Melissa Errico Prepares to Release a 'Sublime' New Sondheim Album - Five Things You Need to Know!

From Sunday in the Park With George to Do I Hear a Waltz?, Melissa Errico has experience singing the music and lyrics of theatre legend Stephen Sondheim. Now, her album Sondheim Sublime boasts Sondheim tunes she's sung in the past and ones new to her as well.

Errico will return to Feinstein's/54 Below November 1-3 at 7PM, reprising her concert of Sondheim songs, subtitled "I'm Back!" Her new album comes out on November 2, but what do you need to know before you 'move on'?

On choosing Sondheim for her album:

"I know Sondheim is never a bad idea. But as I put that show together I went looking for what I thought were the most important messages that if I were to leave this world, if we were to pass some wisdom along, we've been in the theatre business for so long and the 30 years that I've been around in the business since I was 18 years old what have I learned and I thought Sondheim would be a good place to begin. You can't just take on every composer. I could probably see the world through the lens of so many brilliant composers, from young people to Stephen Schwartz and so many masters out there, heroes of songwriting"

On producing the album:

"When I go into the studio with like cool producers and things like that, a lot of times they're like 'could you do a little less' or 'could you sing a little less vibrato' it's funny while you're making albums there's this kind of anesthetization that sort of happens to the theatrical stuff. There's this kind of feeling that it's too nasal, it's too strong, it's too clear... I do think in this case I wasn't as careful about sounding like a pop singer or flat toning everything or withdrawing the voice...I do think I was true to my style of singing."

Being a former Broadway Eliza Dolittle, thoughts on the current production and new star Laura Benanti:

"I loved the current production, but I must see Laura Benanti in it! I'm particularly excited about what Laura's going to bring to it because I've known her for so long. While I know Lauren was wonderful in it, I know what this means to Laura and I'm really excited about this twinkle that's she's going to bring to it. It's her dream role and I'm so happy for her. There was a time in our careers where if I got sick I would call her and she would do a concert for me or if she had a party that somebody needed someone to sing a couple of songs at a party and she couldn't do it, I would go because people confuse us. We are not the same age... I'm just excited for her. So I love this production and I think she'll be phenomenal."

On what she's proud of:

"I'm proud to be this age and to not feel beat up. I don't feel beat up, I actually feel enriched by this career. I feel like I've done a pretty good job of rolling with the highs and the lows, I really believe in the glamor of it and I really really recognize the hard work. I'm proud I've stayed in one piece and I'm still hopeful and even aspirational at my age, I think that's a nice thing, I think that's a nice quality, so that's something I feel proud of."

On her regrets:

"The thing I regret the most is probably trying too hard along the way. I think I did try too hard. I think I didn't know that things would come, I was pushing a little- I did, I tried too hard. Now that lots of people send me their children and their children are 17 and their kids are auditioning, they say why didn't they get the part...I'm always telling [young actors] you can't control everything, you can't push against this business, you can't please everybody and I didn't know that...I think if I had just known myself and slowed down and in some cases paced myself when I did have success, just pace myself. Don't give the audience 115%, they might not even know if it's 70 because you need to go home and do it tomorrow twice. I think wished I had heard that."

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski