Elisabeth put her foot in her mouth again: she said that Melissa Errico was “lovely” — as it turns out, that’s an adjective that has often been used to describe our latest guest. But Melissa is lovely, dammit!

For (we think) our first holiday episode, we were delighted to welcome one of New York’s finest songbirds. She talked to us about her new show with Billy Stritch at 54 Below, “’Twas the Night After Christmas” (naturally, it starts Dec. 26 and runs through Dec. 30), and many other things.

Peter and Elisabeth both have a long history with Melissa, having converted to fandom with her revelatory performance in the Encores! production of “One Touch of Venus,” back in 1996. In the intervening years, she has emerged as a top-shelf interpreter of two songwriters we are especially fond of: Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand. She talks about her relationship with them, and how they differed from each other, about working on and off Broadway, and her career as a traveling concert performer.

Oh yes, she also talks about meeting her husband, Patrick McEnroe — and singing the National Anthem at the U.S. Open. Why does tennis come up so often in this podcast?!?

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