The acclaimed singing actress, who has performed on Broadway and in cabarets and concert halls around the world, recently spoke to Playbill.com about her latest show and her thoughts about the many singing competitions now on TV.

"Well, since a lot of [the programs are] based on screaming, I'm not so crazy about it, but that's only because I feel a great deal of contemporary singing is practically dangerous for the voice," Marcovicci explains. "I watch 'American Idol,' and once in a while you'll see a voice that isn't asked to scream or isn't asked to produce such melisma that it's unlistenable. Once every now and then you get a true voice that's really being allowed to sing, but when the voice is being pushed to such limits, it's truly dangerous for the voice....I am not crazy about those competitions for that reason and that reason alone, overuse of melisma and over-belting because the voices won't last."

"And, of course, I'm so furious with [former 'American Idol' and current 'X Factor'] judge Simon Cowell when he uses cabaret as a derogative term. I wish I could get my hands on that boy," Marcovicci says with a big laugh, "and really get through to him somehow."

"[Cabaret is] an art form in and of itself," Marcovicci says. "It's alive and well and breathing."

No Strings, which plays through Dec. 30 at the Algonquin, features music director Shelly Markham on piano and Jered Egan on bass. The show, according to press notes, is a "journey about life on the road: a warm, funny, heartfelt, and candid tale of Andrea's time spent traveling from city to city and what that bittersweet time has meant to her as a singer, an actress, a wife and mother." Song highlights include "Sunday in New York," "Two For the Road," "How are Things in Glocca Morra?," "Under Paris Skies" and "A Foggy Day." For more information and reservations call (212) 419-9331 or (212) 840-6800 and ask for Oak Room Reservations.

Watch for a full interview with Andrea Marcovicci in an upcoming Diva Talk.