REVIEWS
“The Birdland Theater proved to be a perfect setting for this sold-out run. Errico’s performance was totally engrossing. She is a superb vocalist, mostly known as a Broadway and cabaret singer, but one who adapts well to the jazz-inflected charts by Firth. Her knowledgeable and informative commentary enhanced the effectiveness of the show. Having wide experience in musical theater gives her an ability to completely absorb herself in the lyrics that she is singing, giving each piece the feeling of a playlet.
To enhance her presentation of the material she sang, she imagined herself as a vocalist in a club from a film like Gilda, alluring in a black form-fitting sequined gown with long hair tossed with abandon while singing songs that speak of love, often unfulfilled.
It is likely that Errico shall revive this magic set in the future. Keep your eyes open for an opportunity to get lost in Errico’s world of noir, and be sure to seek out her album, which was reviewed in the July/August 2022 issue of Jersey Jazz.”
— Joe Lang
“Titled A Noir Romance, Melissa takes us down the YouTube rabbit hole of film noir that captivated her during the initial COVID-19 lockdown, leading to her instant classic 2022 album, Out Of The Dark-The Film Noir Project. This latest exploration into the world of darkness, passion, and mystery is a triumph of love and puts on full display the reasons why Melissa is one of the great musical interpreters of our time. Singing numbers from her album alongside some new surprises, there is something to keep you coming back to every performance for the rest of this nine-show run.”
— Broadway World
“Just seen the utterly phenomenal Melissa Errico, doing her brilliant noir programme at Birdland Jazz. Melissa is a sophisticated delight, effortlessly conjuring another age. I’m so glad to be able to time travel with her!”
— Mark Shenton
“She brings a clarion voice and sly sense of humor to a collection of songs, old and new, in which love has gone wrong, gone missing or has never shown up in the first place. It’s the perfect Valentine’s night out for couples in search of a romantic evening with an edge.”
— The Front Row Center
“Noir combines romance, sex, mystery and danger. The compelling genre makes for a bottomless treasure trove of material for a cabaret show. And Melissa delivered the goods…the loquacious Melissa is filled with stories to share, and the mere telling of them gets her talking excitedly, at a fast clip, her eyes lighting up. Her delight is contagious.”
“Melissa Errico brings her love for film noir and her new show A Noir Romance, to Birdland just in time for Valentine’s Day. We all found ways to cope during the COVID-19 lockdown, Melissa created an album called Out Of The Dark-The Film Noir Project. Singing numbers from her album, she leads us down the rabbit hole to a darker side where crime, mystery, passion, romance, the exotic and the cruel inhabit. She does this while looking stunningly in the moment.”
“the intrepid Errico stars herself in a singing-speaking film-noir-centric outing…on the basis of the imaginative and evocative Out of the Dark, let’s once again raise a toast to Melissa Errico.”
“Noir Alley is downstairs at Birdland. Framing the ‘Laura’s’ and ‘Angel Eyes’ of yore with modern pandemic anecdotes, Melissa Errico coaxes these classics out of the shadows and into new light.”
“Just seen the utterly phenomenal Melissa Errico at Crazy Coqs, in a beautifully devised and exquisitely sung tribute to film noir music, both original & newly honoured, like Cy Coleman and David Zippel’s stunning “With Every Breathe I Take” from ‘City of Angels.’ An evening of sublime musical pleasure and treasures. There’s hardly a more intelligent and skilled interpreter of the Great American Songbook than Melissa Errico whose love, respect and total immersion in the material is a joy to behold. She even plays a mean ukulele!”
— Mark Shenton
“Errico, embodying old-style Hollywood glamour in shimmering black dress and kiss-me bright red lipstick, took us on a magic carpet ride there with a 15-song set evoking an era when cinema was king.
This was the second time in London this year for this perfectly-pitched, crystal-clear actress-singer. This visit was primarily to promote her 17-track Into The Dark album (Ghostlight Records). Four of those 17 were omitted for her cabaret at the Crazy Coqs. Her London audience instead got two numbers not on the album, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘The Gentleman is a Dope’ and one Stephen Sondheim wrote for the 1993 noirish movie Dick Tracy. Who would have expected Rodgers and Hammerstein in a noir compilation but their ‘Dope’ number from the 1947 show Allegro (a rare flop that never came to London) was well worth its place, as was the upbeat Harry Warren/Leo Robin number ‘Checkin’ My Heart’. They provided the change of pace the show needed.
