One Night in New York

At the beginning of this month, I spent a long weekend in New York City with a group of friends. It was a great trip. We got to spend a lot of time in museums, ate at wonderful restaurants and even went to a couple of places to hear local music. The highlight of the trip however, was an unexpected surprise. (I guess all surprises are technically unexpected, but anyway...)

One friend who was on the trip had a significant birthday while we were there. He turned sixty. I discovered this fact shortly before the trip and we set to plotting a birthday he would not forget. You only turn sixty once and turning sixty in New York when you live in Houston, Texas is a big damned deal. So, the decision was made that myself, friend number 2 and the birthday boy would go out on the town the night before his birthday. We would ring in his birthday at midnight like it was New Year’s Eve. All of this was unknown to the birthday boy; all we told him was “bring your tux.”

After much debate, we made reservations for the late show at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel. The Oak Room is an icon of cabaret and American literary history. The Algonquin Hotel gained much of its fame for the literary round tables that were held there on a daily basis for the better part of ten years in the 1930's and 1940's. The lore of the round table is that Dorothy Parker and other authors such as Alexander Woollcott, George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley, Marc Connelly, Robert E. Sherwood, Heywood Broun, Neysa McMein, Jane Grant, Ruth Hale and Edna Ferber would gather at the Algonquin to talk shop. The Oak Room began housing café society in the thirties and catered to celebrities and royalty alike. Over the years the likes of James Cagney, Katherine Hepburn and others have been seen in the Oak Room. On June 2, 2006 the lovely and talented Andrea Marcovicci performed to a small crowd including yours truly in that historic place.

The show was to begin at 11:30 PM and we wanted to be there by 11:00. I arranged for a towncar to pick us up in front of our hotel at 10:30 and take us to the Algonquin. The three of us arrived in our hotel lobby in our tuxedos and patent leather shoes, ready for a night on the town. The birthday boy still had no idea what was going on, but he was reasonably assured at this point that we weren’t out to embarrass him. Now, it is not every day that you get to walk into a historic landmark in Manhattan at 11:00 pm on a Friday night in a tuxedo. It is great fun, and people take notice. The only way that I can describe the Algonquin is to say it is like stepping back in time. Back to a gentler, more sophisticated era. The dark oak paneling on the walls, the high backed chairs, brass fixtures and a feeling of graceful age permeate the space. They even have a cat that lives in the lobby.

As we walked in we were guided toward the door to the Oak Room which sits to the left of the small lobby. We were seated immediately, right next to the piano. The Oak Room is probably about 15 feet wide and 70 feet long, it is a small space. A tattered volume of Dorothy Parker’s writing sat on the piano. We ordered drinks, toasted our good fortune and waited for 11:30. Scotch and water for me, Glenlivet to be precise. At 11:30 the lights dimmed and Ms. Marcovicci came in carrying her father’s top hat. She held it out to each of the tables for us to submit our requests. As you might guess, in 2006, not many, if any, people put on black tie to go to the cabaret. We were overdressed, and it was fantastic. I don’t know how to describe Andrea Marcovicci and her performance that night. One of the few times in my life I’ve seen a performance and simply been at a loss for words. The only way I can communicate what happened there is to say that she is truly and utterly captivating. In preparation for her show, “Love by Request” Marcovicci committed over 200 traditional love songs to memory and lets her audience direct where the show will go. What a tremendous risk for her! She takes each requested song, knows its story, knows its history and communicates it to the audience. The intimate setting of the cabaret allows her to connect with her audience in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Of course, it didn’t hurt that she seemed to be particularly fond of the three men in tuxedos sitting right by the piano. As her performance drew to a close, I came to the full realization that not only had we given our friend a birthday he would never forget, we all had an experience which we would remember and cherish for the rest of our lives.

After the show, Ms. Marcovicci mingled with the audience, was exceedingly gracious to us, posed for a photograph and was thoroughly engaging. As we waited for a car to take us back to our hotel, she came out and wished us all well as if we were old friends. A night to remember indeed.

I thought of trying to express why Cabaret is important and what it means to the performers and the audience but, Andrea does it so much better.