Review: MIRA SORVINO Shines A Light Throughout Café Carlyle

The way Sorvino told it, it was as if a lifetime had passed between the last time she had stepped on stage and the opening night of her show at the Carlyle. At one point, she was buying shiny dresses off the black market and singing contraband songs on stages in China, while taking a break from the world, falling in love with her father’s art, acting. In Italy, from where her heritage and roots run deep within her, the saying goes, “the art of the father is half-learned.” She spoke it to us in Italian while sharing the story of how life brought her to the top of her craft, an Oscar, before she found herself embroiled in one of the largest scandals of modern cinema, the “Me Too” movement. One thing remained above all. One thing would stand the test of time. Family. Her family and the unique bonds she shared with those around her shaped her life, as she read deeper into things, finding similarities between the Harvard fight song and a poetic love melody.

From generation to generation, lessons of music were shared in her home, and, as she grew into the adult she would become, those lessons impacted her profoundly, driving her to help found an acapella group on campus, where she sang “Only You” (Yazoo), and to, later, share American songs in the moonlight of Shanghai, which she represented with the song, “Satin Doll.” It took that strong family connection that intertwined throughout her life to help her grow into the representative for survivors that she has been for so many years. While she spoke of the many strong people she admired who have pulled themselves out of dark places, she, too, has done the same. Maybe she leaned on her family, but she, too, had a strong will to fight. She fought through decades as an actress, while forces behind the scenes (Weinstein) torpedoed the bonafide star’s career on the largest screens. However, she was never down. She never let the negatives outweigh the positives that she was able to create out of her life. Her show, a tale of life, shared her story and was woven together, beautifully, connecting past to present, where her talented daughters joined her for a few songs to represent the gifts life can give.

There were so many messages that she shared, life lessons that were hard learned, and so many wonderful choices for songs that were an unexpected delight, like “When Horses were on Trading Cards” and “Zavasha Zadrovia.” However, to pick a few favorites, I would select “Endearing Young Charms,” “Ave Maria,” and “Moon River” as the core of the show, beyond those I’ve already mentioned. Sorvino’s talent was clear, and her voice cut through the night to put an anxious mind at ease. The lyric, “Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, which I gaze on so fondly today, were to change by tomorrow and fleet in my arms, like fairy gifts fading away, you would still be as adored as this moment,” had a deeply personal note to it, and it resonated strongly with the inner romantic in me. Later in the show, when she brought up that, for her, “Moon River” was the song about deciding to fight for love rather than give up; it connected the dots from one song to the next. “Moon River, wider than a mile, I’m crossing you in style.” And of course, Ave Maria, the sacred notes, was a song to represent her late father, Paul Sorvino, who’s memorable recording of it has kept him close to her heart.

Café Carlyle found a unique performer who, like starlets of the mid-20th century, had the beautiful voice to match their on-screen appeal. What the last twenty years might have looked like is anyone’s guess, but I could imagine her performing a show built around leading ladies of films with song, caressing the audience with the sweet lyric of “I Could Have Danced All Night” for but one example, like a modern day Audrey Hepburn (whose voice was infamously dubbed after having trained rigorously). Like Hepburn, Mira Sorvino could capture an audience’s eye, but, like her own life story revealed, her voice was very much her own.

Mira Sorvino's Musical Director/pianist is Patrick Warren, and her guitarist is Adam Levy.

Photos by David Andrako.

Vist the Cafe Carlyle website HERE.

Mira Sorvino has Instagram HERE.

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