogy for Legrand in The New York Times and was the only American performer asked to appear at the now-legendary two-day memorial concert at Paris’ Le Grand Rex.

First known for her starring roles on Broadway, including ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘High Society,’ ‘Anna Karenina,’ ‘White Christmas,’ ‘Dracula,’ and ‘Les Misérables,’ Melissa has had a wide-ranging career from television and film to recording. She starred in the CBS show ‘Central Park West’ and played roles on ‘Blue Bloods,’ ‘The Knick,’ and more, as well as ‘Billions’ on Showtime. She has starred in many non-musical roles by Shaw and Oscar Wilde, including ‘Dear Liar’ in the spring of 2023, playing George Bernard Shaw’s original Eliza Doolittle. 

Though a constant in the New York theater, she has become equally known for her music and concert work worldwide, with sold-out concert dates from Ravinia to Caramoor and Wolf Trap — including the 92nd Street Y, Joe’s Pub, Town Hall, and Lincoln Center’s Allen Room. Errico’s history with Sondheim began when he selected her to star as Dot in ‘Sunday In The Park With George’ at The Kennedy Center, then as Clara in ‘Passion’ at Classic Stage Company; then in the NY City Center Encores! production of ‘Do I Hear A Waltz?’ In 2020, she sang ‘Children and Art’ in the Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert ‘Take Me To The World,’ and was featured on PBS television in a documentary special in which she sang a feminist version of ‘Finishing The Hat’ and joined Adam Gopnik and Raul Esparza to talk Sondheim on ‘Poetry in America.’ She was also featured in The New York Times tribute to Sondheim in November 2021 as one of the top ten interpreters of his work. Her second Sondheim album, ‘Sondheim In The City,’ was released on February 16, 2024, and earned her more praise from the Times as, “one of Sondheim’s deepest-hearted but lightest touch interpreters.”

In addition to Sondheim, nothing in her work has been more constant than her association with Legrand. Having starred in his sole Broadway show, ‘Amour,’ she went on to collaborate with him on the iconic album ‘Legrand Affair.’ Warner Music/Ghostlight Records also reissued her symphonic album, which Legrand arranged and conducted, as ‘Legrand Affair’ (Deluxe Edition).

A student of the great American songbook, Melissa’s album ‘Out Of The Dark: The Film Noir Project’ was released by Warner Music/Ghostlight Records, and garnered the 2023 Bistro Award for the best Concept Album. The recording was supported by coast-to-coast noir concerts, including Feinstein’s/54 Below, with the Ronnie Scott’s Band in London, and at NYC’s Birdland Jazz Club for a sold-out 10-performance Valentine’s Week residency. Of her Noir project, The Wall Street Journal opined that: “Melissa Errico’s new album, ‘Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project’ gives us noir music the way we imagine it…melancholy, bittersweet tales of isolation and loneliness, beauty and betrayal—especially relevant at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

She is currently working on expanding her collected New York Times essays about a singer’s strange life on the stage and road, gathered under the heading “Scenes From An Acting Life”, into a book.

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)

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Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Education, Business, Social Issues, Health and Wellness, Spirituality, and Cuisine.