Lasting impressions

Aug. 20—HIGH POINT — You won't believe your eyes — or your ears — when Anthony and Eddie Edwards take the stage next weekend in High Point.

But you'd better believe you're in for a night of stellar entertainment with the identical twin brothers, whose "Ultimate Variety Show" — featuring the brothers performing dozens of spot-on impersonations of singing celebrities, both male and female — is a longtime favorite of audiences in Las Vegas.

"People think they've seen everything, until they come see our show," Anthony Edwards said in a telephone interview. "There's no one else out there doing what we're doing."

"The Ultimate Variety Show" will be presented Aug. 27, at 7 p.m., at the High Point Theatre.

During the course of the evening, the Edwards twins will perform a stunning array of impersonations, ranging from Elton John, Billy Joel and Andrea Bocelli to Cher, Barbra Streisand and Dolly Parton. From Tom Jones and Luciano Pavarotti to Celine Dion, Bette Midler and Lady Gaga.

It's all done live, and the brothers even wear authentic-looking costumes, wigs, makeup and prosthetics for the full effect.

"We try to make the audiences think they're seeing the actual celebrity," Anthony said. "My brother does all the women, and I do all the males. It's all live singing, with no lip-synching. And it's not a drag show — it's a celebrity variety show that just happens to be done by a pair of identical twin brothers with live singing."

Billing themselves as "the country's premier celebrity illusionists," the brothers take turns showcasing their impressions. Anthony might be on stage singing Elton John while Eddie's backstage transforming himself into Dolly Parton, or vice versa. They also take the stage together a few times, such as when they're impersonating Sonny and Cher.

"We believe we were put on this earth to bring joy to people through the talent that God's blessed us with," Anthony said. "That's why we do this — it's not something you're going to become a millionaire at. We were given an extraordinary talent that we feel obligated to share with people. We really feel like what we do is a lost art."

The Edwards twins, who were born in 1965, grew up in Burbank, California, where they lived across the street from NBC Studios. After school and during summers, they often hung out at the studios with their uncle, who worked there.

"That's where we got our training, by watching all the shows get produced," Anthony said. "And we discovered we had the uncanny ability of mimicking all the people we saw — George Burns, Carol Burnett, Sonny and Cher. That's how we got started."

At home, they recorded variety shows such as "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour," "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," then re-created the skits to perform them for family and friends. As teenagers, they studied with Hollywood makeup artists and learned how to make themselves look like the celebrities they were impersonating.

After college, Eddie joined a touring production of "La Cage aux Folles," in which he performed as Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler. He later took on a similar role with the Las Vegas show "Evening at La Cage," and did that for a few years.

Television icon Carol Burnett, who had a pretty successful variety show in her own right, gets the credit for what is now known as "The Ultimate Variety Show." When Eddie was performing on the premiere of her show, she suggested the twins put a show together and tour the country.

"That's when it really started taking off," Anthony said.

Now, the brothers perform as many as 300 shows a year. They win glowing reviews wherever they perform, and they often sell out.

"We've been doing this show and tweaking it for more than 35 years," Anthony said, "and we finally have it down to a science."

Well, maybe not literally a science, but there's no denying what the Edwards twins do is an art.

jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579

jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579