Marcovicci gets a kick out of Cole

Storytelling is intrinsic to the art of cabaret. As with opera, musical comedy and the tunes of singer-songwriters, communicative excellence in cabaret is defined by the believability with which the story is told.

Sometimes those stories, rendered through song, illuminate the singer’s own life; sometimes they are chosen to afford biographical views into the lives of the composers themselves. The latter was the case in Andrea Marcovicci’s performance Tuesday at Feinstein’s at the Cinegrill, with the incomparable Cole Porter as her subject.

The carefully selected and sequenced program encompassed familiar items -- “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “Why Can’t You Behave?” -- as well as more rarely heard songs such as “Wait for the Moon,” “How’s Your Romance?” and “Weren’t We Fools.”

Witty and informative, Marcovicci framed her musical numbers with fascinating Porter anecdotes and frequent tributes to his extraordinary talent for sweeping melody and brilliant rhyming (and with rhymes such as “puberty”/”Shuberty,” “lymphatics”/”ecstatics” and “Padua”/”Cad-you-ah” from which to select, she could hardly go wrong).

She somehow managed to entertainingly offer an extraordinary amount of Porter facts. And she enhanced the presentation with an insightful view of the poignant blend of tragedy and achievement in Porter’s life.

If storytelling were the only facet of cabaret, Marcovicci would have few peers in the genre. But cabaret is about singing, as well. And her vocals could not compare with her engaging dramatic presentation -- in part because of Marcovicci’s insistence on pushing her voice into uncomfortable realms.

Rather than remain in her attractive midrange, emphasizing the speak-sung style she does so well, Marcovicci often broke into head tones fractured by a wobbly vibrato.

Given her plethora of performance gifts, it’s hard to understand why this talented artist would choose to diminish her many other talents by emphasizing the least of her skills.