Andrea Marcovicci: Let’s Get Lost

Carla Gordon | August 1, 2016

Andrea Marcovici

Let’s Get Lost

Davenport’s, Chicago, IL, July 13, 2016

Reviewed by Carla Gordon for Cabaret Scenes

Andrea-Marcovicci-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine Yes, there is Andrea Marcovicci, glamorous as ever in the floor-length gold sequined dress. The sleeves are long for the dancer’s elegant line, but the back is open and sensual. There is the perfect lace and linen hanky peeking out from the vintage satin clutch bag with the rhinestone clasp. We expect Marcovicci to deliver fine stories. Indeed she does. Let’s Get Lost features some of her signature songs, including “I Won’t Dance” and “A Fine Romance” in homage to idol Fred Astaire (not to mention lyricist Dorothy Fields). Marcovicci’s offering of “My Sugar Is So Refined” (Sydney Lippman and Sylvia Dee) captures its wordplays with aplomb. She embraces both the cleverness and dichotomy of Cole Porter’s “Let’s Not Talk About Love.”

Indeed, the glamour is lovely, but there is something deeper and richer in Marcovicci’s interpretations than perhaps before. It’s there in “Not Exactly Paris” (Michael “Mickey” Leonard and Russell George) delivered with a grand balance of joy and wistfulness. A genuine surprise is “Glitter in the Air” (written by pop performer Alicia Moore—better known as Pink—along with Billy Mann). This song offers a journey that is both sensuous and raw and Marcovicci effectively explores its changing layers in a way that captivates.

She shares with the audience where she (and many among the Baby Boomers) are in life—simultaneously concerned and responsible for her now frail 90-something mother, singer and role model, Helen Marcovicci, and delighted by her now 20-year old daughter, Alice. This manifests in an especially moving way in Maury Yeston’s “New Words.” This is a lullaby of sorts sung by a mother to a child and Marcovicci embraces the heart of both. Long-time musical director and native Chicago son, Shelly Markham, along with bass player Jim Cox, provided just the right support. The singer delivers “Two for the Road” (Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse) with simplicity and hope. As Marcovicci travels life’s roads, she takes us on ever richer journeys. “And that’s a long, long while.”

Tags: A Fine Romance, Alicia Moore, American Songbook, Andrea Marcovicci, Baby Boomers, Billy Mann, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Carla Gordon, CD, Chicago, Clubs, Cole Porter, Composers, Davenports, Dorothy Fields, Fred Astaire, Glitter in the Air, Great American Songbook, Helen Marcovicci, Henry Mancini, I Won’t Dance, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jazz Vocalists, Jerome Kern, Jim Cox, Leslie Bricusse, Let’s Get Lost, Let’s Not Talk About Love, lyricists, Maury Yeston, Michael Leonard, Mickey Leonard, Musicals, Musicians, My Sugar Is So Refined, New Words, Nightclubs, Not Exactly Paris, Pink, Popular Song, Revues, Russell George, Shelly Markham, Show Tunes, Singers, Songbook, Standards, Supper Clubs, Sydney Lippman, Sylvia Dee, Two for the Road, Venues, Vocalists