Broadway Couples Sing I Do! I Do!
Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC – February 14, 2016
Reviewed by Joel Benjamin for Cabaret Scenes
Having loving couples perform the Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt classic I Do! I Do! at the lovely Feinstein’s/54 Below on Valentine’s Day was inspired.
It was a great pleasure to have Tom Jones, the lyricist, play host to this evening’s tribute. It was also a pleasure hearing his fascinating comments on how the show took shape, how they gave the songs period flavor, what was changed and what was tossed, such as the delightful “Throw It Away” about letting go of life’s detritus.
That was sung by Chip Zien and Barbara Walsh, who also found the poignancy in the late marriage summing up, “Someone Needs Me.
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The couples included one same-sex duo, Eddie Korbich and Andy Leech, who shed new light on two wedding songs: “I Do! I Do!” and “The Father of the Bride.”
When Rita Gardner—the original Girl in the Jones/Schmidt classic The Fantasticks—joined Mr. Jones on stage to sing the moving penultimate number, “This House,” the effect was almost unbearably moving. Following that up with the full cast in the beloved “My Cup Runneth Over,” the show’s anthem, made sure that there wasn’t, as they say, a dry eye in the house.
All the couples were terrific: AJ Holmes with Carly Evan Hughes in the youthful opening “Prologue”; Charlie Franklin and Lexi Rabadi in the sweetly innocent “Goodnight” as the characters spend their first night together; Clyde Alves and Robyn Hurder in the sardonic “Love Isn’t Everything”; Adam Heller and Beth Leavel in the slyly hopeful “When the Kids Get Married”; Patrick Page and Paige Davis in two droll solos (“A Well Known Fact” and “Flaming Agnes”) and the bitter duet “The Honeymoon is Over”; Hunter Foster and Jen Cody in the nastily funny “Nobody’s Perfect”; and Robert Cuccioli and Glory Crampton’s luscious “Thousands of Flowers” (cut from the show).
The director, Robert W. Schneider, kept things moving and balanced out the couples perfectly, while Musical Director Joshua Zecher-Ross provided the rich accompaniment.