From 1934 (‘Blame It On My Youth’) through the 1940s (‘Laura’, Angel Eyes’, ‘Haunted Heart’, ‘It Was Written in the Stars’ and ‘Again’), the 1950s (‘The Bad and the Beautiful’, ‘Checkin’ My Heart’), a dip into the 1980s with the Cy Coleman/David Zippel song from City of Angels ‘With Every Breath I Take’ and right through to ‘Farewell, My Lovely’ and the terrific ‘Shadow and Light’ from David Shire and Adam Gopnik, the storyteller in Errico had full rein. It wasn’t until the finale that the stylish Errico draped herself coquettishly on top of the piano but it was well worth the wait-- an undoubted global star.”
— Jeremy Chapman,Musical Theatre Review
“American songstress and actress Melissa Errico performed her first of three evenings to a sold out audience at Crazy Coqs, a sublime, orbicular cabaret with a sort of living room appeal, and punters of discretionarily fine taste. Her audience drank her in like a restorative Absinthe in turn of the century France, poised for the bewitching pleasure to come. Indeed, Melissa delivered.
Errico graciously, and with humor, engaged late comers and deflected an exuberant guest who was so moved he was inclined to call out and dance. Melissa has been collecting zealots for many years including a gentleman in attendance called Gareth who has been going to see her perform for over 25 years after he first discovered her in New York. It also helps to be friends with the actor Alec Baldwin who went to Instagram encouraging fans to go see her, “Calling all fans of great singing (and I do mean GREAT) who are in London!!”
She can revivify a song that we have heard many times before, adding a new-found vitality. That’s no easy feat. Touring to introduce her new album, Out Of The Dark: The Film Noir Projectwith collaborations and four new songs by Michel Legrand, David Shire and the late Peter Foley, and lyrics by Adam Gopnik. She was meritoriously supported by Tedd Firth on piano, who traveled with Melissa from New York, and a coiffed and handsome musical quartet on loan from Ronnie Scott’s.
In the spirit of women such as Lauren Bacall and oozing Jessica Rabbit, Errico has full command of the evening. We all know the Maya Angelou quote "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Her performance pushes the dark cloud on and leaves you feeling grand. Melissa Errico is a tonic, singing jazz and the blues but bringing the light.”
- The American Magazine
"Dressed in a figure-hugging, black sequined dress showing just the right amount of décolletage, with a hairstyle that was part Rita Hayworth, part Veronica Lake, Errico certainly looked the part ,and The Crazy Coqs was the perfect setting for her 80-minute set. With its black and white art deco styling and only a red curtain at the back of the stage to give the room some colour, you felt that you were in a smoky bar (thankfully without the smoke) somewhere on New York’s 52nd Street back in the day.”
During the set, Errico sang most of the songs on the album but also included some songs specially composed for the show by David Shire and Adam Gopnik which slotted in seamlessly and sounded as if they could have been written during film noir’s heyday. Superbly backed by her quartet (all taking time away from Ronnie Scott’s superb band) with the standouts being Graeme Blevins on various woodwinds giving the mainly smoky ballads some rich colour and musical director Tedd Firth splendid on piano, they allowed Errico’s wonderful, expressive crystalline voice to shine through and soar. Her acting talents allowed her to be transformed into the epitome of a film noir chanteuse. Errico has an engaging personality, tells delightful anecdotes and had the sold-out cabaret room eating out of her hand."
— Alan Fitter, LondonTheatre1
"’Checkin’ My Heart’ inspired by Out of the Past is a particular highlight, a pacey performance full of rich vocal trills which builds to a strong finale. Errico also claims a minor coup by adding lyrics to Marlowe’s Theme from ‘Farewell, My Lovely’ for the first time which speaks to the female experience in noir of knowing a bad time is inevitable but enjoying it anyway.”
“Some of the best moments expand beyond traditional noir to explore later music influenced by the era including Stephen Sondheim’s superb “Sooner or Later” from Dick Tracy in which Errico’s silky vocal is the focus...later, the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit “Gentleman is a Dope” is the place this show really comes together, a bouncy, full throttle piece allowing Errico to showcase her range and the undefeated pragmatism of the noir woman."
