USA Today Bahamas Edition

The Edwards Twins
Rainforest Theatre Nassau
By John Marquis

Frank Sinatra live in Atlantic City, though his usual slick and smoochy self, didn’t lure me back a second time, especially as he had done a homicide job on Send In the Clowns.

Nor did Gladys Knight in Las Vegas, Ann Murray in New York or Glen Campbell in, of all places, Milton Keynes. And Diana Ross – well, she was, you know, okay…but hardly supreme. Superstars are all very well, but once is generally enough, I find.

Excellent pros everyone one of them, of course, but it takes more than excellence to lure this old curmudgeon away from a good book to see the same show twice.

It must, therefore, go down as something of an obsession – some would say and addiction – for me to go back a fourth time to see the same stage act, and make a mental note to book a place for a visit number fix into the bargain.

Who’s the attraction? A pair of unbelievably gifted brothers called The Edwards Twins, whose show Celebrities on Stage offers the most stunning range of impersonations you will ever experience. I say that with confidence because, frankly, I have seen nothing to match them in half a century of theatre-going. Unique is an overused word, but this pair are. There can be no other act quite so accomplished in their field as The Edwards Twins.

Anthony and Eddie Edwards, with no lip-synching, no electronic trickery, and nothing to fall back on but their incredible talent, can replicate flawlessly the voices and mannerisms of well over 100 singers of both genders.

When I first saw them in Nassau two years ago, I was dragged along, heels scraping the sidewalk, by a couple of friends who said it would be better than a night in front of the telly. When I left the Rainforest Theatre after their near two-hour show, I was convinced that I had just seen one of the most riveting stage performances in the world.

On Saturday, after seeing them for the fourth time, my wide and I were left to marvel yet again. “The smile never left my face,” she said. How the heck do they do it?

To see Eddie Edwards as Barbara Streisand, and to hear him hit every single high note of all her best numbers, is to witness mimickry of the highest order.

But it’s his breathtaking impersonations of Cher that takes the show to its higher slopes. This is the most hilarious “Thong and Dance” act you will ever see, capped off with a throwback rendition of I’ve Got You Babe with his brother as Cher’s mop-headed erstwhile partner, Sonny.

Then, just when you thought Eddie might have eclipsed his twin for sheer quality overall. Anthony emerges as himself to rattle off 20 of the most sensational impersonations imaginable to propel the show to its peak.

From Roy Orbison to Ray Charles, from Elvis Presley to Johnny Mathis, he recaptured them with note-perfect aplomb.

I thought he might have over-reached himself with the finale – Luciano Pavarotti with Puccini’s Nessun Dorma, with the volcanic vocal eruption at the end, the kind of crescendo to make most singers weep.

But Anthony Edwards aced it, just at the point when you thought he might blow it big-time. Okay, there wasn’t quite the resonance you would expect from on the greatest tenors of all. But he was certainly near enough for an audience already pop-eyed with admiration.

Do yourself a favour. Go and see The Edwards Twins. As an extra treat, you’re likely to catch a glimpse of me – now officially classified as a groupie – sitting on the front row transfixed by the talent and professionalism of a showbiz phenomenon.

The Edwards Twins are appearing four nights a week at The Rainforest Theatre, Cable Beach, until August.

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