Review: Husband-Wife Duo Andy Karl and Orfeh Bring Unapologetic Holiday Fun to Feinstein's/54 Below in LEGALLY BOUND

Perhaps you have attended a wedding and, despite repeated refusal, you are forced by your date or young family member to get up on the dance floor. You moan and groan and detest at the cloying silliness that is boogying to some horn-heavy interpretations of Top 100 hits or a once-inescapable Whitney Houston number. However, when you do ultimately decide to embrace this strange human ritual (perhaps the urge comes after your fourth drink or a sugar rush from wedding cake), you realize there is actually quite a bit of admittedly silly fun to be mined from singing along to the staple "Macarena."

That long-winded analogy could, in some ways, describe the joint performance of husband and wife power couple Andy Karl and Orfeh, in their debut engagement at Feinstein's/54 Below, which began December 8.

That is in no way meant to imply that either Karl or Orfeh is anything but a most consummate performer, ever-enjoyable if not also supplying a fair amount of schmaltz. Start, for example, with their show's moniker, LEGALLY BOUND, a double-entendre for their matrimony as well as the Broadway show in which they (appropriately) played eventual lovers, LEGALLY BLONDE.

That 2007 show was not actually the first in which the two starred together, and though both are seasoned theater performers, Orfeh has a much richer history than her husband as a recording artist. Similarly, Karl's Broadway resume is more stacked than that of his wife. It makes sense, then, that both excelled when performing selections from those respective arenas.

To say Orfeh brought down the house on her solo numbers is frankly a disservice to the vocal ferocity she leavened into Darlene Love's Christmas classic "Baby, Please Come Home" and Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." Karl, meanwhile, when singing from his Tony-nominated run as the title character in Broadway's ROCKY, or the Tim Minchin-penned "Seeing You" from this season's upcoming GROUNDHOG DAY, was at once charming and authentic, thoroughly demonstrating why he has become one of the most consistently employed leading men on Broadway.

Through pop, Broadway and all other of the evening's selections, the couple was supplied with polished musicianship from the likes of musical director and pianist Steven Jamail, along with Jeremy Yaddaw (percussion), Micah Burgess (guitar), Colin Dean (bass), Britt Bonney (backup vocals, keys), and Tim Kondres (vocals). The couple was also tagged out at one point to make room for Katie Rose Clarke's return to the F/54 stage, to sing a jovial original holiday tune which she penned alongside Jamail, "Margarita Christmas."

The performance only dipped into the gimmicky on a couple of Karl and Orfeh's joint numbers, specifically Prince's "Kiss" and a Motown mashup which included "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Still, on these songs and others, the audience was more than willing to embrace what the extraordinarily talented couple had to offer: 90 minutes of impressive vocal performances interjected with some unapologetic holiday cheer. In this current climate, really, how could anyone respond sourly to that?

To post a comment, you must register and login.