Sondheim Sublime CD - Melissa Errico Sings Stephen Sondheim

Melissa Errico takes on a side of Stephen Sondheim that few singers have gone near: not the satiric, slyly disillusioned Sondheim, but the soulful one. The songs here are about aching love and wisdom that arrives slowly. Pianist Tedd Firth accompanies her, and her tone shifts between hushed, electric and ecstatic from track to track, which throws the emotional weight of Sondheim's wordplay into a different light.

Love and life lessons run through the program. You'll hear a protective mother's reading of "Not While I'm Around," and there's room as well for a provocative "Sooner or Later." Think of it as a companion to her earlier Legrand Affair and Lullabies and Wildflowers. This is an album for the three-o-clock-in-the-morning hours, when love is gone and a wise friend is what you want.

Errico's Broadway work includes My Fair Lady, Anna Karenina, High Society, Dracula, White Christmas and Amour, the last of which earned her a Tony nomination for Best Actress and started a long association with composer Michel Legrand. She records and tours as a concert singer too, appearing with major symphonies and in jazz and cabaret rooms. Writing has become a bigger part of her career lately, with essays in The New York Times and elsewhere. On television she has appeared in Darren Star's Central Park West, with recurring roles on Steven Soderbergh's The Knick and Showtime's Billions, and she recently finished shooting a part in The Magnificent Meyersons, an Eric Oppenheimer film with Kate Mulgrew.