Besides being an actress on both stage and screen, Andrea Marcovicci is widely considered to be among the uppermost echelon of cabaret entertainers performing today.

Her captivating blend of expressive, theatrical vocals and engaging stage banter is in high demand, and her annual engagements at such prestigious venues as NYC’s Algonquin Hotel, New Orleans’ Le Chat Noir and the Plush Room in San Francisco regularly sell out. This year, she makes her Savannah debut with the premiere of a brand-new Johnny Mercer retrospective, Skylark, which she created specifically for the Savannah Music Festival.

I caught up with Ms. Marcovicci by phone from her home in Southern California.

Thanks for speaking to me so early in the morning. I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.

Andrea Marcovicci: Oh, I was having mad love! (laughs) I was having a tryst! No, I got up at six to take my daughter to school.

How old is she?

Andrea Marcovicci: She’s 13 now, and she absolutely adores going to school. She really looks forward to it.

How much work has gone into Skylark?

Andrea Marcovicci: I’ve been preparing this for a year, and I’m so excited about debuting it on Saturday. We did a workshop of the show this past weekend at the Gardenia in Hollywood, where I have my home base. It was packed to the rafters, and let me tell you — people are so interested in this. Not only because its his 100th birthday year, but they just adore Mercer. I have a loyal following here and they love to watch my process. Because the first time we do the show it might be one hour and forty-five minutes. Then, so much gets cut. For this show, the first performance was one hour and thirty-four minutes and then the second night was one hour and twenty-two. Then it went to one hour and seventeen minutes, and by the time I open in Savannah on Saturday, it will be one hour and fifteen.

How hard was it to decide which of his nearly 1,500 songs to sing?

Andrea Marcovicci: It’s very painful to gradually winnow down from 100 songs to 50 songs and then to the 24 songs in the final, 75-minute show. I mean, they say the man wrote 1,500 songs! The good songs amount to maybe 400 and another 200 are great. So, it’s almost impossible to bring the selection down without requiring people to bring sleeping bags! (laughs) I would be happy with two hours and a lectern, because I have become known as The Chatty Chanteuse. That’s evolved over the years into something I call Historical Cabaret, because I do so much research, I feel I have to share it with somebody. (laughs). It’s not all songs and toe-tapping. It’s about imparting Johnny’s life and his journey. When the Savannah Music Festival offered me this, I was very honored — especially being a Northerner chosen to celebrate him. But I think they wanted more than just the songs. They knew I would bring in a soul-searching show that would not shy away from his history. I have already been in touch with Johnny’s relative Nancy Gerard to make sure the stories I plan on telling will be acceptable to his family.

So, what are some of the particular songs you did settle on?

Andrea Marcovicci: Oh, the setlist is so good. To whet people’s appetites, I’ll be doing “Skylark,” of course. Then “Something’s Gotta Give,” “Spring, Spring Spring,” we’ve got to have “I’m Old Fashioned,” and “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby,” “That Ole Black Magic,” “Accentuate The Positive,” “Autumn Leaves,” “One For My Baby,” “Dream,” and “I Remember You.”

What led you into creating this format? I take it that your highly researched approach was not common when you began in cabaret.

Andrea Marcovicci: No, it was not the norm at the time. Most people were happy to get up and entertain with a potpourri of songs they enjoyed. In those days, they would basically just concentrate on following an “up” song with a “down song, and then maybe a “rhythm” song. They would construct their shows based on the beats and the tempos. But I am an actress, and I needed some sort of a play. I felt uncomfortable on stage without a beginning, a middle and an end. So I started approaching my evenings with an actress’ sensibility, and soon learned to find an arc within the material. I began writing and doing conceptual shows, and that led to me doing my Songbook Series: the works of Kurt Weill, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter. Even Fred Astaire, which contained a lot of Mercer tunes.

Also, in the beginning, Mercer actually did The Garrick Gaieties on Broadway, which is what started Rodgers & Hart off. That’s a fantastic turn of events, way back in the 1930s. I’m actually going to do his first published songs — one of which is the silliest little song you ever heard in your life. However, there’s enough similarity to Hart that it as an artifact of sorts. I’m truly having a ball with this show. It’s wonderful!

What surprised you most about Mercer that you only learned through crafting this show?

Andrea Marcovicci: Oh, many, many, many, many many things! I was completely unaware Johnny was such a major recording artist and singer in his own right. That helped me understand how he so brilliantly set words along musical lines. I was unaware that he always, always worked to music first. So, he might have an idea for a song, but he’d go and find a guy to write a melody for him. So, he was setting his lyrics to someone else’s melody.  Being a singer, he places vowels and consonants in a way that makes them ever so singable. I was really unaware of his singing, and that came as a delicious surprise to me.

