PREVIEW:
Naz Edwards: '…..If The Waiting Takes Years'
A CD Release Concert at Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor. Friday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $15-$25. For information: 734-769-2999.
Magical evening of cabaret theater planned for Oct. 27
ANN ARBOR – The long wait will finally be over for Ann Arbor resident Naz Edwards when she takes the stage at the Kerrytown Concert House Oct. 27 to celebrate the release of her first CD, "…..If The Waiting Takes Years."
"All my life I've wanted to be a singer," the critically acclaimed veteran of Broadway and regional musical theater recently told Between The Lines. "But I was very intimidated by it. And then musical theater came into my life. I was very shy; it was easier to be an actor and be someone else than to be me. I've waited years to do this, so if the waiting's taken years, it's worth it. Everything I've done in my life has brought me to this place. I'm ready to do this, because I'm fulfilling something that has been in my heart for ever."
Edwards' dream began as a seven-year-old Armenian girl singing opera in Philadelphia. "The language would just pour out of me," Edwards recalled. "But one day my teacher stood a full-length mirror in front of me and said, 'I want you to entertain yourself. This is called musical theater.' And I never went back to opera after that."
Instead, Edwards boarded an Amtrak train not long after high school and headed for New York. "I went to college in New York – the 'College of New York City.' Back then you just kept auditioning and auditioning. It was very different than it is now. The odds of getting a job in an open call today is very slim, but back then, in the 70s, you'd get lead parts. It was great."
Her first major role was at the famed Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where she appeared in "The Baker's Wife" with Scott Bakula. "From then on, I did a lot of regional theater and off-Broadway. I also toured a lot, and then I got my first Broadway show."
Edwards' debut on the Great White Way found her starring opposite Anthony Quinn in "Zorba," a show that eventually toured the country for a year. She later originated roles in Ken Hall's "Phantom of the Opera," Broadway's "Anna Karenina" and the first full production of Dennis DeYoung's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in Nashville.
TV and movie roles followed, and fans of the English language version of the Japanese Anime series "Sailor Moon" might recognize her as the voice of Wicked Queen Beryl.
Edwards' life journey took an unexpected turn, however, while on a job in New York with a young actress who studied theater at the University of Michigan. "You have to meet my best friend," the actress told Edwards. "Her father would be really great for you."
"Yeah, yeah, right, right," Edwards thought. But he was, so eight years ago Edwards married attorney Jim Adams. At first she stayed in New York and he returned to Michigan, but eventually Edwards tired of the Big Apple. "I needed to move on."
Which meant joining her husband in Ann Arbor – and receiving critical praise for roles in Performance Network's "Man of La Mancha" and "She Loves Me." With the Jewish Ensemble Theatre Company she earned accolades for "Side by Side by Sondheim" and "Coming of Age" – for which she recently won a 2006 Wilde Award.
With little work lined up for the current season, Edwards decided it was finally time to pursue her lifelong dream. "So I finished my CD, and it's time to do my concert."
Both her CD and her cabaret-style concert feature songs that have touched the artist deeply at various times throughout her life journey. "Some of the songs – 'I'm the Girl,' especially – have been with me since the 70s when I met Roberta Flack. After performances we used to go to this piano bar and sing our hearts out. Her musical director was there and I asked him if I could get a copy of 'I'm the Girl,' and two weeks later I had it in the mail. I've never sung it – ever. Most of these songs I've never sung in front of an audience, so it's going to be fun to do it for the first time."
The CD Release Concert will feature Edwards and pianist/arranger Jerry Depuit performing a variety of tunes, from Broadway favorites to contemporary songs. "It's very magical. The music will take everyone on a wonderful journey," she said.
It will also provide the audience an opportunity to get to know the popular actress. "I've got some great theater stories, and what's great is whatever happens, happens. [In a cabaret show], you can stop and talk to an audience member, or go kiss somebody in the audience you haven't seen in a while. That's what I love about it – you break that fourth wall. It'll be so much fun!"
