#Melissa Errico

[raulshushabyemountain]

Can we talk about how there is not just 1 but 4 versions of Melissa Errico and Raul Esparza performing “Move On” from SITPWG on YouTube (these span 21 years I might add). Each version is just the tiniest bit different from the others but the performance from both of them is always amazing. If either Raul or Melissa perform that song with a different person, I will die, because them singing it is the definitive version! It is their song!

[adrianna-m-scovill]

“Move On” from Sunday in the Park, Raúl Esparza and Melissa Errico (with Seth Rudetsky and Mary-Mitchell Campbell on piano)

[theatrepup]

Performance of Broadway's My Fair Lady at the 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My family took me to see this production as a kid, and I remember watching the parade segment on TV. Mom and I spent all Christmas singing this song. :)

[voltives]

Babe, wake up. A new Diva to Diva episode with Melissa Errico & Donna Murphy dropped two days ago, and I just found out today.

[sporty5]

[sondheims-hat]

Released February 16, 2024

[chthonic-cassandra]

what vampire musicals are there? asking bc of the tag meme you posted a few days(?) ago where you said it was pretty accurate aside from no vampire musicals... i know wildhorn dracula, but what else? (and which are good?)

Thank you for asking a question which allows me to indulge myself by recounting all this. The question of "good," however, is rather fraught, and I ask everyone to remember that these opinions are just my own.

The (probably) first, and the only one to achieve significant success, was Jim Steinman's Tanz der Vampire/Dance of the Vampires, first stage in 1997. Tanz was an adaptation of Roman Polanski's comedic vampire movie The Fearless Vampire Killers, and features "Total Eclipse of the Heart," a song Steinman always intended to be about vampires. Tonally, the musical veers wildly between the broad comedy of the source film and something approaching sincerity and the comedy sections have never really worked for me, but it's certainly the most musically sophisticated of the vampire musicals and at its best, like in the major ballad sung by the lead vampire character about the loves he has killed (here sung by original cast Steve Barton, and here by Drew Sarich, who is in all the major vampire musicals and who we shall have more to say about anon) it's spectacular gothy camp glory.

Tanz was incredibly popular in Austria, where it was first staged, and then throughout Europe and in Japan. However, when it was brought to Broadway it was drastically rewritten, partly at the behest of Michael Crawford, starring in the show and anxious about changes in his body and being compared to his career-making performance in Phantom of the Opera. The comedy was foregrounded and the show was constantly being rewritten, to the point that the actors didn't know how their parts might change performance to performance. I didn't see the Broadway production, but it is accounted by all to be a colossal failure. The show remains popular worldwide to this day, but has not received another major staging in North America.

Next comes the Frank Wildhorn Dracula the Muiscal, which I know you know about, but as it is vital to this narrative I must give some explanation. Wildhorn is a sort of mid-tier musical theater composer, known for melodrama and period pieces. After the popular (though not critical) success of his Jekyll & Hyde musical (1997 on Broadway) he co-wrote Dracula with lyricist Don Black, premiering on Broadway on 2004.

While I maintain that Dracula the Musical has been unjustly maligned by comparison with some other works of musical theater, it is admittedly a mess, and the Broadway production, which was, despite highly publicized special effects, shockingly static, did it no favors. It tries to do far too many things, combining sections of relatively close novel adaptation (Christopher Hampton's book is often quietly strong) with a messily shoehorned Dracula/Mina romance. The score is variable, ranging, even just in Dracula's material, from the rousing "Life After Life" as Dracula welcomes the transformed Lucy, to his cringe-inducing "The Longer I Live". (I still think almost all of the music and lyrics are better than those of Les Miserables but then again I think most things are better than the Les Miserables musical.) The Broadway production had a reasonably strong cast, including Melissa Errico as Mina and Kelli O'Hara as Lucy, but it failed nearly as badly as the American version of Tanz had, if not quite so dramatically.

Wildhorn subsequently brought DtM to Europe, where it enjoyed significantly more success, first in a stripped down modern production in St. Gallen starring Drew Sarich and then in Vienna where the role of Van Helsing was expanded for popular star Uwe Kröger. It's continued to be performed in Europe and Asia, and in some USA community theaters.