Then learning each song again. You see, I already knew a lot of Mercer, but I had never approached it from that point of view. I was amazed at the compliments this past weekend on my voice. I said it’s just the way he placed his vowels. So, I am most grateful to Johnny for knowing how to do that. Because he was a singer, he knew just how to write for them. Oh, and the depth and the breadth of the different styles he worked in! He did so many translations, and did many more Broadway shows than I thought. You don’t think of him as a Broadway writer at all, and yet there were six Broadway shows to his name and a seventh on the way.

You mentioned that you dug up some little-known Mercer tunes for this show as well.

Andrea Marcovicci: Yes. I found one really obscure song of Johnny’s called “Gettin’ A Man,” and oh my gosh, but it’s wonderful. (Sings) “Gettin’ a man and gettin’ a husband are two different things.” There’s also another really great one called “My Sugar Is So Refined,” that catalogues all the different ways in which a woman thinks she’s high society.

Well, I’m sure on some level that was probably inspired by the fact that Savannah has long been famous for its sugar refinery.

Andrea Marcovicci: Are you serious? (laughs) I had no idea! That’s great to know.

You may have to add that tidbit into the show. (laughs)

Andrea Marcovicci: I just may. I would never have understood that connection! I tell you, it’s worth the price of admission for that one song alone. He sang it himself and made a hit out of it. It’s all done with three-part harmony.

Have you ever been to Savannah before?

Andrea Marcovicci: No, and I’m thrilled! I have sung in New Orleans and I’m kind of haunted by the imaginative South. You know, what I imagine the South is. Of course, we’ve all read The Book, as people tell me it’s called. Midnight In The Garden of Good & Evil. And I saw the movie as well.

Well, I’m sorry for that. The movie is an abomination.

Andrea Marcovicci: Really? Well, it certainly was Kevin Spacey being overblown as usual. Chewing the scenery as he always does. I also like the humidity in that part of the country.

That must help you to sing your best.

Andrea Marcovicci: Well, it’s amazingly great for the voice. Very few people realize that. It’s the perfect environment for the throat. The polar opposite of what they call “Las Vegas Throat.” It’s also good for my hair. (laughs) And that genteel sensibility attracts me. Plus, the idea of being able to be somewhere for more than a couple of days. People think the travel we do is all so glamorous, but it’s basically packing and unpacking. So far tickets are selling very well for the run, and the only shows that are under attended are the early matinees. The 12:30 pm show, which even I may not go to! (laughs) I mean, I wouldn’t go see a show at 12:30 in the afternoon! But the evening shows are practically sellouts.

Will you have a chance while you’re in town to pop in and catch some of the other acts on the festival?

Andrea Marcovicci: I’m sure they’re going to take me around and show me some of what’s going on. I do also have commitments to do a Master Class while I’m there.

What sort of a lineup will you have with you at this series of gigs?

Andrea Marcovicci: I have only my pianist and bass player. That’s the only way I perform, unless I go out with a 60-piece orchestra. Sometimes I’ll do a five-piece group for something special like my big Town Hall performances. I’ll use anywhere from 12 pieces to five, but this is really the perfect sound for me lately. The bass gives you that plunk and thunk and the sense of rhythm you need when you want to dance around the room.

Will you ever revisit this Johnny Mercer program, or is this a one-shot deal?

Andrea Marcovicci: I’ll do it again in California, at the Algonquin in New York, and then, in 2010, I’ll take it to San Francisco. Birthday year or not, the Mercer show will have legs! You see, it’s so important that we preserve the American Popular Songbook. In this case, it’s Johnny Mercer, but it’s equally important for the other greats. Sometimes teenagers come, or parents bring little kids, and they sit mesmerized by the language and the rhyme schemes, the cleverness and the humor. They leave college knowing of Emily Dickinson and ee cummings and considering themselves very educated. But they don’t know Cole Porter or Irving Berlin or Johnny Mercer.

As I say at the end of the show, these are the songs of the brokenhearted. Mercer was the drinking man’s songwriter. He’s the one you need when you have to cry in your beer. When you get your heart broken at 17 or 18 years old and need someone who’ll be there for you. You won’t necessarily get that from your latest rap artist. It’s the poetry of America — but it’s sung poetry.

2009 SMF presents: Andrea Marcovicci’s Skylark
When: March 21 - 25 (various times)
Where: Charles H. Morris Center
Cost: $20 adv.
Info: savannahmusicfestival.org, marcovicci.com