After Melissa Etheridge saw one of her heroes, Bruce Springsteen, do his Springsteen on Broadway show, she figured she could do the same thing: telling her life story on stage, and using her songs to illustrate it. That idea is now a reality: Last week, Melissa Etheridge –My Window: A Journey Through Life opened at New York’s New World Stages…which is technically Off-Broadway, but is literally in the heart of the theater district.
“Dreams come true,” Melissa told ABC Audio a few months ago about doing a show like this. “Y’know, as a kid…what performing, what music, what the entertainment industry was, as I was growing up in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s…it was all Grammys and Oscars…and Nashville and New York and Vegas and Broadway. These are the entertainment icons.”
She added that she was “really excited” about doing something on Broadway, which she calls an “amazing place for entertainment.”
In the show, Melissa takes the audience through her entire life, from the day she was born right up to the present day. On a mostly bare stage, she tells her story with the help of some vintage photos and video, a trippy light show, a hilarious female “roadie” — played by physical comedienne Kate Owens — and instruments ranging from a piano and guitar, to a clarinet, bass and drums.
With plenty of humor, Melissa details her musical development, her sexuality, her very public relationships, motherhood, her breast cancer battle, her spiritual awakening and the 2020 loss of her son to opioid addiction. And, of course, you’ll hear many of her greatest hits, from “Bring Me Some Water” and “I’m the Only One” to “I Want to Come Over” and, of course, “Come to My Window.”
Melissa Etheridge –My Window: A Journey Through Life runs through October 29.
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