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ALL 2009-2010 PERFORMANCES LISTED UNDER "TOUR DATES", CLICK THERE! NYTIMES June 16, 2010, 2:07 pm Theater Talkback: One Night Only By BEN BRANTLEY  James Higgins Jason Danieley and Melissa Errico in a concert version of “Brigadoon” that was part of a benefit gala for the Irish Repertory Theater.As is often the way in New York, to get to heaven, you had to pass through hell. Times Square was especially infernal on Monday evening, shrouded in a sooty humidity and colonized by a promotional encampment of the reality television series “Dance Your Ass Off.” This meant there were women on a tented stage gyrating away the pounds to Beyoncé (“Single Ladies,” of course), along with someone in a dancing-bear suit and a Statue of Liberty crown. So it was a kind of bliss just to step into the quiet, air-conditioned lobby of the Shubert Theater, the home on most weeknights to “Memphis,” which had won the Tony for best musical about 20 or so hours earlier. But I was there for “Brigadoon,” which was materializing for only a few hours before vanishing into the memories of those who had happened to be there to see it.  James Higgins Christine Ebersole at the reading of “Brigadoon.”“Brigadoon,” Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1947 fairy tale of time-defying love, was being given a single, starry concert presentation as part of a benefit gala for the Irish Repertory Theater. Never mind that the setting of “Brigadoon” is conspicuously, even exhibitionistically, Scottish. It was noted in opening remarks (by the actors Matthew Broderick and Jonathan Cake) that a Celtic spirit unites Ireland and Scotland and that, as everyone knows, “the Irish are Scots who can swim.” Still, what really made this production — which featured Jason Danieley, Melissa Errico, Christine Ebersole and Len Cariou — feel so appropriate to the occasion was its subject. “Brigadoon” is the story of an enchanted 18th-century village that exists for just one day every hundred years. And this beautifully sung performance (which wasn’t open for review) had the bewitched aura of the exquisitely ephemeral. And because there were no real sets or costumes, the show (adapted and staged by Charlotte Moore, the Irish Rep’s artistic director) relied more than usual on that leap of imagination that theater always demands. “It is required,” as Paulina says in “The Winter’s Tale,” that “you do awake your faith.” That the audience was so willing to do so on Monday was in large part because the performers made the same leap unconditionally. As the lovers from different time periods, tenuously inhabiting common ground, Ms. Errico and Mr. Danieley often seemed close to tears, enthralled with the pure prettiness of love, according to Loewe’s lilting score (and of their own pure voices). And as a randy village lass (a sort of Ado Annie of the heather), Ms. Ebersole seemed caught up in a more devilish kind of enchantment, in which pure professional glee turned an anachronistic character into a delight.  James Higgins Matthew Broderick also performed at the benefit.I know from experience that with full sets and costumes “Brigadoon” is likely these days to sag under the weight of its own darlin’ tweeness. A concert production like this one (with musical direction by Mark Hartman) can give the show the zephyr-like lightness it needs. It made me nostalgic for the early days of the Encore! series of American musicals in concert at City Center, before its productions became so over-decorated and over-produced, as if auditioning too eagerly for a Broadway transfer. As it was, 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. Such single-performance shows, when they’re well done, tend to engender deeply personal and possessive responses. The highlight of my many years of New York theater-going remains a one-night-only reading on Broadway of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” in 1999. It was in honor of the 80th birthday of Uta Hagen, who had created the role of Martha the man-eater in 1962 and who recreated it that night with undiminished power. The cast members — rounded out by Jonathan Pryce, Mia Farrow and Mr. Broderick –- all had scripts in their hands, but they weren’t just reading the lines; they were living them. I just looked back to see what I had written then, and it turns out I had described this truly singular production as “a Brigadoon built of fire.” What about you? Are there one-night theatrical events you attended that continue to live and grow in your recollection of them? CANDIDA WINS RAVE REVIEWS, and a nomination for "Best Revival" (Lucille Lortel) and a Drama Desk nod for "Outstanding Actress in a Play"!
