Ruth Leon Pocket Review: Melissa Errico

The Life and Loves of a Broadway Baby – Melissa Errico at Crazy Coqs
I’ve always been a fan of Melissa Errico  although until this week my only experience of her has been on stage in Broadway musicals. This week, though, I went along to Crazy Coqs to experience her in the flesh, in a lively cabaret set taking in her extensive Broadway experience – leading roles in My Fair Lady, Sunday in the Park With George, Camelot, The Sound of Music, and many others – and her concert appearances, with an emphasis on the songs of Sondheim and Michel LeGrand, for whom she has a particular affinity and fondness.

Before seeing her in cabaret I already knew that she was a very good singer, with the dramatic intelligence to make a meal out of every lyric.

What I didn’t know was that in person she is a charmer with some good stories and a surprisingly jazzy musical inclination. In this show she was supported by a band led by the immaculate James Pearson (Music Director at Ronnie Scott’s having a night off). She had only arrived in London from New York the previous day so the show could have used a bit more rehearsal but she covered its impromptu ‘improvisations’ with entertaining, if random, stories about her life in and out of the theatre.

Dressed in shimmering silver sequins, her trademark ringlets bouncing with enthusiasm, the Tony Award-nominated Broadway star and recording artist is a treat for lovers of cabaret and musical theatre alike. In a packed single-act show, she even had invited a friend, French star Isabelle Georges, her co-star from Michel Legrand’s only musical Amour, to sing a couple of numbers and even join her in a short tap-dance.

Lovely show. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

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