Melissa Errico sings Sondheim in Iowa. 'I think Carnegie Hall is going to pale in comparison.'

Actress and singer Melissa Errico has a lot in common with another star of stage Bernadette Peters. Both have worn the same dress, and on Broadway even.

“I did have the honor to wear Bernadette’s clothes in ‘Sunday in the Park with George,’ her actual dress," Errico, a Tony-nominated performer, told the Des Moines Register. "But to think that she was in Iowa, I defer to the queen.”

Errico refers to Peters' appearance at the Des Moines Civic Center and her own time playing Dot, a role originated by Peters, in the Broadway show. Errico is also known for playing Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady," which also recently took the stage in Des Moines.

Errico is making her way to eastern Iowa to honor the late Stephen Sondheim, a man behind some of the most well-regarded musicals in American theater such as "Into the Woods," "Sweeney Todd" and "West Side Story."

"I have sung in Iowa once before and it was the highlight of my career," Errico wrote to the Des Moines Register via e-mail in advance of an interview, recalling a pre-pandemic Burlington performance. "I literally remember my pianist running out of music!  We had so many encores and he was throwing music on the floor as he played the songs and eventually there was no music left."

Her first show in this latest set of Iowa appearances will fittingly be her "Sondheim Sublime" concert, titled after her album of the same name, performed at the Sondheim Center for Performing Arts, 200 N. Main St., in Fairfield at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 15.

The next performance occurs two days later on Cedar Rapids' Brucemore Lawn, 2160 Linden Drive, at 7 p.m. with the Brucemorechestra. This show, titled "Sincerely, Sondheim," represents the 100th anniversary season opener for the Brucemorechestra and will include Errico sharing Sondheim-related stories.

Errico came to know Sondheim in the early 2000s when she was cast as Dot, opposite Raúl Esparza in the Kennedy Center's staging of "Sunday in the Park with George."

While she assembled her 2018 "Sondheim Sublime" album, Errico said Sondheim sent her dozens of e-mails in which he might recommend a song — such was the case with "Isn't He Something" — or insist that she strictly adhere to performing a song as written or giving her permission to be interpretive on another.

Before the pandemic, Errico had been in the midst of honoring another titan of the musical world who was likewise a touchstone throughout her life: French composer Michel Legrand who died in 2019.

“I sort of have two masters: Sondheim and Michel Legrand. Legrand is like a life force music for me … it's kind of the score of the sensual side of me," Errico explained. "But Sondheim appeals to my mind to ideas to everything philosophical that I believe in. These are probably the two pillars of my life as a performer."

Though Legrand was known primarily for film scores, Errico performed in his only stage musical "Amour," in which she played Isabelle, the female lead of the show.

Her two Iowa shows will be Sondheim-centric, ahead of a Carnegie Hall appearance in November similarly celebrating the composer.

"I’m doing a Sondheim show, but I’m doing a Sondheim show in Melissa’s style. The show is all originally orchestrated for my nature," Errico said. “I think Carnegie Hall is going to pale in comparison because in (Cedar Rapids) Iowa we’ll do it under the stars.”

Tickets for the Fairfield performance range from $10 for youth pricing to $45 for premium seating. More information can be found at fairfieldacc.com.

Tickets for the Cedar Rapids performance range from $10 for students 18-year-old and up to $35 for advanced reserved chair seating. More information about ticketing and the event can be found through artsiowa.com.

Errico's latest album, "Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project" was released earlier this year, compiling songs largely pulled from mid-century crime/noir films.

Isaac Hamlet covers arts, entertainment and culture at the Des Moines Register. Reach him at ihamlet@gannett.com or 319-600-2124, follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tony nominee Melissa Errico honors Stephen Sondheim with Iowa shows