Melissa Sings Her NY
September-November 21, 2021 | Feinstein’s / 54 Below, New York City
“Melissa Sings Her New York” played multiple sold-out encores from September to November 21, 2021 at Feinstein’s / 54 Below in NYC… & finished among a starry audience, with a special visit from the great Donna McKechni, David Cone, Steven Reineke of Carnegie Hall, Randy Roberts and Javi Morgado of CNN.
“The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream. For those who did, it unlocked its gates and its treasures, not caring who they were or where they came from.”
– Moss Hart
Born in New York, raised in the suburbs, fully blossomed on Broadway, and always in love with Moss Hart’s words… in this show, Melissa Errico sings of those New York dreams and New York gates, of New York frustrations and New York fulfillments.
Reaching into her personal songbook box — Sondheim, Comden & Green, Joni Mitchell —and accompanied by musical director Alex Rybeck, she celebrates the city of rushing pasts, cancelled lunches and hurried loves, of Broadway dreams and beautiful solitudes.
Melissa begins her concert story with an Italian family’s immigrant dreams, colorful tales of Mott Street, hatcheck girls & the Ziegfeld Follies. She continues on into a twelve-year old’s epiphany watching On Your Toes—who then finds herself starring in My Fair Lady a decade later in that same theater! And, as another hundred people come to mind, Melissa sings songs by the classic songwriters who celebrate our complex and inimitable and back-to-life town.
As she always does, Melissa pays particular attention to women’s experience and women writers, from a swinging “Wished on The Moon” by one of The New Yorker’s most original intellectuals, Dorothy Parker, to Georgia Stitt’s and Marcy Heisler’s haunting love song of today’s East Village, “The Wanting of You.” From the glory of the uptown downtown rush to the recent years of shutdowns and backwards blessings —- from “Another Hundred People” through “Lonely Town” — Melissa sings the real and secret New York, the New York of private exaltations and public bumping-intos.
Songs include Sondheim’s “The Little Things You Do Together,” Joni Mitchell’s “Chelsea Morning”… and of course, look for Melissa’s own Manhattan essentials, from Rodgers & Hart “Manhattan” itself through “The Way You Look Tonight,” which she once danced to with her mentor in Central Park. Expect a kiss goodnight, too, and a wish for a peaceful and joyful “Autumn in New York.”
“Simply sublime…. Like much of Errico’s past few decades, that moment in her life was not even a dream for the 13-year-old girl from Long Island. But once it happened, it was a reality never to be forgotten – much like this marvelous show.”
– Theater Pizzazz
Reviews
“As much a valentine to this city as any Woody Allen film with half the neurosis – clever, passionate, witty, touching, romantic, and complex. Just like the city that inspired it.”
– BroadwayWorld
“…her must-see new show at Feinstein’s/54 Below! What’s onstage is actually a musical memoir, chock full not only of great songs (gorgeously performed of course), but also wonderful recollections of her own life, smart observations about how to survive – and thrive – in New York, and a smattering of spot-on observations from writers as witty as Dorothy Parker, John Updike and Nora Ephron. Indeed, with a little expansion and some fine-tuning, this show would feel completely at home at a small Off-Broadway theater.”
– Theater Pizzazz
“One of the industry’s most endearing and enduring musical storytellers, Melissa Errico has used her work as a cabaret and concert performer to breathe life into one-of-a-kind shows that balance whimsy with intellect, hilarity with empathy, music with conversation, and always in a style so unique, so personal, so original that they might as well make a blueprint of that style for other artists to follow when creating their own acts.”
– Stephen Mosher
“Her golden pipes brilliantly handle any song they touch. In her must-see new show at @54Below, she transforms a possibly ordinary story into something extraordinary.”
– Theater Pizzazz
Final Encore at Feinstein's / 54 Below
The final encore of Melissa’s acclaimed concert “Melissa Errico Sings Her New York” at Feinstein’s/54 Below had some very special guests in the audience, including Tony-winning Broadway star Donna McKechnie, David Cone of the New York Yankees, plus Errico’s 3 daughters and her husband, tennis star and ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe. The concert featured Tony-nominee Max Von Essen singing a duet with Melissa, with Alex Rybeck as music director and direction from Randy Roberts. New Yorkers of all kinds came to the previous two concerts, from composers like Marc Shaiman, Tom Kitt, Marci Heisler & Zina Goldrich, to comedian Alan Zweibel and director Adam Shankman.
“75 minutes that is clever, passionate, witty, touching, romantic, and complex. Just like the city that inspired it.”
