Tony Award-nominated Broadway star and recording artist Melissa Errico is bringing her joyous musical partnership with Isabelle Georges to the Crazy Coqs in London.
The show, titled “Deux Grandes Dames,” promises a dazzling evening of songs from French cinema, the American songbook, and even new originals by Broadway great Marc Shaiman.
Catch this rare trans-Atlantic friendship that dazzles audiences from at the Crazy Coqs on 10th and 13th July 2024.
You’re bringing Deux Grandes Dames to the Crazy Coqs, what can you tell us about the show?
It’s a kind of Franco-American fest, with a lot of delicious Legrand and some wonderful Sondheim, and then some standards and a bunch of surprises. It’s a real sisterhood show, harkening back to the kind of thing that Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett used to do! (I’m the Julie in this modest comparison, since I’ve sung most of her repertoire on stage, from Eliza to Guinevere; Isabelle, a true comedienne, is the Carol.) It’s a true old-fashioned cabaret – something for everyone, and high spirits (and sexy dresses) everywhere.
How did your partnership with Isabelle Georges come about, and what makes your musical chemistry so special?
We met in Paris, and we had an immediate connection. It was through Michel Legrand of course, since we were both among his favored performers, but right away we got that we were both ‘grandes dames” – great ladies who love to perform. Our voices combine in an uncanny way – I give her added soprano charm, she gives me additional alto oomph. I just love singing with her.
The show features songs from a diverse range of composers, including Michel Legrand, Stephen Sondheim, and Marc Shaiman. What can you share about the process of curating this eclectic setlist?
Well, we’re sisters in Legrand – Michel was the musical mentor we shared. We both played the same role, her in French and me in English, in the same Legrand musical. So, we start there.
Sondheim is my special passion and passionate specialty, but Isabelle ‘gets’ him too and has a lot to add when we go there. (Did Steve care for France? Well, he set a whole show there!) And then we both love the ‘American songbook’ – I can’t get enough of my anthem, “Lady Is a Tramp” and Isabelle has a fun feeling for overlooked Broadway songs.
Last year we did “Dreamgirls”, which I never would have thought of, but was a dream for girls to sing. And then there’s the French songbook! Piaf and Trenet. The Marc Shaiman is an original! A truly funny duet about speaking French that he and Adam Gopnik wrote just for us! So eclectic as it is, the set list has a direction – it points to us.
As a celebrated Broadway star and recording artist, what draws you to the intimate cabaret setting of the Crazy Coqs?
I just love the art of cabaret-concert. The intimacy, yes, but that means the connection with the audience and the creative freedom it gives – I don’t have to follow a plot or a stage-line. I can write little poems in air, with my voice, or write an essay of ideas with a set list of linked songs. When I was younger, I thought of it as an ancillary art to the musical stage. Now I think of it as a form all in itself.
You have a deep connection to the works of Michel Legrand, having starred in his musical Amour on Broadway. How does this show pay tribute to his legacy?
I ALWAYS sing Michel. I loved his music since I was small – my father used to play it when he was trying to seduce my mother, it was my first intimation of eroticism, though I didn’t know it then – and getting to know him when I starred in his show, “Amour” was one of the highlights of my life. We made an album together, “Legrand Affair”, with these immense oceanic arrangements. And of course, Isabelle is just as devoted a Legrandian.
One of the first things we do is an adaptation of his “Chanson des Jumelles”, Song of The Twins, with a new lyric made up by Jeremy Sams, who wrote the lyrics for “Amour”. It’s about us and pays tribute to him. He was more like a man of genius than anyone I’ve known – melody just flowed out of him like a fountain.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Deux Grandes Dames?
I promise you – truly, deeply, madly promise you – that you will have a good time. I know you will, because the good time Isabelle and I have together is so real and unforced that I watch it communicate every night into the audience. It’s what a night out should be – classy musical entertainment with smart and sexy performers. Who can ask for anything more?