Review of Malcolm and Melissa latest concert at: http://www.hofstrachronicle.com/arts-entertainment/errico-and-gets-delight-in-pre-valentine-s-day-concert-1.1159369 Errico and Gets delight in pre-Valentine's Day concert By David Gordon Managing Editor Published: Monday, February 15, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, February 16, 2010  Photo courtesy of Zoe Adlersberg Malcolm Gets and Melissa Errico Broadway stars Melissa Errico and Malcolm Gets took to the stage of the Tilles Center Friday night in a concert entitled "His Eyes, Her Eyes." And boy was it delightful. Friends since their days at Yale, Errico and Gets have shared the stage on and off Broadway, most notably in the short-lived Michel Legrand musical "Amour." Their chemistry was well-apparent through their rapport and eagerness to play cheerleader for one another. The program contained romantic hits from the songbooks of Legrand, Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen, with a few of their signature numbers, like Peter Mills' "Way Ahead of My Time (a.k.a. The Caveman Song)." Errico, who returned to Broadway late last year in Berlin's "White Christmas" and is currently in rehearsals for the Bernard Shaw play "Candida" at the Irish Repertory Theater, wrapped her creamy soprano around Cole Porter's "So in Love" from "Kiss Me, Kate," while Gets impressed with his considerable piano skills while their accompanist took a break. Other highlights included a duet of "Blue Skies" and "It's a Lovely Day Today." Two particular delights were selections from Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's "Finian's Rainbow," in which they costarred (he as the leprechaun Og, she as Sharon McLonergan) at the Irish Rep some years ago. Their "Something Sort of Grandish" was a comic delight and her encore, an unplugged rendition of "How are Things in Glocca Morra?" was a perfect cap to an utterly wonderful performance       April 7, 2009 | 7:14 p.m  “Connector of souls”: Errico. Thaddeus Harden Melissa Errico, founder of the wildly popular downtown mommy group Bowery Babes, was drinking tea at the Noho Star the other day, reflecting on her somewhat lapsed career as a singer and Broadway star, which has included cabaret performances at the Café Carlyle and starring roles in My Fair Lady, Cole Porter’s High Society, Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George and Michel Legrand’s Amour, for which she received a Tony nomination in 2003. “I was saying to Patrick,” she said—as in Patrick McEnroe: the Davis Cup captain, brother of John, her husband and father of their three children—“that I have nothing to sell anymore, I’m just there. I’m so there. It’s just a sense that everything is O.K.” Ms. Errico, 38, founded Bowery Babes in 2006, inspired by her prenatal yoga teacher, who stressed the importance of women banding together against the trials and isolation of impending urban motherhood. Now numbering more than 500, the Babes live in a loosely defined geographic bloc including the East Village, Soho, Chinatown and the Lower East Side (though residents of Williamsburg and the West Village have managed to sneak in, along with one stay-at-home dad). Their packed calendar includes weekly art classes, theater days, play groups, and postpartum “adjustment” parties at which wine is served and a counselor is present. (Alas, this reporter was not permitted to visit.) Wearing a gray cashmere hoodie and a cherubic flush, Ms. Errico was clutching a BlackBerry, which buzzed incessantly. One mother was asking her to forward an email about a friend’s “strollercize” class to the group, which Ms. Errico hesitated to do because another Bowery Babe had her own stroller class. (She eventually relented since the classes were being offered in different neighborhoods.) “Hey, Katia,” she said, answering the phone once before turning it off. “Is anything wrong? You need a nanny? Oh, how much is a nanny for a 24-hour stint? I can give you a couple of ideas. It’s basically like $150 a day. … I’ll call you back.” Ms. Errico had less to say about her career—“I don’t really know what to say about it,” she said—than the Babes, of whom, she said, she has “completely the most tender thoughts I’ve ever had in my whole life.” FROM NBC TO THE ABC’S Parental support groups are nothing new in New York. Further downtown, Anna Grossman’s 1,000-strong HRP Mamas (which stands for Hudson River Park Mothers’ Group) come from the Financial District, TriBeCa and Seaport areas; out in Brooklyn, members of Park Slope Parents, an infamous Internet community in the borough’s most stroller-clogged neighborhood, debate gender assumptions made about misplaced mittens. But Bowery Babes prides itself on being a more intimate, supportive entity, with