“The Maria Callas of American musical theater,” as Opera News has called her, referencing both her crystalline voice and dramatic, expressive intensity, Melissa Errico is a Tony Award-nominated Broadway star — an actor, singer and author — who contributes regularly to The New York Times in an essay series called “Scenes From An Acting Life.” The Wall Street Journal recently referred to her as a “nonpareil cabaret singer”.
As a musical theater actress, she starred on Broadway in such musicals as My Fair Lady where The New York Times called her Eliza Doolittle “beguiling” Anna Karenina, High Society as Tracey Lord, Amour (Tony-nominated for Best Actress), Dracula, White Christmas in the Rosemary Clooney role of Betty, and as Cosette in Les Miserables. Melissa maintained a constant TV presence throughout her career, starring in Darren Star’s Central Park West, steady guest roles, and most recently playing recurring roles on Showtime’s Billions and Cinemax’s The Knick. She appeared in featured films such as Frequency with Dennis Quaid, Life Or Something Like It as Angelina Jolie’s best friend, and Loverboy directed by Kevin Bacon; and others. At The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, she starred in The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady (with John Lithgow), and Camelot (with Jeremy Irons) which she revived for one night on Broadway. She also starred in non-musical roles in such plays as The Importance of Being Earnest, Shaw’s Candida and Wally Shawn’s Aunt Dan and Lemon at The New Group. Off-Broadway, she has performed the role of Sharon in Finian’s Rainbow three times (the subject of her debut essay for the New York Times), and starred in On A Clear Day You Can See Forever at The Irish Repertory Theater to great acclaim. She has five Drama Desk nominations, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Helen Hayes nominations and four Drama League Honors and a Tony Award nomination. She was honored with a Sardi’s caricature and also served a term on the National Endowment For The Arts.
Melissa has made many studio recordings including her debut on EMI Records produced by Arif Mardin called Blue Like That. Her 2018 album, Sondheim Sublime, was called by The Wall Street Journal “The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded,” and led to sold-out concert dates around the country–from Ravinia to Caramoor and Wolftrap–and in London. She has sung many concerts (of Sondheim music as well as other repertoire such as R & H, Scott Frankel, film evenings with Michael Feinstein, and more) at the 92 St Y, Birdland, 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, Carnegie Hall, Town Hall and Lincoln Center’s Allen Room. Errico’s history with Sondheim began when he selected her to star as Dot in Sunday In The Park With George at The Kennedy Center, then as Clara in Passion at Classic Stage Company; then in the NY City Center Encores! production of Do I Hear A Waltz? In 2020, she sang “Children and Art” in the Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert “Take Me To The World,” and was featured on PBS television in a documentary special in which she sang “Finishing The Hat” and discussed Sondheim and his lyrics with Adam Gopnik and Raul Esparza for Poetry in America.
In addition to Sondheim, nothing in her work has been more constant than her association with composer Michel Legrand. Having starred in his Broadway show, Amour, she went on to collaborate with him on the iconic album Legrand Affair. After his death in 2019, she was asked to write an extended eulogy in the The New York Times and then to expand it (in translation) for La Regle Du Jeu, the most esteemed political and cultural magazine in Paris; Melissa was invited to be the sole American performer in the two-night musical memorial to Legrand held in April, 2019 at Paris’ Le Grand Rex Theatre. At that time, Warner Music/Ghostlight Records reissued her symphonic album, which Legrand arranged & conducted, as Legrand Affair (Deluxe Edition). The Wall Street Journal described her Michel Legrand tribute concert Amour & After: “One of the most moving and even thrilling cabaret shows I’ve ever seen. When Miss Errico sings the work of the late and much-missed Michel Legrand, you just want to climb up inside one of her songs and stay there for the rest of your life.”
At the height of the pandemic, Melissa was exceptionally busy, offering multiple live-streams and conversations and publishing essays for Variety, Playbill, The Purist Magazine, Theatermania and The New York Times. She taught master classes for students across the country and produced two IGTV series: “The Honest Cook” (cooking and mischief) and “How Do We Go On Singing?” (interviews and performances) in which she aimed to re-moralize the singing community with in-depth in conversations with professionals and educators. She offered many remote solo concerts – including with Seth Rudetsky and Mercyhurst Institute – and a full-scale live holiday special “Season For Joy” filmed with four-cameras onstage at The Bay Street Theater, hailed as “all style, class and holiday spirit.” Errico co-starred in a fully produced green screen musical of Meet Me in St. Louis for the Irish Repertory Theater, which she chronicled in The New York Times. She has a 3-part livestream concert series with New York’s French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) “Love, Desire & Mystery” in collaboration with New Yorker magazine essayist Adam Gopnik, which is available On Demand. Of the series, one critic said “Melissa is piercing, probing, and at the absolute height of her vocal and interpretive powers. Errico here reaffirms her status as one of the most intuitive musical theatre actresses of her generation. There is seemingly no limit to Errico’s empathetic range.” (BroadwayWorld).
Her plans for summer 2021 include curating a film noir festival for FIAF, masterclasses for CUNY and HB Studio; and summer concerts in NJ, Connecticut, Provincetown and more. She has written a play which is currently in development for The Irish Repertory Theater and is working on a book–expanding on her New York Times column–tentatively titled “Terminal Ingenue.” She is married to Patrick McEnroe and they have three daughters.