10 Minutes With Orfeh & Andy Karl

Although Orfeh and Andy Karl met while doing the Broadway production of Saturday Night Fever, their chemistry became the stuff of legend when they co-starred in Legally Blonde, which garnered Orfeh a TONY® nomination. Karl earned his own TONY® Award nominations for Rocky, On the Twentieth Century, and Groundhog Day. After appearing in Pretty Woman (their third Broadway show together), this power couple is now offering their own crafted concert, Legally Bound, in which they tear through an eclectic mix of pop, R&B, and Broadway show tunes. Two different variations of the show will be performed on August 15 at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield and on September 2 at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in nearby Manchester, Vermont. Old Mill Road Media C.E.O. Joshua Sherman recently sat down with the sexy, funny, and enormously talented duo. Here are excerpts from that conversation.

What was the first Broadway show that you ever saw?

Orfeh: I’m a city kid, so I didn’t go to Broadway shows. But I saw the original cast of Annie with Andrea McArdle and all the original orphans.

Andy: Patti LuPone in Anything Goes was the first Broadway show I saw, followed by a high school trip to see Phantom of the Opera. That was the one where I was like, “Oh, my God, I have to do this!”

Orfeh, I know you went to LaGuardia Performing Arts High School—the inspiration for Fame. Andy—were you in any high school musicals?

Andy: I would sing with my chorus and stuff like that. My mother played organ for the church. But my introduction to performing in musical theater was in my sophomore year of high school. I got caught smoking in the boys’ room with one of the bad kids in high school. I never did anything like it before. The guy literally handed me a cigarette, and I was like, “OK, I’ll be cool”. The Vice Principal walks in, and I’m immediately suspended, and my mother freaked out. She said, “You need something to do this summer”. So, she made me audition for a dinner theater production of Aladdin (not the Disney Aladdin), and I got the lead role. I fell in love with it, and from then on, I was sort of swept up in it.

So, really, musical theater was a punishment?

Andy: (Laughing) It kind of was, a backwards punishment that turned out to be a life-changing event.

Andy, in another interview, you commented that—at your core—you’re sort of a nerd and Orfeh—at her core—is cool. Orfeh, if you had gone to high school together, would you have noticed Andy - or did you run in a different crowd?

Orfeh: Oh, my God. If I went to high school with Andy, my entire life would be different than it is, because I was very urban, you know? Yeah, I don’t think I’d be hanging out with Andy.

Andy: (Laughing) Oh, wow. I don’t think she would’ve either. Even at the time we first met, I thought she was WAY too cool and so out of my league.

Orfeh: I’m NOT saying I would’ve not hung out with him, ’cause I wasn’t in a clique. I hung out with everybody, so it could’ve happened.

What’s your secret to success as a married couple?

Orfeh: He makes me laugh harder than anyone on the planet. And this is really cliché, but I married my best friend.

Andy: Truth—that’s what she provides in this relationship. She tells it how it is. If you meet someone in your life who you love and adore and also tells you the absolute truth, it makes a huge difference in how you journey through life.

Who are some of your musical influences? I know you’ve got a wide range.

Orfeh: The O’Jays. Love them—and they became my mentors. Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, Howard Hewett, but it runs the gamut. David Bowie, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan. Whitney Houston. Dol- ly Parton. Prince is my all-time favorite, my number one, the love of my musical life.

Andy: I’m very influenced by so many people. I was always into Beastie Boys and KRS- One when I was living back in the suburbs trying to be cool, and then Harry Connick, Jr. came along. I was like, “Oh man, this guy croons Frank Sinatra stuff.” It’s so cool to say that Bryan Adams wrote a song that I originated on an album. I was in the studio with Dolly Parton years ago singing one of her original songs for the 9 to 5 musical. I was working with David Foster the other day. Those are the people that influence me a lot. Chris Stapleton’s voice wrecks me. I love him. I listened to a lot of bluegrass over the pandemic, so it’s constantly changing.

Orfeh—I know Footloose was your first Broadway show.

Andy, what was your first?

Andy: Saturday Night Fever. Yeah, that’s where we met. I was on tour with Cats at the time, and I moved to New York and I was like, “I’m sticking here, I’m gonna make it here, and I’m not gonna leave and go on tour and be lost in the fray. I want to make it on Broadway.”

You two have worked together a lot, but not necessarily as love interests. Is there a show that you two dream of doing that you feel is a great show for you, as the female and male leads?

Andy: I don’t think it’s been written yet.

To all the musical theater writ- ers out there, write something! Get on it!

Andy: There’s always Annie Get Your Gun. I think it would be a fun one for us to revive.

Orfeh: Yeah, that’d be fun.

What is the best part of being in a Broadway show?

Andy: Having the audience in your hand.

Orfeh: The audience. And if you’re lucky, you get a good cast. That’s really fun—to come to work with people that you re- ally enjoy seeing, and you have a common goal. That’s magic.

Why bring Broadway to Vermont and the Berkshires?

Orfeh: So that people can have the experience without having to come into NYC. We’re bringing it to you!

Andy: You can see so much online, but to get a live experience is irreplaceable. To enjoy the experience without the huge ticket price, spending money on a hotel or driving in, etc. It makes it so much nicer and easier.

If I could wave my magic wand and make your dream come true, what does the dream look like?

Orfeh: That’s such a big question.

Andy: Great question for a married couple, too. We have dreams that we want together, and then we have dreams separately.

Orfeh: I’d like to be able to sing and perform and make people happy and be a better and better artist as the years go on, and do that until I’m not here anymore. Music is very transformative. It’s the one big unifier.

Andy: Yeah, I like to make people laugh, and I like getting paid for it. (Laughter) If I can do what I love and live a great life at the same time, that is the dream.

—Joshua Sherman, M.D.