five subgroups dividing members into smaller communities based on the age of their children. “We don’t talk on the Internet about our marriages,” Ms. Errico said. “It’s not UrbanBaby.” “It’s really more about trying to be proactively doing things rather than chatting, chatting, chatting,” said member Beth Rogers, who has offered organic cooking classes for the group out of her Soho apartment. “Maybe because we’re downtown, that gives us a different vibe,” said Zoe Aldersberg, an East Village photographer and the “moderator” of Bowery Babes II, who learned of the group in yoga while pregnant with daughter Uma, age 2. “It’s more like a group of friends. It’s weird, because I meet people and I’m like, ‘Do you want to join my moms’ group?’ And it almost feels like a dirty word. Like I’m some suburban mother in God-knows-where!” Of Ms. Errico, Ms. Aldersberg said: “She’s like the Pied Piper. You kind of want to follow her.” Back at the restaurant, Ms. Errico, fidgeting with the sleeves of her hoodie, attempted to explain how she’d overcome various career disappointments to find unexpected peace as a mother and de facto symbol of enlightened downtown mommyhood. In 2003, she was cast by Kelsey Grammer in her own sitcom for NBC, Neurotic Tendencies. “I was funny at the auditions, I was funny in Jeff [Zucker’s] office,” Ms. Errico said. “I had a great sense of humor and a good little body.” Her first day of filming was a Monday. She was fired on Tuesday. “The only thing I ended up hearing was, ‘Her charm from the audition isn’t translating,’” Ms. Errico recalled with mock distress. She pointed out a fellow Bowery Babe passing outside in the rain—“that woman yawning, she has a 4-month-old”—who had just the day before bought the $6 logoed canvas tote Ms. Errico has been selling out of her loft on Mulberry Street, where she has lived with Mr. McEnroe for the 11 years since she convinced him to forsake the Upper West Side. The pair bought raw space in the area at a time long before the Bowery and Cooper Square hotels and the restaurant DBGB. “His family was like, ‘Welcome to the arts!’” she said with a laugh. The couple met in grammar school at Buckley, where he was her older brother’s best friend, and then years later at Joe’s Pub, where the brother, a songwriter, was performing. “We had nothing in common, but Melissa’s not exactly shy,” said Mr. McEnroe, who has dressed up regularly as Santa for the Babes’ annual Christmas party and as a chicken for their Halloween parties. They married in 1998, when Ms. Errico was 27. After her sitcom disappointment, Mr. McEnroe took her to Six Flags and to a local tennis club, where he instructed her to hit the ball as hard as she could. After rebirthing her career with performances at the Carlyle and the Kennedy Center (she’s also recorded an as-yet-unreleased pop album with Mr. Legrand, her idol), Ms. Errico became pregnant by accident at 35 with Victoria, now almost 3. “I had the worst fears about motherhood and being an actress and it was stupid, so stupid,” she said. At yoga, she met 12 women who were due at the same time she was. They started meeting informally for lunch and kept in touch through their deliveries. Ms. Errico herself achieved a partially yogic natural childbirth in the hospital, naming her daughter after the sense of victory she felt. “It was a great, satisfying experience,” she said. And then: “Gosh, your readers might just think I’m the biggest jerk!” 'ORGANIC SOAP' In August of 2006, Ms. Errico formalized the group on Yahoo, dubbing it The Bowery Babes. The women picnicked with their newborns throughout the summer and held their first Christmas party at Bloomingdale’s in Soho that winter, after Ms. Errico convinced the store, as she would countless other neighborhood venues in the following years, to host the growing gaggle of moms—which included editors, artists, an investment banker, a doctor, a U.N. translator and a model—and their infants. “I remember early on, Melissa offered up her home for a grand piano concert that her father performed, and literally she suggested that we put our children on the floor on a soft rug to have them hear the vibrations of the music,” said Bowery Babe Cecilia Arana-Grant, another actress-singer, who lives with her two sons in the Financial District. (She called Ms. Errico “an incredible connector of souls.”) “This is New York, a lot of us don’t really have brothers or sisters or parents living nearby, you know, like they did in the old days,” she said. “Most of us don’t have anyone around.” Ms. Errico has tried to maintain the cozy, grass-roots spirit of the group’s organic, yogic beginnings, but its word-of-mouth popularity has necessitated somewhat of an application process. A rudimentary Web site provides an email address for the dozens of membership queries she receives daily (she hopes to relaunch the site as “a complex, high-tech universe of positive energy surrounding parenting in the city.”) “‘I am a Soho mom,’” said Ms. Errico, reading one example aloud from her BlackBerry. “‘I have a 17-month-old son and I’m always looking to meet new people both young and slightly older and find fun activities for us.’ “How cute is that?” she exclaimed. Ms. Errico has a letter she sends to prospective members explaining that the Babes are a community, not a Web forum, and as such expects members to participate. “Hopefully the letter can weed out people who run a soap company and just want to sell organic soap,” she said. She asks women to respond to her letter and, once satisfied that their motives are Ivory-pure, connects them with the appropriate subgroup leader. They try to keep each “generation” at around 100 moms. Each group has developed its own personality—“Bowery Babes II, they like to party,” noted Ms. Errico—but occasionally they mix, as at a Halloween soiree at Bowery Bar in fall 2008 attended by 95 children and their parents. Ms. Errico manned the door, eight and a half months pregnant with twins Juliette and Diana, dressed as Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream with leaves in her hair. After they ran out of pizza almost immediately, she collapsed in tears. She’s applying for non-profit status, which will permit donations and allow her to avoid crises such as this in future. But with growth comes a certain loss of innocence. “Park Slope Parents is also incorporated and they have a staff, and they have 6,000 members, and people do terrible things to each other,” Ms. Errico said. Whereas with the Babes, “it’s not been spoiled, somehow.” Her life isn’t entirely beatific mommyhood. In two days, Ms. Errico was traveling to Youngstown, Ohio, to sing for one evening with a local symphony, something she does a couple times a month, belting our numbers from Chicago or Evita in Palm Beach or Pittsburgh. She hopes for an eventual stage comeback. “These were things I didn’t initially in my career think I’d want to do,” she said. But “I have just stopped worrying about everything.” Last year, while attempting to shop her Legrand record, Ms. Errico connected with producer Rob Mathes, who helped her record Lullabies & Wildflowers, a CD of lullabies inspired by her Bowery Babe friendships. “I wanted to soothe the mother,” she said. “It’s probably hard for you to imagine that a bunch of Soho moms have pain. But there’s so much pain. You know: men, their own ideas about themselves—they don’t struggle for rent necessarily but they struggle in so many other ways.”
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______________________________________________________________________________________ WASHINGTON POST REVIEW "JERRY HERMANS BROADWAY" Upbeat, Hummable Tunes On 'Jerry Herman's Broadway'  Jerry Herman, right, confers with his longtime conductor Donald Pippin in this undated photo. (Kennedy Center) | | #ArticleCommentsWrapper {display:block}; | By Nelson Pressley Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, March 14, 2009; Page C12 Melissa Errico turns out to be the partner of the night, joining Gravitte for "Wherever He Ain't" in a duet sung with verve and played with silent-film antics in the orchestra (oompahs down low, high jinks up top). Errico and Raines team for selections from Herman's pre-"Dolly!" show "Milk and Honey," which suggest that Herman's early influences were operetta as much as Tin Pan Alley. The lively "Shalom" and "Wedding Scene" turn out to be vocal and dramatic highlights. Errico and Raines keep the good thing going with two superb character tunes from "Mack and Mabel." Raines sumptuously delivers the bittersweet "I Won't Send Roses," and Errico plaintively and touchingly replies with "Mabel's Roses." "Hello, Dolly!," "We Need a Little Christmas" -- the program hardly lacks for songs that can send the audience home humming. Thankfully, though, Pippin ends the program with selections from Herman's current project, "Miss Spectacular." Errico enchantingly sings the melodically redundant but lyrically mischievous "Where in the World Is My Prince" (with its choice rhyme of "Nijinsky" and "Lewinsky") before Gravitte belts the title tune, with its quintessential Herman lyric, "It's spectacular being me!" -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melissa's film "Mockingbird Don't Sing" on ABC NEWS http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4804490&page=1 Melissa featured in Kiwi Magazine November 2008 "Lullaby of Broadway" which raves "the Tony-nominated wonder-mom creates a smooth,
jazzy tribute to new mothers." etc...
