Thus the major contribution of the Irish Rep production is the restoration of the Daisy Gamble / Melinda Welles character, which is a very good thing - it’s just not On a Clear Day without her (or without them, as it were). However, the changes in the book in that production eliminated one of the show’s strongest elements - the remarkable dual leading lady at the center. Subsequent revivals of Clear Day have all made their own attempts to deal with the apparent “trouble” - the 2011 Broadway revival gave us Harry Connick Jr., as the manliest leading man ever to play a psychiatrist and the young Jessie Mueller - two moves which we all applauded. As far as legendary Broadway shows go, this 1965 work is generally described as “troubled,” though not to the same extent as Lerner’s previous piece, Camelot (1960), which may be the most notable example of a show that’s universally considered both “troubled” and a masterpiece (though Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is surely a contender). Miss Errico has a history with composer Burton Lane (she’s starred in Finian’s at the Irish Rep twice - so far) and librettist Alan Jay Lerner (having played Eliza Doolittle on the second-most-recent Broadway production of My Fair Lady) so On a Clear Day is a natural. In the last few years alone, she’s delighted New Yorkers to three intimate and highly enjoyable productions of iconic musicals ( Finian’s Rainbow, Kiss Me, Kate, and now On a Clear Day, as well as several memorable solo shows at Feinstein’s and Birdland, a string of thoughtful articles in the New York Times, and, soon, a new Sondheim album. As far as your big time, name-above-the-title divas go (your Patti Lupones, your Kelli O’Haras, your Christine Ebersoles), Melissa Errico is not only among the most sublimely talented and consistently entertaining, but the most down to Earth.
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