Marcovicci Sings Movies at the Oak Room

Andrea Marcovicci is to the Algonquin’s Oak Room what Sinatra was to Las Vegas: an institution. Hailed as the Queen  of the Oak Room for decades, Marcovicci exudes the class and sophistication of old-world New York—in other words, she is everything a stalwart of the Algonquin Hotel should be.

As her fans know, Marcovicci’s style of cabaret is simultaneously educational and entertaining. Rather than simply choose a theme around which to weave her songs, she makes the banter and music into a sort of lecture, explaining and elucidating upon the central subject.  By the time they leave the Oak Room, audiences can feel satiated artistically as well as intellectually.

Her current show (and the second in a series) is a celebration of songs written for movies, ranging from “Cheek to Cheek” from 1935’s Top Hat to “When She Loved Me,” written for Toy Story 2 in 1999. In between, she performs songs written during the Golden Age of Movie Musicals to songs that served to set a mood in the background of a scene.  By following an emotional throughline rather than a linear timeline, she lets emotions flow through several songs from different eras, demonstrating how much has changed throughout the years, and how much has stayed the same. Most effectively, she makes a medley of “Thanks for the Memory” (from The Big Broadcast of 1938) and “The Way We Were” (from the eponymous 1973 film), pointing out that the two songs are, in essence, the same, despite 35 years between them.

Of course, some cinematic classics are obligatory, and Marcovicci reminds her audiences of how “Moon River” and “As Time Goes By” must have seemed when they were brand new. Apropos of the season, she sings a very sweet “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” though if any cabaret performer in New York could get away with singing the morose original lyrics, Andrea Marcovicci would make the sad song shine.

Rather than give a history of Hollywood scores, however, Marcovicci makes this show somewhat more personal, sharing stories about her experiences with movies as both an actress and a fan. As such, the show is surprisingly poignant, showing us a side of a performer many have probably never seen before.  It is wonderfully refreshing, and a terrific reminder of why Andrea Marcovicci is the resident diva of one of cabaret’s greatest rooms.