Next up was Elton John's Lestat in 2007. One would expect that this musical would have been wonderfully over-the-top glam rock, but somehow Lestat ended up being one of the most staid things I have ever seen. Filled with forgettable music (even if we all do want to see Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson doing "Embrace It". It was further brought down by a lackluster performance of the title character by Hugh Panaro, previously known for his mediocre (sorry Panaro fans!) turn in Phantom. It was enlivened slightly by Carolee Carmello as Gabrielle earning one of the show's only Tony nominations and Drew Sarich (there he is again!) playing a decidedly not book accurate but very entertaining Armand. It also involved a Buddhist monk Marius de Romanus, but I constantly question whether this was a fever dream of mine. Lestat was yet another failure on Broadway and, as far as I can tell, has had no real subsequent afterlife, though I've been wondering if that might change with the IwtV show (and Sam Reid's evident enjoyment of the musical!).

Those are the major vampire musicals, for what they are! But there are also some others which never got even this level of attention, including:

Two dueling French-language Dracula musicals with almost the exact same name, Dracula - L'amour plus fort que la mort and Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort

A Nosferatu musical which is a strong contender for the worst lyrics I have ever heard but also entertains me

another mysterious Dracula musical made in the UK with songs of wildly varying qualities, but containing the only Mina hero ballad with which I am familiar

There are also edge cases like Bat Boy and Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I would not call vampire musicals but someone else might.

Anyway! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share some of the truly disproportionate amount of information I have about this topic in my head. I hope this brought some entertainment.

[svu-barisi]

"Move On" in Provincetown in 2023 with Melissa Errico.

[thatesqcrush]

Melissa Errico

[oldisnewradio]

Tune in RIGHT NOW to WBAI 99.5 FM New York or https://www.wbai.org/listen-live/ Everything Old Is New Again Radio Show presents "Starting Here, Starting Now"Songs of Change & Transitions - Songs for a New Beginning Some of the singers that will be part of the mix: Barbra Streisand, David Campbell Melissa Errico, HAROLD ARLEN, Barbara Fasano, MATTHEW JAMES THOMAS, NANCY OSBORNE, Kevin Dozier, Judy Garland, LARRY KERT, Chita Rivera, Kander & Ebb, Betty Buckley & More!

Some of the songs: "Everything Must Change", "You're Gonna Hear From Me", "I Can See Clearly Now / I Can See It", "Build My House", "I"ve Tried Too Hard For To Long", "Something's Coming", "Yes", "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life", "Sail Away", and More!

[brokendreamscreation-moved]

Lucid’s relationship with Michael “Micha” (familial love)

[choosejoyangel]

:)

[isingonly4myangel]

Spotify:

42, 56, and 72?

42. “That Old Black Magic” Glenn Miller (thanks Sleep No More)

56. “Amour, Amour” Melissa Errico

72. “Dreams” Fleetwood Mac

[sondheims-hat]

Dots

Bernadette Peters (1984), Betsy Joslyn (1985), Maryann Plunkett (1985),  Pamela Myers (1986), Maria Friedman (1990), Melissa Errico (2002), Andrea Burns (2002), Audra McDonald (2004), Anna Jane Casey (2005), Jenna Russell (2006), Kelli O’Hara (2007), Erin Davie (2012), Carmen Cusack (2012), Sophie-Louise Dann (2013), Christina O’Neill (2013), Brynn O’Malley (2014), Erin Mackey (2017), Annaleigh Ashford (2017), Vidya Makan (2019), Krystina Alabado (2023).

[scarletwitchie2]

June 4, 2013. at the Premiere of "World War Z." Berlin, Germany.

shopping in LA with Knox Aug 2019

signing GG poster at the 66th Golden Globes Awards January 11, 2009. Beverly Hills, California.

2001 and 2003 Lara Croft Tomb Raider

2005 Mr. and Mrs. Smith

2017, 2018 and 2019 events with children

2019 Tokyo Japan Maleficent Mistress of Evil premiere with Maddox

February 16, 2012. Premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey." Paris, France.

Life Or Something Like It 2002 with actress Melissa Errico

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE AWARDS 2015 for Unbroken with actor/rapper Common