Marci Kraft
Party With Marci: Let’s Go to the Movies with Marci
Don’t Tell Mama, April 26, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Photo: Kevin Alvey
Using the rather unwieldy title of Party with Marci: Let’s Go to the Movies, singer Marci Kraft returned to Don’t Tell Mama to sing a large assortment of movie songs. She has strong stage presence, knows of how to shape a song, and has a good sense of humor. Her voice is narrow in range but not unpleasant, and in some ways resembles the voice of the late icon Chita Rivera. Working with another icon, Marilyn Maye, as her director and arranger and a stage full of excellent musicians, the major problem was a matter of scale: 28 songs in a just under 90-minute show was just too much muchness.
Kraft certainly had a notable dexterity with songs that feature witty lyrics, such as in a medley of “Hooray for Hollywood” (Johnny Mercer/Richard Whiting) and “That’s Entertainment” (Howard Dietz/Arthur Schwartz) or “Talk to the Animals” (Leslie Bricusse). These brought out the best of her performance style with her clear enjoyment of the words. She also did well with such romantic numbers as “The Way You Look Tonight” (Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern) and the slightly more contemporary “It Might Be You” (David Grusin/Alan & Marilyn Bergman).
Guest star Sidney Myer joined Kraft for a bouncy rendition of “How About You” (Ralph Freed/Burton Lane) and the song it lost the Oscar to, the sweet “White Christmas” (Irving Berlin). The on-stage musicians included pianist David Pearl, bassist Tom Hubbard, drummer Daniel Glass, and guitarist Jack Cavari. They provided great support throughout and had a field day with individual solos during the wild and rarely heard “Carioca” (Gus Kahn/Edward Eliscu/Vincent Youmans). That was part of an extensive Fred Astaire tribute sequence.
The Astaire medley had six songs, the earlier Disney medley had eight songs and “I’m Late” (Bob Hilliard/Sammy Fain) as its opener. Either of these could have included some tales of emotional connection with the material (largely absent from the program) to create a great show. Unfortunately, there were quite a few other selections; some connected to each other and others somewhat random. A good editor would have noticeably improved the show. Kraft has a great deal to offer her audiences—charm, humor, enunciation, and passion. What she lacked was a focused program.
