Happy Birthday to Tony nominee Melissa Errico, born March 23, 1970, in New York. After attending high school in Manhasset, she went to Yale University. During her freshman year, she auditioned for the national tour of Les Misérables and took a leave of absence from school when she was cast as Cosette. After the tour, she returned to Yale to complete her degree in art history and philosophy, before making her Broadway debut with a supporting role in the short-lived musical Anna Karenina (1992).
She returned to Broadway as Eliza in the 1993 revival of My Fair Lady, earning her first Drama Desk nomination. She followed that with Encores concerts of Call Me Madam (1995) and One Touch of Venus (1996, winning a Lortel Award) and roles in Irish Rep’s The Importance of Being Earnest (1996, earning her second Drama Desk nod) and Major Barbara (1997). Below is Errico singing “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” from My Fair Lady at the 1993 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” from One Touch of Venus.
Errico ended the 1990s on Broadway in High Society (1998), earning her third Drama Desk nomination. Then in 2002, she starred in the Kennedy Center’s Sunday in the Park with George, earning a Helen Hayes nomination, and returned to Broadway in Amour, earning her first Tony nomination. In 2004, she starred in Irish Rep’s Finian’s Rainbow, then returned to Broadway in Dracula. Below is Errico singing “It’s All Right with Me” from High Society on The Today Show and “Duet for Dusoleil and Isabelle” from Amour with Malcolm Gets at Broadway on Broadway.
Errico ended the 2000s on Broadway in White Christmas (2009), then starred in Irish Rep’s Candida (2010), earning her fourth Drama Desk nomination. She received her fifth Drama Desk nod for Passion (2013), then returned to Encores in Do I Hear a Waltz? (2016) and to Irish Rep in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (2018). Below is Errico singing “Happiness” from Passion with Ryan Silverman and the title song from Do I Hear a Waltz? in a trailer for that show.
In the past year, Errico has been featured in several virtual shows, including the Stephen Sondheim 90th birthday tribute Take Me to the World (2020) and the Irish Rep revival of Meet Me in St. Louis (2020). Below is Errico singing “Children and Art” from the first and “You’ll Hear a Bell” from the second.