Broadway star Eden Espinosa’s Cabaret at The Commons show will include taking musical theater requests from the audience.
Eden Espinosa is such a gifted singer that after she introduced a few new vocal riffs off the cuff into the signature tune “Defying Gravity” in a Los Angeles production of “Wicked” years ago, the director adopted the changes as a better approach.
But the leading character of Elphaba Thropp also changed Espinosa over a seven-year period in which she stepped in and out of the role in productions ranging from New York City to San Francisco.
“I learned to be an individual and to be proud of who I am,” she said several years ago in a clip on YouTube.com.
The 44-year-old Espinosa is expected to include numbers from “Wicked,” other stage shows, her own two albums of original material and pop-rock covers for her March 10 Cabaret at The Commons concert at The Commons, 300 Washington St., in downtown Columbus.
In recent cabarets such as in Las Vegas, her set list has featured 14 songs, including her own “Bed for 2” about an ending relationship, a hauntingly beautiful tweaking of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables,” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
She also is expected to consider audience requests from musical theater.
Espinosa, a native of Anaheim, California, got much of her early performance training at Disneyland, a fact that she is unapologetic for when others have lightly ribbed her, telling the New York Times that it became “my college” as she played characters ranging from Pocohontas to the Little Mermaid.
She has appeared on television in series including “Ugly Betty” and “Law and Order.” She won a daytime Emmy for her work on the Disney Channel’s “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.”
And she has seen substantial success with solo shows. In February 2020, Espinosa launched a new acoustic show at New York City’s The Green Room 42 titled “Unplugged & Unplanned.” Every concert, the show’s setlist would change completely. The February shows were sold out before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the next month.
Away from the stage, Espinosa has been involved in racial and social justice issues. Plus, she dabbles in photography, painting, hiking and reading.
