Broadway legend Melissa Errico returns to London’s Crazy Coqs with The Life & Loves of a Broadway Baby.
Tony Award-nominated Broadway star and recording artist and author, Melissa Errico returns to Crazy Coqs with her brand new concert, featuring jazz, swing, theatre and film music from her acclaimed albums, and stage roles — all with her trademark glamour as well as the smart talk and wit which has made her a successful writer for The New York Times.
Melissa has long been equally celebrated by audiences and critics alike for her live concert and cabaret performances, as well as her award-winning recordings. The Life & Loves of a Broadway Baby is at Crazy Coqs on Monday 10th July at 7pm and 9.15pm.
You’re returning to Crazy Coqs in London with your new show, The Life & Loves of a Broadway Baby, what can you tell us about it?
It’s a mix of Broadway songs – obviously – along with some pop songs, and it’s centered on my life as a singer, growing and changing over time. Some groovy funky rhythms accenting Broadway sounds, and some gypsy-sexy poses bringing sensuality to Sondheim. It’s me: a Broadway Baby in a Joni Mitchell dress.
You’re bringing us a wide range of musical styles, have you always enjoyed performing different kinds of music?
Yes! The natural broth that I’ve been brewing in is completely eclectic, like the Italian fish stews my ancestors made. Whatever’s delicious: George Benson and Eliza Dolittle and Randy Newman and Michel Legrand and and and! I’m hungrier now than I’ve ever been to incorporate it all and share it.
And with such a fantastic career to look back on, can we expect some backstage stories too?
I love a saucy story and I’ve had some spicy moments – almost all purely hypothetical. Jeremy Irons said to me when we did Camelot together, “Darling, we should have had sex , but I forgot!” And I have an even better one about Roger Daltrey. That kind of moment. But I’ll tell of some of those loves along with my more respectable loves for my mentors, Legrand and Sondheim.
How did you go about pulling together the set list for this show, how difficult was it for a song to make it in?
I travel with a repertoire of, oh, 40 or 50 songs I love to sing. Picking them out is like picking wildflowers for a bouquet, if they’re all of high quality they make a beautiful spectrum of aromas and pastels.
What do you enjoy most about performing at Crazy Coqs?
The intimacy, the excitement, the sense of an old-fashioned nightclub with new-fashioned people.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming along to The Life & Loves of a Broadway Baby?
What can I promise? Wonderful songs, for certain; fantastic musicians pushing me towards the wilder shores of jazz; a charming, elegant setting – and a singer who knows that the one thing she always searches for is more: more emotion, more soul, more connection, more meaning. The one thing I can promise is a completely committed evening ….and a sexy dress!
The Life and Loves of a Broadway Baby: An Evening with Melissa Errico, Crazy Coqs, London, Monday 10 July.