Playgarden welcomes Melissa Errico
for a Concert & Coffee
Saturday morning, September 20th,2008
10:00-12:00
Families are invited to come enjoy
the “voice of enchantment”(NY Times)
as Melissa performs songs from her second solo cd,
Lullabies & Wildflowers.
The Broadway star engages little ones
and parents alike with her jazzy tones.
Songs range from upbeat anthems exuding sheer happiness
to lullabies sweet enough to rock anyone to sleep.
“sophisticated and gently hip, and perfect not just for nighttime but also for late-afternoon playing” -Newsday
“The Tony-nominated chanteuse (and mom) focuses her formidable talents on lulling young audiences to sleep...” -Cookie Magazine
Play in our INDOOR PLAYGROUND from 10-11
Groove to live music by Melissa Errico from 11-12
*followed by CD signing, coffee and conversation
FREE for Playgarden Members
$30 per Family otherwise
Please RSVP for this special event
at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
as space is limited!
**include name & number of people attending in your family |  |  | Playgarden
95 Franklin Street
(Corner of Church)
New York, NY 11221
www.playgardennyc.com
(212) 965-9717 |
April 2nd, 2008 -MUSIC REVIEWS ARE RAVES! USA TODAY "Melissa's pure, clear voice sparkles!" (http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/) and: 
Music has always been a positive influence in my house when trying to calm the craziness of the day away or for just pure entertainment as a healthier alternative to the television. When this CD arrived at our house {weeks before its April 29, 2008 release date} and I listened to it for the first time with my children, I was in complete awe at the gorgeous and soothing voice that flowed from the nursery CD player.
‘Lullabies & Wildflowers’, the new CD by Tony-nominated Actress, Singer, and Mother, Melissa Errico, along with acclaimed producer Robert Mathes, combines lullaby classics like “Mockingbird” and “Rockabye Baby” with contemporary hits from composers Tom Petty, Judy Collins, and more; along with original songs from the Errico family. Melissa’s voice is extremely captivating; not just for me, an adult and mother who appreciates clean, pure music, but also for my children, who sat in front of the CD player and actually listened and enjoyed what they were hearing!  As a mother, Melissa Errico’s inspiration for this CD came from wanting to capture the moments of peace, gratitude, and happiness she shares with her child and husband. She has done a wonderful job, using her amazing talent, at creating a musical masterpiece to be cherished by any parent and child. What a great gift this would make for your next baby shower, your next maternity ward visit, or just for you! My boys and I have added this to our daily routine, whether it be “quiet time” in the car with ‘Lullabies & Wildflowers’ washing the stress of school and work away, or before bed time, when calming music and mama’s touch is all a child really needs for a good nights rest! Oh, and trust me, when baby #3 decides to join us, rocking him to sleep or quiet nursing time will be much more relaxing with our new CD playing in the background. http://babyluxe.blogspot.com Pre-order your copy now on Amazon.com! Reviews of "Lullabies and Wildflowers" New York Magazine
USA Today Today's Mama Tangled and True Mommy Poppins Little Rock Family Theater Mania Epoch Times Vaily Daily Orlando Sentinel CMJ Cookie Magazine Blog Critics Magazine
July 27th 2008- 7:30pm
Guild Hall Easthampton, NY
At Bridgehampton Community House
$45-$50, Tickets can be purchased through Guild Hall box office Monday through Sunday 11-5 by calling 631.424.4050 or www. Theatermania.com or call Theatermania at 1-866-811-4111.
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