Review: Broadway Star Orfeh Radiates Confidence in Her Café Carlyle Residency

Legally Blonde star Orfeh blew the house away at Café Carlyle last night, Tuesday April 22. The show marked the start of her two-night run there, which continues tonight at 8:45 pm. Orfeh’s powerhouse vocals, high-energy performances and endearing rapport with her band and fans made the show a night to remember. She opened with a powerful acoustic cover of Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight.” Clad in a sparkly purple sequined pants with a matching flowy top, Orfeh was magnetizing to watch. She was backed by Steven Jamail on piano, Nikki Kimbrough and Tim Kodres on vocals, Colin Dean on bass and Jeremy Yaddaw on drums. Part of what made the show so fun to watch is they’re all clearly dear friends. Kimbrough and Kodres stepped into the spotlight plenty of times throughout the night for solos and duets, with an insane level of talent for backup singers, falling into easy rhythm with Orfeh. Orfeh was openly winging it with her band at points, taking suggestions about what songs to do next, flawlessly improvising and staying fluid in the moment. She mentioned that she was considering doing a certain song at one point, and when an audience member shouted out that they must do that song, Orfeh explained that the musicians didn’t have the sheet music – but gamely launched into a spontaneous a capella rendition of it anyway, with Nikki joining her in harmony. She managed to be casual enough as to seem like she was performing in a living room for a party of friends while putting on a truly impressive professional concert.

The Café Carlyle’s intimate space was a perfect fit for her, allowing her to truly connect to the audience. She addressed several fans in the audience by name. At one point, Orfeh joked that she could see and hear everything and everyone in the room. The room was indeed packed with quite a few die-hard fans. Before launching into a haunting, slowed down “Hotel California,” she asked one fan how many times she’d streamed Orfeh’s cover of the song – the answer was over 36,000 times.

On the slate for the evening were plenty of power ballads, 80s to 00s pop with an acoustic twist, and even one song Orfeh wrote, the title track from her solo album What Do You Want From Me, a high-energy, emotion-filled number. If a certain theme seemed to emerge of women defiantly surviving breakups stronger than they were before or walking away from men who weren’t good enough for them, you can draw your own conclusions about that. Orfeh demurred before a cover of Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” that her song choice wasn’t about what you might think. “This is an old song,” she said with a smile. Coincidence or not, Orfeh’s strong, confident energy throughout the night was the ultimate power move.

As the end of the evening approached and the crowd cried out for one more song, Orfeh addressed someone in the audience, confirming that they’d come in from a distance to see her. More voices chimed in that they’d traveled in to see her, and she should do another song for them. One audience member piped in that they’d come all the way from the West Village. Deadpan, Orfeh said, “The West Village? I’ll do another song, but it’s just for you.”

After that song, another powerhouse, Nikki called out that she hadn’t done a Broadway song yet. Orfeh mused in real time whether she should do it until the crowd convinced her to. There was a little bit of discussion with her band before she finally launched into “How Deep Is Your Love,” a Bee Gees song from Saturday Night Fever, which Orfeh starred in on Broadway.

If you missed last night's show, make sure to catch Orfeh back at the Carlyle tonight, Wednesday April 23, at 8:45 pm. Tickets are available on the Carlyle’s website here.