Melissa Errico: Back to Barbra (with Billy) at 54 Below

The performance on May 29 will also be livestreamed. For tickets and more information,click here. After the critical triumph ofThe Streisand Effect, her homage to the great Barbra last fall,Melissa Erricoreturns with a new edition of the show – but this one blessed with the presence of the great piano-man and singerBilly Stritch, a Streisand favorite and a frequent Errico stage husband.  Once again, the music of their shared collaborators and mentors, the Legrands and the Bergmans and Sondheim and the standards will ring out. But this time Melissa and Billy will go “back-to-back” in their appreciations of the Streisand songbook, in a joyful series of duets, conversations, witty entanglements and just wonderful music making. The strength of the Errico-Streisand connection was apparent in last fall’s concert tour: The hamische Jewish-comedienne-chanteuse and the intellectual-Italian enchantress who has for so long been inspired by her, share many of their greatest collaborators, from David Shire to Stephen Sondheim to Marvin Hamlisch. Certainly, the great songwriting team of Michel Legrand and the Bergmans have never had two more committed interpreters, and the Legrand songbook, from “The Way He Makes Me Feel” to “The Summer Knows” will once again make its efflorescent presence felt. But, more than just a shared songbook, there’s a shared style between Barbra and Melissa — a unique quality of passion and intelligence brought to the American songbook. Both are “Daughters of Fire,” in the phrase that David Shire has turned into a newly composed anthem for Melissa’s show – both radiant with inspiration and even when called for, a little indignation. Now, Billy will throw his own stylish kindling into that fire, sharing with Melissa some of the great Streisand-inspired duets that she couldn’t get to the first time around, from her Sinatra-shared “I’ve Got a Crush on You” to the legendary Judy Garland “Get Happy” to “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” Come if you love Barbra, come if you love Melissa, come if you love Billy – or just come for the joys of the of the most high-hearted and affirmative side of the American Songbook. Melissa Errico is a Tony®-nominated Broadway leading lady, celebrated concert and cabaret artist, and acclaimed recording interpreter of Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand.Opera Newscalled her “the Maria Callas of the American musical theater” for a voice and style that move fluidly between theater, jazz, and the Great American Songbook. After debuting on Broadway at nineteen as Cosette inLes Misérables, she went on to star as Eliza in the Broadway revival ofMy Fair Lady, as Venus inOne Touch of Venus, and as Clara in Sondheim’sPassion. A prolific international performer, she has appeared everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Cadogan Hall, toured globally, and headlined major festivals from Paris to Montreal. Her Sondheim albums have defined her artistic identity—Sondheim Sublimewas hailed byThe Wall Street Journalas the finest all-Sondheim recording, while her jazz-inflectedSondheim in the Cityearned praise fromThe New York Timesand led to a sold-out London concert-hall debut. Beyond recording with luminaries like Arif Mardin, Phil Ramone, and Michel Legrand, Errico has starred in a PBS American Songbook special, frequently performed with U.S. symphony orchestras, and was a longtime favorite of Marvin Hamlisch. She also writes a popular New York Times column, “Scenes from An Acting Life,” and brings that literary sensibility to her newest album,I Can Dream, Can’t I?, exploring illusion, memory, and the enduring beauty of classic American song. Please note that all artists and acts are subject to change at any time.