By Andrew Poretz***Broadway diva and longtime cabaret star, Melissa Errico, presented her annual Valentine’s show at Birdland, Lost In His Arms, selling out six sets over three nights. Errico was backed by the stellar quartet of her frequent pianist Andy Ezrin, bassist 
David Finck, saxophonist David Mann, and drummer Clint de Ganon.
With a bright red nod to the occasion, the singer stunned in a gown affixed with fabric roses that created the illusion of a bouquet come to life. She opened the set of “love songs of all sizes” with a sprightly, beautiful and smooth-voiced “Watch What Happens” by Norman Gimbel and Michel Legrand, with whom Errico had worked extensively on Broadway and in recordings.Though she can sing with power, her mic volume was low, which allowed the band to dominate the sound on some songs.
As is her style, the loquacious star peppered her songs with stories about everything from song origins (with delicious name dropping), to her parents and tennis star and commentator Patrick McEnroe, relating her own endearing Valentine’s meet-cute story: several yers apart in grade school, they each noticed the other by a water fountain, stopping t
o stare at each other. Years later they met and decades later they married. To him she dedicated Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon In the Sky,” the only song to significant veer from the great standards. And, as a “talisman,” Errico brought out an old box containing love letters written in Italian between her grandparents over a century ago—a sweet device to introduce “I’m Old Fashioned” (Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer), noting between lyrics that “dancing is allowed… kissing is better.”
An early highlight was a bossa nova arrangement of “Lost In His Arms” (Irving Berlin). Errico gazed almost romantically at Mann while he played soprano saxophone on “Lazy Afternoon” (Jerome Moross, John Latouche), before bringing the heat up with Rodgers and Hart’s “Dancing On the Ceiling,” from On Your Toes. This is the song that most influenced a young Errico to become a singer, she said. She also described the lyric as representing “The Golden Age of Eroticism”—about a fantasy lover—performing much of the number with just Finck’s bass. From Errico’s excellent new album, I Can Dream, Can’t I, was created with the great pianist-arranger Tedd Firth (who provides sole a
ccompaniment) she performed a couple of songs, including “When in Rome” (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh).
The greatest highlight of Lost In His Arms was was a pairing of the very evocative “Windmills of Your Mind” (Michele Legrand) with “Ever Since,” by the diva’s singer-songwriter brother, Mike Errico. and inspired by the mystical, terribly romantic meet-cute story of modern artist John Currin and his wife, sculptor and performance artist Rachel Feinstein. Preternaturally, Currin had been painting Feinstein before ever seeing or meeting her. Errico closed with the set’s oldest song, the century-old “Blue Skies” (Irving Berlin), including its rare verse. With a solid set list, excellent musicians, and Errico’s lovely voice and appealing persona, this was a very swell evening at Birdland.
Photos by David Kenas
