Review: Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young Bring The Fun to DnA THE MUSIC THAT MAKES US at Birdland

Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young are adorable. I know. Adults don't want to be called adorable. Puppies are adorable. Babies are adorable. Mature adults with sex appeal don't want to be adorable. And Ms. DeGarmo and Mr. Young are, indeed, mature adults with sex appeal (and then some). But Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young are adorable. That is something that they, and everyone else, will just have to live with.

The married couple made their very first ever concert appearance as a couple this week at Birdland, and they are the most adorable, sweet, sexy, odd couple one is ever likely to see. Because they are all these things, including an odd couple. Ms. DeGarmo appears right off the pages of some 50's magazine one might call Va Va Voom, in perfectly coiffed vintage hair, skin-tight leopard cocktail frock, maribou accented mules, and Broadway Belting pipes. Mr. Young is with us courtesy of a 70's rock concert via Las Vegas, in black velvet blazer, silver accented trousers, groovy-cut pompadour, and Rock Star wails. Together the charismatic duo sings songs by iconic artists from the 80's, from musicals set in the 50's, 60's and 70's, with a little country thrown in for good measure. It's a time-traveling journey through the music that made them who they are, which is why they named their show "DnA: The Music That Makes Us" and, while the music makes them Ace and Diana, they make fans gleeful and giddy.

From my seat in the main room at Birdland, I had a full-on interactive experience at Diana and Ace's show - it was almost like being on an amusement park ride titled American Idol. Ok, let's not be coy about it: Ace and Diana have done a lot of wonderful, cool, important, valuable work in their careers, from TV acting to Broadway to Grammy nominations. Let us not, though, ignore the elephant in the room: their great fame stems from American Idol, and even though it has been years since they appeared on the show (she in 2004, he in 2006) their AI fans are as devoted as ever - indeed, the DeGarmo-Young fan base has grown with the inclusion of Broadway devotees who have come on board after seeing the twosome in their musical theater ventures. And these fans sure do love them. My table at Birdland was bookended by tables at which I observed a middle aged couple who were living for every high note and every riff, and a pair of young women who sang along with every tune. If there was an empty seat at Birdland, I couldn't see it, and members of the press were scurrying around behind the scenes, fighting each other for the best vantage point from which to get the perfect picture, no wonder because looking at Mr. and Mrs. Young was a picture perfect. They are this generation's Steve And Eydie - and when I say that I am paying Diana and Ace the highest compliment because Steve And Eydie were hip, cool, far out, groovy, with it, and every other superlative that can be thought of to describe how absolutely, unmistakably great they were.

Just like Diana and Ace.

As for the show itself (tightly directed by Mitchell Walker), it was a swell debut for The Adorable Couple who could not seem to stop smiling. Clearly, they were having the time of their lives, and they are each other's best friend. They hang on each other's every word - if one of them was performing a solo, the other was mere footsteps away, watching with ardent admiration, sometimes adding a little percussion by way of a hand-held instrument, but always present for their spouse, and always beaming brightly with love. When dueting, the playful pair were always silly and laughing, without distracting a bit from the quality of the singing, which is world class musicianship. Since the music being performed was the music that has influenced their lives, a lot of it was pop and rock music like "I've Got the Music In Me" and "Heaven Is a Place On Earth," a Lead Zeppelin medley or mash-ups of "Call Me"/"You May Be Right" and "Drops Off Jupiter/Don't Cry Out Loud." The twosome brought a lot of energy and entertainment to these numbers, but the sound could have been enhanced with some guitar and percussion - these aren't numbers that lend themselves particularly well to the sound of solo cabaret piano, no matter how beautifully played by musical director Dylan Glatthorn. Just a little assist from a couple more musicians would have been a great support to these voices of solid gold.

The highlights of the evening for this writer (other than the chemistry and fun factor of Ace and Diana) were hearing Young and DeGarmo's original music. Young's song "Up All Night" was sexy and sultry and very personal, while DeGarmo's "Stain On My Heart" (from her new album GEMINI) was not only spectacular but spectacularly performed, earning her a mid-show standing ovation. I could have done with a lot more of this material from both of them, and I hope that they will continue these duo shows because they are a breath of fresh air on the music scene. This audience really responded to them and, frankly, vice versa. As much fun as the Youngs were having on the stage, that's how much fun the fans were having in their seats. It's a delicious, lethal dose of adorable, sexy and skyrocketingly good vocals from DnA.

This could be the start of something big.

Follow Diana DeGarmo on Twitter @DianaDeGarmo and Instagram @dianadyoung and visit her Website

Follow Ace Young on Twitter @IAMACEYOUNG and Instagram @aceyoung

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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