Press / Reviews

LIVE MUSIC CONCERTS:

Review of Live Album Debut Concert/Wolftrap Jan 2003:
"Widely-acclaimed Broadway vocalist offers a refreshingly colorful assortment of songs from her new cd "Blue Like That. She possesses a lovely soprano, diction as clear as rainwater, a keen appreciation for tonal nuance and a seemingly built-in resistance to fashionably ornate melodic embellishment. The singer's affection for contemporary composers with a romantic bent and sometimes slightly skewed perspectives pays of time and time again." -Mike Joyce, The Washington Post

Live Concert at Joes Pub, May 2003:
"Melissa Errico is beautiful and has a beautiful voice: earthy at the bottom and effortlessly rising into an ethereal soprano, the album is a canny blend of songs and arrangements…Ms. Errico shapes her material with real artistry and inward emotion. Working in that well-known idiom of soft adult pop-rock-jazz…she has made a really gorgeous record, elegantly produced by Arif Mardin. Her music is pretty and contained, unashamedly popular but balanced and proportioned like classical music. In her live show, she displays a goofiness....with her rendition of "Hot in Here," one can sense an inner fire"- John Rockwell, The New York Times

Live Concert at the Oak Room March-April 2004
Melissa Errico's debut at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel stands in marked contrast to her Cafe Carlyle appearance two years ago. Instead of her silvery soprano renditions of classic Broadway show tunes, she is rockin' these evenings with a contempo pop repertoire of songs by the likes of Van Morrison, Sting, and Billy Joel. Pert and pretty, Errico sings with a sensual sincerity; she can evoke a heartfelt mood with feathery allure.

The program celebrates the release of her new Manhattan Records CD "Blue Like That." The thrush makes generous use of the term "funky": From Barry Mann's "Just a Little Lovin'" and James Taylor's single-minded and sparsely worded "Fool to Care" to Morrison's spicy "The Way Young Lovers Do," Errico really rocks, setting fire to the cozy cabaret.

Errico, who appeared as Eliza Doolittle in the last Broadway revival of "My Fair Lady," reprised the role last year at the Hollywood Bowl with John Lithgow and Roger Daltrey. This time around, Errico steals a tune from Professor Higgins- "I've Grown Accustomed to His Face"- and she gives it a flavorful reading, supported by an unconventional and bracing funky beat. Errico's brother Michael, who accompanied her with a percussive approach to guitar, composed "Ever Since," a song that suggests the meeting of a person one might have met before and paints a sweet and wistful picture.

The most poignant moment came in the encore presentation of James Taylor's "Secret O' Life." "Enjoying the passsage of time" is a profoundly bracing statement, and Melissa Errico makes it a most pleasant journey. -Robert L.Daniels, Variety

Live Concert at the Oak Room March-April 2004
A blast of fresh air swept through The Algonquin in mid-March. It was recording artist/actress Melissa Errico, making her Oak Room debut. Strikingly beautiful and perkily confident, she brings lively, lovely pop styling to numbers ranging from new rock to familiar singer-songwriter hits and theater classics. With a clear, compelling vibrato, informal banter, and obvious pleasure in performing, Melissa brings a youthful sparkle to the Oak Room’s venerable walls. Composers represented in her show include Barry Mann, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Michele Brourman, James Taylor and her brother, Mike Errico, also featured on guitar beside her. The five-piece band’s hard-driving arrangements (created by Clifford Carter, leading from the piano) back most of the songs, with welcome changes of pace given to the romantic Ever Since and chant-like Someday, both written by Mike; a rhythmic, sensual version of Lerner and Loewe’s Accustomed to Her Face, with new, unusual harmonics; a folk-like rendition of Billy Joel’s And So It Goes, accompanied by Ira Siegel on guitar; and a sweeping, swirling reading of Eddi Reader’s Kiteflyer's Hill. Applause goes not only to Melissa but also to the Oak Room’s Barbara McGurn for continuing to vary the pace and face of its cabaret shows – helping, it is hoped, to make cabaret itself increasingly attractive to new audiences. Melissa appears through April 3. - Peter Haas Cabaret Scenes Magazine and website