MORE ABOUT MELISSA ERRICO:
Melissa Errico is one of the most versatile women to have come out of this Broadway's young
generation, proving herself both a great interpreter of classic musicals and modern music alike,
as well as a gifted recording artist and film/television presence. She has starred in seven
Broadway musicals and released two major solo cds: Blue Like That (EMI) and Lullabies and
Wildflowers (VMG/Universal). She has been called everything from "divine" to "the voice of
enchantment" to "one of the most valuable assets of the musical theater" by the NY TIMES as well
as "incandescent" (Daily News) and "blessed with every attribute a grand dame of Broadway
requires: star power, voice, looks, ability, personality, technique. An aphrodisiac, as it were, that
galvanizes a musical into life." (Clive Barnes). "Our most earthy and soulful ingenue... She both
sparkles and is unmannered." (USA Today) Her recordings have been praised as "intimate
exhalations, sung with her heart-on-sleeve" (Billboard) and "a classy classic sound, with taste and
imagination" (Washington Post) and "...ethereal, gorgeous, elegant, popular. Delivered with
inward emotion and real artistry" (NY TIMES). Upon coming to hear her sing the role of Fiona in
BRIGADOON in a one-night only concert on Broadway in June 2010, Ben Brantley of THE NY TIMES
wrote "this beautifully sung performance had the bewitched aura of the exquisitely ephemeral. I
left the Shubert feeling blessed and privileged, and I knew many of my friends would feel envious
when I described what I had seen."
In 2003, Melissa won a Tony-nomination for Best Leading Actress in the Broadway musical AMOUR, composed by multi-Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand (Yentl), her musical idol, who went on
to orchestrate and conduct a 100-piece symphony for the recording of Legrand Affair produced
by Phil Ramone, to be released October 18th 2011. This recording is a true celebration of his
songs and rare occasion for her to collaborate with Michel in the way he has only done a handful
of times, including for singers such as Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughn and Johnny
Mathis. AMOUR happily reunited Melissa with author/director James Lapine as she had starred the
year before at The Kennedy Center opposite Raul Esparza in The Sondheim Celebration's SUNDAY
IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE where Stephen Sondheim wrote some new lyrics for her interpretation
of Dot.
Melissa's career began as Cosette in LES MISERABLES when she was only 18, for which she took a
leave of absence from Yale University and returned to graduate with high honors and an art history/philosophy degree. That year, she went on to star as Eliza Doolittle in Howard Davies' daring and unusual revival of MY FAIR LADY on Broadway, and was called "beguiling" in the
opening sentence of the NY Times review. Melissa revived her spunky and "frisky" (NY Times)
portrayal of Eliza in 2003 opposite John Lithgow in Los Angeles. She has also starred on
Broadway in HIGH SOCIETY, ANNA KARENINA and DRACULA. It was at The Hollywood Bowl in
2006 where Melissa first starred opposite Jeremy Irons in CAMELOT (a production which Variety
praised as "fast, funny, inspired and deserving of a long run") and the next year in an acclaimed
SOUND OF MUSIC.
In 1996, in what many recall as a major breakthrough, Melissa's witty sensual portrayal of Venus
at City Center in Weill's ONE TOUCH OF VENUS took NYC by storm ("an overnight sensation! a star
is born"- "divine" NY Times). She has a long resume of Broadway and off- Broadway starring
credits, including the 2009-2010 Broadway revival of WHITE CHRISTMAS in which she played the
Rosemary Clooney role. Over the years, she has regularly won acclaim in non-musical plays by
Shaw, Wilde and modern works such as by Wally Shawn. In 2010, she was nominated for Best
Actress in a Play at the Drama Desk Awards for her work in the title role of George Bernard Shaw's
CANDIDA, and starred in an independent film called PATRIMONY opposite Robert Vaughn. Her
other film credits include Frequency and Life Or Something Like It (opposite Angelina Jolie) and
her TV credits include a series regular on Darren Starr's CBS show Central Park West and many
network guest star roles including Six Degrees and Miss Match.
During the summer of 2011, Melissa co-starred with Alec Baldwin in GIFT OF THE GORGON by
Peter Shaffer, and reprised CAMELOT with Jeremy Irons for one-night only on Broadway at The
Shubert Theater. Melissa has sung solo engagements at The Cafe Carlyle and The Algonquin's
Oak Room and has sung on many of America's most esteemed concert halls as well as on smaller
stages and readings supporting developing new modern musicals. She is active in several
charities, especially The Bowery Babes, a NY 501c3 non-profit she founded in 2005 which
supports parents in downtown Manhattan, and provides education, counseling and
connection. Since becoming a mother (to Victoria in 2006; and Diana and Juliette in 2008),
Melissa has appeared with symphonies all over the country, including The Cleveland Orchestra
and The New Jersey Symphony with Steven Reineke. She made an acclaimed London debut in the
summer 2008 (while pregnant with twins!) with The Royal Philharmonic at The Palladium Theater
with Angela Lansbury in celebration of Jerry Herman, a concert she reprised to great acclaim at
The Kennedy Center in March 2009 with The National Symphony. She has toured with such
conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, and concert artists like Brian Stokes Mitchell and Michael
Feinstein.
For more: www.melissaerrico.com
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