Eric A. Gordon wrote about Joe's performance in People's World, saying "A special note needs to be made of Joe Orrach, Champion’s choreographer, who happens to be a U.S. Air Force Welterweight Champion. He opens the show with an extended solo at the speed bag, which he uses expertly as a percussion instrument. Opening the second act, Orrach thrills again, this time with a kind of tap dance for agile boxer’s feet, becoming a virtuoso turn at skipping rope, varying rhythms and a range of sound effects from those tools like a trained orchestra player."

Eddie Reynolds echoed this praise through his article for Theatre Eddys, writing "Perhaps the biggest applause of the evening went to the Second Act’s opening minutes. One boxer with hooded robe covering most of his head and face begins practicing his footwork. With a stage that becomes his drum, he commences a jazz solo that is packed with complicated rhythms, sudden shifts in tempo, and beats that electrify – all suddenly accompanied by his jump rope with magical powers all its own. Choreographer Joe Orrach not only has choreographed the movements and dances that illustrate the opera’s action so magnificently all evening, he solos both here and in the opening speed bag sequence with show-stopping performances."