The Secret of Her Success

It’s a curious thing about Andrea Marcovicci: Singers, by and large, don’t get her. They hear a voice that does not please their finely tuned ears and they wonder why she is so beloved by so many critics and, more important, so many fans. But Marcovicci is clearly and dearly beloved. After all, how many cabaret artists can pack the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room for months at a time for 19 straight years, just as she’s now doing with her new show I’ll Be Seeing You: Love Songs of World War II?

So, what’s her secret? In addition to the lady’s incandescent beauty, her ineffable charm, and her skills as an actress, she is an expert when it comes to phrasing. It’s the one essential building block upon which her much-admired acting acumen rests; she treats all of her numbers as monologues, thoughtfully emphasizing words or syllables in ways that are often different from what we’re used to hearing and thereby reveal new meanings and fresh shadings. She does this with the help of the talented Jered Egan on bass and her superbly talented musical director, Shelly Markham.

When Marcovicci performs “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” it’s almost as if you’re seeing the story of the song unfold like a scene in a movie. And when she explains that “The White Cliffs of Dover” was originally written as a lullaby, and sings it that way, you can really imagine your head resting on a tear-stained pillow. Songs such as “As Time Goes By” and the hopeful “We’ll Meet Again” are emblematic of their era, and this singer captures their essence more than half a century later.

As always, Marcovicci’s patter is splendid. She sets up each song with an engaging specificity. For instance, “You’ll Never Know” was her dad’s favorite song, and its enigmatic lyrics reinforce her own sense of mystery surrounding the 63-year-old man who fathered her. From the playful, “I’m Doin’ it for Defense” to the melancholy “I’ll Never Smile Again,” she economically and entertainingly provides a backdrop against which she performs. No one plays the Oak Room audience better than Marcovicci. She may not be a great singer, but she’s a great artist.

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TAKING THE RAPP

Anthony Rapp is getting a lot of deserved attention for recreating on film his role of Mark Cohen in the stage version of Rent, but he’s not the only member of the Rapp family who has made the move from stage to film. Anthony’s playwright brother Adam has written and directed a movie called Winter Passing starring Ed Harris, Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, and Ameila Warner, which will be released in February 2006. We recently spoke with him at The Town Hall, where his movie had just been screened for 600 appreciative filmgoers.

Q: Winter Passing is about the creation of an unconventional family. How personal is this for you?
A: The theater became my family when I moved to New York. The film is very personal in that way.

Q: The movie is also very much about art and about the sacrifices one has to make to express himself.
A: Or the ways we get around the obstacles in our lives in order to express ourselves.

Q: It’s quite an artful movie with something we don’t see very much of on the screen nowadays: symbolism.

A: I tried not to hit anybody over the head with it. I think it’s pretty subtle.

Q Ed Harris plays a reclusive novelist, sort of a J.D. Salinger-type. His last name in the film is Holden, as in Holden Caulfield. Mere coincidence?
A: [laughing] That’s on purpose.

Q: His daughter’s name in the film is Reese, but the name of the actress is Zooey Deschanel. Franny & Zooey was written by Salinger. Spooky?

A: That was coincidence.

Q: Your brother Anthony has a small part in the movie where he gets beaten up. What was it like directing him in that scene?
A: I told Will [Ferrell] not to take it easy on him. I told him to give him a few extra shots. It was fun!

Q: This is a low budget movie. How did you get two big stars, Ed Harris and Will Ferrell, to participate?
A: Ed read the script and called me right away. I told him that, if he signed on, I’d get the financing to make the film, and he said yes immediately. As for Will, he signed on before Elf came out. In fact, Elf opened while we were shooting Winter Passing. I was there to witness the change when, suddenly, everybody started recognizing him. He’s really wonderful in the movie. I told him when I hired him that there was no comedy in his role, and he was fine with that. He wanted to show another side of himself.

Q: Did you write Winter Passing originally as a play or as a film script?

A: Neither; I wrote it as a grant proposal. But I intended it originally to be a play in the proposal. I didn’t get the grant.

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[To contact the Siegels directly, e-mail them at siegels@theatermania.com.]