Melissa Errico
Broadway Firecracker
Birdland, NYC, July 13, 2017
Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes
One of the absolutely loveliest voices to enrich both cabaret and musical theater drew a capacity crowd to Birdland on the eve of the Fourth of July, as Melissa Errico—with charm and sweetness—celebrated the holiday performing a program of favorite American standards.
In merry spirit, echoed by a lively backup trio—Tedd Firth, musical director and pianist; Phil Palombi on bass; and Mark McLean on drums, offering simple, lean arrangements throughout—Errico opened with an upbeat medley consisting of “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Love Is Sweeping the Country,” “Who Cares?” and, to salute the holiday, “Of Thee I Sing.” The last was literally a flag-waving number as, finishing the song, Errico pulled a small American flag out of her dress and held it aloft.
It proved to be an intro to her sharing warm reminiscences of growing up in an Italian-American family in Manhasset on Long Island.
Errico returned to music with a perky medley consisting of ”Let’s Misbehave,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” and “Honeysuckle Rose,” then changed the mood with a gentle “The Man I Love,” dedicated to her parents, who were in the audience celebrating their wedding anniversary. Other classic love songs followed: “The Song Is You”; “So in Love”; “I Had the Craziest Dream”; and a bouncy “It’s All Right with Me.” Changing pace, she delivered a poignant rendition of “The Man That Got Away.”
As the applause subsided, an unheralded guest bounded on stage: Broadway actor/singer Ryan Silverman, recently starred with Errico in Finian’s Rainbow. He joined her in a warm duet of “Old Devil Moon” to the audience’s delighted cheers. After bantering with his former co-star and a parting hug, he left the stage as Errico completed her show with, first, two Irving Berlin standards: “How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)” and an upbeat “Blue Skies,” and, in a mellow finale, “Over the Rainbow”—followed by sustained cheers and applause.
A bow goes, too, to the Birdland staff, which handled a capacity crowd with unflappable service.