— Maryam Philpott, The Reviews Hub
“Melissa Errico’s new album, “Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project” gives us noir music the way we imagine it…melancholy, bittersweet tales of isolation and loneliness, beauty and betrayal—especially relevant at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic…Ms. Errico sings throughout with a tone at once wistful and probing, suggesting that romance and mystery are but different sides of the same coin…we are breathing along with her, seeing what she sees, feeling what she feels…she makes it “uncommonly clear” that we are all silent partners in our own destruction, and that the most we can hope for is a few brief moments of tenderness.”
“Melissa Errico is someone who appears to be in perpetual motion. The Tony Award-nominated Broadway star, cabaret singer, and actress moves seamlessly between television, film, theater, and concert stages across the globe.
Even during the height of the pandemic, Errico barely slowed down or wasted any time. Along with collaborator Adam Gopnik, she curated a series of film noir classics at New York’s French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF). “I was so deeply fascinated by the style of these films and their musical themes,” she says. That passion led the chanteuse (Errico) and lyricist (Gopnik) to stage three concerts that coupled music with conversation (which were also livestreamed from Florence Gould Hall in Manhattan in 2020).
On Wednesday, May 11, Melissa Errico will be appearing live at Feinstein’s/54 Below in Manhattan, celebrating the release of her new album of noir songs, Out of the Dark, melodies tinged with sensuality and mystery...”
“With Out of the Dark, Broadway star Melissa Errico reaches new heights.”
“Spellbinding…Out of the Dark is an exquisite, sophisticated,
and sensual journey to a musical realm of darkness and light.”
— The Second Disc
“She knows her way around a lyric…her new album Out of the Dark is ripe territory for a singer who can inhabit a song, and as a Tony Award-nominated actress she plunges into the role, offering charcoaled impressions of ill-fated romance, obsession, and thwarted dreams. Pianist Tedd Firth’s bespoke arrangements maintain the emotional continuity as the album unspools like a saloon song cycle, a gimlet-eyed dreamscape that thrums to Bob Mann’s guitar chords and Joe Locke’s vibes.”
“This artist supreme - one of the greatest in the cabaret and concert industry – [has created] what many are sure to consider one of the best albums of 2022.”
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“Observe, as the album progresses, the changing moods with each new tune, at times torchy (a mournful "Haunted Heart"), at times bright and hopeful (an uplifting "Written in the Stars"), and others simple and straightforward in the storytelling (a hypnotizing "On Vit, On Aime"). Melissa et al have gone to great lengths to present this seventeen-course feast of musical tale-weaving, with this writer finding, especially appealing, a powerfully sensual "The Bad and the Beautiful" and a mesmerizing "Amour, Amour" that transported my mind back in time to the years I spent living in Europe.”
“The whole album is GORGEOUS. Sung with elegance & beauty.”
—David Zippel, Lyricist,
City of Angels
“Her new show celebrating the release of her new recording Out of the Dark is a must-see. Dressed in a sexy black-sequined gown with hair coiffed á la the femmes fatales of the 1940s, she transformed herself into a chanteuse in a ’40s night club…she has a lovely soprano and her voice rises to the occasion.”
“Seventy-five minutes of exemplary musical storytelling…with a presentation like this, there can be no doubt that Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project will be extended repeatedly and booked into every cabaret, concert, and club venue around the world...with Out of the Dark, Melissa Errico has reached new heights.”
“Last weekend Melissa Errico elegantly swooned onto the stage at Feinstein’s 54/Below and delivered a master class in torch songs, femmes fatale and moody, doomed men. Christened “Out of the Dark” in homage to Jacques Tourneur’s 1947 film noir classic, Errico’s set seamlessly combined well-known standards, such as Harold Arlen’s and Leo Robin's “It Was Written in the Stars,” with hidden gems such as Dory Previn’s lyrics to David Raksin’s classic “The Bad and the Beautiful.” Her droll, witty and wise patter made the perfect accompaniment to the astutely curated song list. To paraphrase the last line of another classic noir, Errico’s performance was "the stuff dreams are made of.”
— Peter Stamelman
