Please welcome to our show Broadway superstar and NYC treasure Melissa Errico, recently hailed as “a unique force in the musical life of New York City.” And she’s related to me by marriage, so I can call her my “cousin,” too, although the theater genes didn’t get passed down to me!

Melissa just launched her latest album, Sondheim In The City, a jewel that celebrates New York “as it was, might still be, and will yet become,” through the words and music of one of the City’s most enduring poets, Stephen Sondheim.

Melissa has been a Broadway classic since she debuted in Les Miserables in the 1990s. She also starred in My Fair Lady with Richard Chamberlain (who was my neighbor in LA when I first moved here), as well as the title role in One Touch of Venus. She’s earned two Tony nominations, and often tours the country and internationally singing and performing. In addition, Melissa is a contributing writer to the New York Times, has served on the National Endowment for the Arts, went to Yale, has three beautiful daughters and is married to broadcaster and former professional tennis player Patrick McEnroe, whom she’s known since grade school. Melissa has two siblings, her dad is an orthopedic surgeon and concert pianist, and mom is a sculptor and former teacher. Her great Aunt Rose had a big career in the Ziegfeld Follies, too. In fact, Melissa is the spitting image of Aunt Rose. Clearly, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree!

To say she’s led a blessed life would be an understatement, but it’s all because of the love and passion she brings to her life and work. She’s a quintessential New Yorker, lover of theater and the arts in a way that makes New York great. And I’m beyond thrilled to be speaking with Melissa on our show.

There’s lots for us to talk about, from family to her early years, growing up Italian, marriage into a legendary tennis family, raising three girls and work that she not only enjoys but embodies.