The Edwards Twins: An Evening with Cher, Billy Joel, Celine Dion & Barbra Streisand

| April 7, 2017

The Edwards Twins

An Evening with Cher, Billy Joel, Celine Dion, and Barbra Streisand

Boca Black Box, Boca Raton, FL, April 1, 2017

Reviewed by Jeffrey Bruce for Cabaret Scenes

The Edwards Twins

Vegas came to Boca in the person(s) of the astounding The Edwards Twins. Harkening back to the “golden age” of performers (“glitzgoldnguts”), Anthony and Eddie put on a two-and-a-half-hour show that had the screaming, capacity house at Randy Singer’s wonderful Black Box theater begging for more.

52 years of age, the guys have been in the business for 30 years. Their show reminded me of the glory days of not only Las Vegas, but the Catskills as well. Act 1 was pure lounge act; Act 2 was main stage at Caesars!
Some would call them “impersonators.” I would call them “tribute artists.” Anthony portrays the men. Starting off with Billy Joel, he seats himself at the grand piano and gets the essence of Joel. More importantly, he is a gifted classical pianist, which becomes obvious, immediately. His Sonny Bono is more successful, in both looks and voice. In the second act, Anthony manages to sail through spot-on illusions of Rod Stewart, Frankie Valli, Barry Gibb, John Fogarty, Elvis, Lionel Ritchie, Tina Turner, Dean Martin, John Denver, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, Kermit the Frog(!), and Tom Jones—13 characters at breakneck speed. He was terrific.
But! We also have his twin, Eddie, and he took my breath away. He has the most extraordinary voice I have heard in many a year. He manages to sound EXACTLY like Cher, Streisand, and Celine Dion. (Truthfully, I thought he sounded BETTER than Celine, but I digress.) The highlight for me was, certainly, when Eddie, as Babs, called on “her special guest” Andrea Bocelli to join her onstage. The hysterical visual of Anthony as Bocelli quickly subsided when he sang three operatic arias, gloriously. As for the Eddie visuals, I was amazed that he managed to look like each lady without, it appeared, any  change in his makeup, only the wigs and costumes. He sang a medley of each woman’s hits and I recalled another impersonator, Jim Bailey, who had an equally remarkable voice. When Bailey sang as himself it was enlightening. Eddie’s final number is a self-written paean to his dad, entitled “I Am My Father’s Son,” where he comes on in full drag and gradually loses the female trappings down to a dance belt and he reveals himself to be a handsome, masculine-looking, chisel-bodied man. It is thrilling to watch him as “himself.”
The Edward Twins are pure entertainment. They are on the road 300 days a year. In October, they return to Boca. Need I even mention that I’ll be there?

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Category: Cabaret Reviews, Florida, Florida Cabaret Reviews, Regional

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