Melissa Errico on 'Never Saying No to Sondheim' and How a Note from Julie Andrews Changed Her Life

If you've been craving for more Sondheim after Broadway.com's Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, you're in luck! Tony nominee Melissa Errico, a longtime Sondheim favorite, stopped by #LiveatFive: Home Edition to talk all about her appearance on the PBS special Finishing the Hat and more. "I was on a Sondheim obsession in 2016," Errico said to Paul Wontorek. "I was going through things in my life and I thought, 'Sondheim has all the answers.' If you're ever insecure or in doubt, turn to Sondheim. It all started with a Sondheim concert, and then it turned into a series of concerts and an album. Mr. Sondheim gave me notes along the way, so the album is really a reflection of about two years of talking with him."

Fans can learn even more by watching the PBS series Poetry in America, which focuses on Sondheim. "This is a really cool series that's also an educational initiative to keep people aware of the great American poets," she said. "They don't talk about musical theater that much, but they did a whole episode on "Finishing the Hat," the great song from Sunday in the Park with George. It's really a deep discussion into all the words, all the phrasing, all the music—and it's fascinating. It started out as being a big gender study of the song; How does the poem change from the change in narration in gender? It really would have been so different to have a woman sing it. How would a woman feel about giving everything up and let the rest of the world pass by the window? That's not what the segment ended up being, though. It ended up being more about the structure of the lyric and how it evokes losing consciousness. It was an excellent experience filming it."

Errico recently performed Sunday's "Children and Art" for Take Me to the World, offering another aspect of her Sondheim range. "I don't think there's one Sondheim role I would ever say no to—ever," she said. "He's a constant yes to me. You just can't say no to his shows." As much as an Sondheim has influenced Errico, there's another legend who changed her life. "I once got a private email from Julie Andrews when I hurt my voice," she said. "She directed me to how to get mended. She didn't want to see me have the struggles that she had. It changed my life, the idea that Julie Andrews found me and found a way to make sure that I was OK. It was everything to me."

Watch Errico show off her array of erotic books and more in the full episode below!