BWW Reviews: Alysha Umphress and Joshua Henry's ROMANTIC DUETS is Heartwarming

It's mid-February and all the stores are filled with red hearts and chocolates in an effort to bamboozle us into thinking love is in the air. Frankly, it may still be too chilly for love to survive in the air. Despite this, Alysha Umphress and Joshua Henry heated up 54 BELOW earlier this week with their sizzling, jazzy cabaret Romantic Duets.

In celebration of her recent album release, the charismatic duo kicked off the evening with the Jeff Blumenkrantz arrangements of "I Don't Need Anything but You" (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin) and "You Are Never Away/Ten Minutes Ago" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II). Umphress and Henry sang the numbers with swinging pizzazz and expertly harmonized, ensuring that the performances were both beautiful and technically impressive.

The show continued with Umphress admitting her love for Dinah Washington and the duo singing a flirty rendition of "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (Clyde Otis, Murray Stein, Brook Benton). Then, Henry got the chance to show his surprising musical talent with a blisteringly bitter jazz arrangement of "Holiday" (Billie Joe Armstrong). Umphress and Henry have been collaborating on this number since they were in American Idiot together at Berkeley Rep, and to call it perfect seems an understatement. With well-placed slides and glissandos, Umphress flips her voice with majestic and magnetizing control and truly makes the piece extremely evocative.

The next performance allowed Henry to showcase his songwriting skill, as he sang his original song "Take Over the World." On this tune his bright tenor vocals were both soulful and smooth, illustrating the innocent youthfulness of the song. The duo also performed Henry's bluesy, R&B arrangement of "Say It Somehow" (Adam Guettel), imbuing the song with a sultry ambience and captivating the audience with their scatting and vocal improvisations.

With sweet vocals and an adorable human kazoo bridge, Umphress and Henry charmed the audience with a rendition of "Tonight You Belong to Me" (Billy Rose, Lee David). Then they blew the audience away with Henry's gorgeous mash-up of "We Kiss in a Shadow" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) and "Finale B" (Jonathan Larson).

Utilizing a gentle power, Henry's heartfelt rendition of his original tune "Overflowing" reminded audiences of his incredible musicianship as both a writer and singer. Then Umphress took the stage telling the audience, "They can't all be up," and launched into an astounding rendition of "I've Been Played" (Jeff Blumenkrantz) where she masterfully brought out the anguish in the lyrics.

Singing with brassy belts and a spirited R&B, funk sound, Henry and Umphress lifted the spirits of the audience with a charming version of "Fool For You" (Thomas Calloway, Melanie Fiona, Jack Splash). With indefatigable and infectious charisma they ended Romantic Duets with a delightful spin on "Hallelujah I Love Her So" (Ray Charles) and sang a sweetly charming version of Jeff Blumenkrantz's arrangement of "You Smell So Good" (Tommy Wolf, Harry Stone).

With a lot of heart and amazing skill, both Umphress and Henry ensured that the entire audience left 54 BELOW with a spring in their step and hearts that the toughest of blizzards couldn't freeze. Their concert was the perfect kick off to the Valentine's Day season and really allowed audiences a chance to get to know their talents in a much more intimate way.

To post a comment, you must register and login.