Melissa became enchanted with the theater at a very young age... (more on GROWING UP IN THE THEATER...) When she was 18, she was cast as Cosette in LES MISERABLES. She performed in many shows at YALE, and landed the role of Kitty in the Broadway musical ANNA KARENINA. Melissa went on to star in two more Broadway musicals in the following years, playing Eliza Doolittle in MY FAIR LADY and Tracy Lord in Cole Porter's HIGH SOCIETY, the musical adaptation of "The Philadelphia Story." Melissa has enjoyed the City Center Encores! Series where she has starred in CALL ME MADAM and made a particular splash as the title role in Kurt Weill's ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, which she has since reprised joyfully at Avery Fisher Music Hall (2004), City Center's Broadway Bash and Symphony Space. While juggling work on TV and film, Melissa continued to work steadily on stage, becoming a member of the Irish Repertory Theatre where she has starred in such classic plays as Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and George Bernard Shaw's MAJOR BARBARA and at The Bay Street Theater in MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY. She has gratefully received many awards and nominations for both singing and non-singing roles. Through the years, Melissa has also participated in countless WORKSHOPS AND READINGS to develop new plays and musicals. She has also done many CONCERTS, including Joe's Pub, the Cafe Carlyle, and major politcal events in Washington DC. She played Dot in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at The Kennedy Center as part of the 2002 Sondheim Celebration, and co-starred with Jesse Martin and Betty Buckley in THREEPENNY OPERA at Williamstown the following summer, followed by her acclaimed reprisal of Eliza in MY FAIR LADY at the Hollywood Bowl with John Lithgow and Roger Daltry. In 2002-2003, she starred on Broadway in AMOUR, composed by film/pop/jazz legend Michel Legrand- for which she received a Tony nomination for "Best Leading Actress." It was during this time that she began her close collaboration with Michel, and susequent duet appearances with him at such venues as The Oak Room, Jazz At Lincoln Center, Vibrato in LA. She returned to non-musical work in the hit revival of Wally Shawn's AUNT DAN AND LEMON at the New Group during the winter 2003-2004, and soon after, won raves for her Sharon in FINIANS RAINBOW, a runaway off-Broadway hit, which was recorded by Sh-K-Boom Records. Her most recent Broadway musical was DRACULA in the 2004-2005 season, which she followed with appearances at the prestigious Sondheim 75th Birthday Salutes and The Symphony Space Wall-to-Wall Sondheim broadcast on WNPR, her third Wall-to-Wall event in recent years (see MUSIC section). In 2005, she reprised FINIANS RAINBOW at the re-opening of The Westport Playhouse, made her second studio album (with Michel Legrand and produced by Phil Ramone), and played Guinevere opposite Jeremy Irons in CAMELOT at The Hollywood Bowl, a production which Variety praised as "fast, funny, inspired and deserving of a long run."

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