The Unsinkable Marilyn Maye
Nearing 95, the inimitable singer is about to make her Carnegie Hall solo debut. In an eight-decade career, it’s a crowning moment — and just another gig. Turning the corner of 54th Street in a New York City taxi, the peerless nightclub singer Marilyn Maye is reminded of an early moment in her career. Sixty […]
Is It Always ‘Or’? Is It Never ‘And’?
Melissa Errico Explores Sondheim’s ‘Losing My Mind’ Ahead of Carnegie Hall Debut The Amour Tony nominee explains in a personal essay how one word can affect a singer’s entire interpretation of a song. Get Tickets Editor’s Note: On November 18, Broadway favorite Melissa Errico will make her long-awaited Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops in […]
BroadwayWorld Guest Blog: the Allure of ‘Noir’ and ‘Out of the Dark’ at London’s Crazy Coqs
I’d like to invite you, London lovers of American music – and especially of dark, sexy American music – to my cabaret nightclub concert fantasy on November 1-3. For three nights in a row (yes, you can even come each night and unwind from your busy London day!) I’ll sing from my new film noir […]
A ‘Girl Singer’ and Her Extra Hair Hit the Road
After a two-year hiatus, Melissa Errico is performing a slew of gigs honoring the composers Michel Legrand and Stephen Sondheim. As long as she gets to the airport (which airport again?) on time. Alone in a Florida hotel room, I reach around the back of my (rented) red lace minidress. I find the zipper but […]
The Purist: What Wellness Means to Me
Wellness, lately, has come to mean: connection. A kind of flow of energy, and a flow that happens with ease. I suppose the idea of “wellness” changes at different times in one’s life, but I have felt my most healthy and most joyful, especially during and after the pandemic, while making music. A flow between […]
Melissa Errico Reflects on Finding the Music in a Turbulent Year
From Covid quarantining to Inauguration Day, Errico discusses music’s promise of hope. The past year has been full of shocks — philosophical, practical, fundamental — and perhaps the one that stalled me into a state of frozen disbelief was the idea that singing — the central act of my life — was now toxic. The […]
Essay: on Happiness and Yip Harburg
In this essay, Errico reflects on Harburg’s legacy as she celebrates the release of the new single “Happiness is Just A Thing Called Joe,” a collaboration with pianist Lara Downes I consider myself an acolyte in the church of Yip. By Yip, of course I mean E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, one of the lyricists in The […]
Just Me and the Music and the Green Screen
As the pandemic wore on, the new technology became a theatrical force, allowing, among other things, actors to reunite for shows they’d done earlier.
Column: The Purist
I was weeping. Not just crying, or quietly tearful—but full out shoulder-shaking and wracked with sobs, alone in my seat in a suburban movie theater. My three young daughters—the oldest, 13, the twins, 11—and I had just seen Greta Gerwig’s wonderful adaptation of Little Women, and they were surprised—maybe even alarmed—by my reaction. Oh, I […]
Column: Variety Magazine’s Corona Chronicles
When coronavirus hit the news, I was flying from NY to Ft. Lauderdale on 3/9 to begin a six-month concert tour of my new album (Legrand Affair: Deluxe Edition) singing the music of my mentor Michel Legrand. Next stop was Palm Springs, London, Vegas, LA, Paris, and more. 3/12 at Lincoln Center was to be […]
Column: The Purist
Those who know me best may say that I am more than a singer, that I am a multitasker, a mom, a writer, an actor, someone who rarely misses your birthday, makes time for family and friends—and sometimes my closest loved ones think I simply am doing too much. When, with a 2-year old already […]
Column: The Purist
Standing behind a large movie screen this summer, I watched The Thomas Crown Affair in reverse. I was the curator of The Summer of Michel Legrand, a film festival at the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in New York City devoted to the great French film composer. I made welcome speeches and then slipped backstage to regroup […]