By Ron Fassler . . .
“Beyond what?,” Melissa Errico asked in reference to her self-titled show that she performed at 54 Below last evening November 1st, the first in a four-night engagement. That sort of self-mockery is a trademark of this wonderful singing actress that she puts to fine effect in a show that offered an array of excellent choices in song. In addition to possessing a full voice with a wide range, she has excellent taste in music.
It might have a little something to do with her father, an orthopedic surgeon and concert pianist (her mother is a sculpturer). Or maybe her immigrant grandmother, who was an entertainer, or her great-aunt, who managed to become a glamorous Ziegfeld girl. As the New York Times once reported, Errico was nothing if not determined to make it in show business: “Through summers at drama camp, through her high school years of commuting from her home in Manhasset on the North Shore of Long Island to dance lessons in Manhattan (she practiced steps on the Long Island Rail Road), through school plays, encouragement from her family and sheer force of will, Ms. Errico got up there. By 18, she was Cosette in the national tour of Les Miserables; by 22, she was on Broadway playing Eliza Doolittle opposite Richard Chamberlain in My Fair Lady.”
Melissa Errico with JC Mailliard (David Finck on bass)
Dazzling in a wine-colored gown with sequins, Errico sang for 90 minutes accompanied by the never-less-than brilliant Tedd Firth on piano. Bass player David Finck and drummer Mark McLean, both great, were joined late in the game by JC Mailliard. A French composer, guitarist and pianist, this native of Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe played the guitar with extraordinary dexterity and sensitivity. Their rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Night Ride Home” was a definite highlight as was the stunning “The Bad and the Beautiful,” a David Raksin song, co-written with Dory Previn from the 1952 film of the same name.
Errico opened the show with three songs in a row that set a tone of variety and excellence. First was Michel Legrand’s “Watch What Happens” in a jazzy up tempo arrangement, followed by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Come Rain or Come Shine,” then finishing with some Broadway by way of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” and “My Favorite Things” (if you don’t know who the composer/lyricists are for those songs, please look them up on your own). Keeping her patter to a minimum was a good way to ease her way into the intimate evening, although Errico is always a delight when she tells a good story. She has an ease about her that made this into a warm embrace of a show. Harder than it looks, she’s a natural on stage.
Other notable performances Wednesday night included “Can That Boy Foxtrot,” the first song Stephen Sondheim wrote for Yvonne DeCarlo in Follies, which had to be replaced out-of-town in Boston because it wasn’t landing. Perhaps if Errico had been alive, as well as middle-aged back in 1971, she could have sung it and that wouldn’t have been its fate. Although… then Sondheim wouldn’t have written the song that replaced it, “I’m Still Here,” so better not to wish for any of that. Speaking of the master, Errico’s “Sondheim Sublime” CD from 2018 is getting a sequel in the coming year. As such, we were also treated to lovely versions of “What More Do I Need?,” “Take Me to the World” and “Broadway Baby/Move On,” from the Sondheim songbook.
The mother of three teenage girls, Errico shared a piece of advice with us that recently came from one of them: “Mom, you’re never going to be popular unless you sing Taylor Swift.” Out of the mouths of babes her encore included a brief snippet of “You Need to Calm Down.” Then it was right back to where she belongs, with Errico ending with one of my personal favorite Broadway ballads, Burton Lane and Yip Harburg’s “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” In a word: Sublime.
Guests:
November 2 – Stephen Schwartz
November 3 – Marilyn Maye
November 4 – Charles Busch
Melissa Errico: Broadway Baby–From Manhasset to Manhattan and Beyond is playing at 54 Below, 254 W 54th Street, NYC from November 1-4th. For ticket information, please visit: https://54below.org/calendar/
Photos by Conor Weiss