The Washington Post Friday, January 10, 2003; Page WE07 MELISSA ERRICO "Blue Like That" Manhattan Records MELISSA ERRICO "Blue Like That" Manhattan The move from the Broadway stage to the pop recording studio is not as easy as it looks. Many a musical diva has continued to belt out the notes for the balcony and to underline every sentiment even when alone with a microphone and a pair of earphones. Melissa Errico, the star of such Broadway revivals as "My Fair Lady" and "High Society," is young enough, however, to understand the pop value of understatement, and her debut solo album, "Blue Like That," has a conversational ease that's seductive. Errico, best known for her TV roles on "Ed" and "Central Park West," has a lovely soprano, but she never overdoes it. When she sings Jeff Franzel's title tune, for example, she doesn't make too much of the whimsical notion that colors seem more intense when you're in love, but gives the image the offhand giddiness it deserves. Producer Arif Mardin, who has framed Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin and Bette Midler between strings, woodwinds and a jazz combo, does the same for Errico. "Blue Like That" contains only one jazz standard, Rodgers and Hart's "He Was Good to Me," but does include lesser-known numbers by Randy Newman, Billy Joel and Rickie Lee Jones. Like Art Garfunkel and Norah Jones, Errico wants to prove that "adult-contemporary" radio fare needn't be maudlin and overstated; it can be smart and subtle. . -- Geoffrey Himes The Washington Post
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