BWW Interviews: Eden Espinosa on Her Debut Album LOOK AROUND; Release Party Set for Tonight

Wicked and Brooklyn star Eden Espinosa is hosting a CD Release Party tonight, December 17 for her debut album, Look Around --- available December 18 on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and EdenEspinosa.com. Joining Eden and her band at Dim Mak Studios in Hollywood, CA will be: Tracie Thoms, Ty Taylor, Sarah Mears, Stefanie Sidler and Paul David. Eden brings an innovative and deeply personal interpretation to some modern Broadway hits. Working with her production team, she has endeavored to create a sound that is accessible to both die-hard Broadway fans and pop music listeners alike. The rich organic soundscape, developed by producer Joseph Abate, is a testament to the beauty and depth that can be achieved by coupling quality musicians with artful recording technique. I had the chance to catch up with Eden prior to the CD Release Party - here are some excerpts from that interview.

DG: You've waited quite a while to release a CD. Why did you wait so long?

EE: Part of the reason why - I guess, in hindsight -- I guess fear was part of the equation. But I also just sort of felt that I didn't have anything to say yet -- or I didn't have a stamp to put on anything yet. And I wanted it to truly come from me and my artistic interpretation of things -- and that didn't really come to fruition until I started working with this producer - who happens to be my husband, (She laughs) So, it just didn't feel right until recently.

DG: Was there a particular inspiration for this CD?

EE: It was just really owning the fact that what I do for a living is cool to me and interpreting other people's music is kind of a strength that I have found in myself and so it was just really melding the two sides of myself - the musical theatre side but also loving the pop side - and kind of just bringing them together. Just coming up with new interpretations of modern Broadway songs that we all know and love and giving the Broadway fans a new perspective on songs that they know and also hoping to bring people who may or may not love the Broadway sound into - you know, if they hear this version and say "that's from a Broadway Show, that's kinda cool" and check out these shows that they may or may not know. It's just modern Broadway tunes with a new perspective.

DG: Do you have a particular favorite song on this CD?

EE: You know, it's so funny. My friend just asked me that last night and I - it depends on the day. (She laughs) I'm so in love with these arrangements and kind of the new life that's been breathed into these songs. A few favorites would be "I Miss The Mountains" from Next To Normal, "One Song Glory" from Rent, and probably this original song called "Stone Cold Sober". Those three are stand outs to me - but I love them all.

DG: What was your process of selecting the songs for this CD?

EE: You know, we've been whittling down songs for over a year. We started just making play lists on I-tunes and there were probably close to 200 songs and then we would just whittle them down. Originally there were going to be some pop covers on this album as well and we decided just to make it a Broadway album. So we started whittling songs, whittling songs, more and more and more and it just came down to these nine songs. It was actually just eight songs but at the last minute we added my friend Ty Taylor's song, "Stone Cold Sober". It's been a long process of - you know, finding ones that really spoke to me and I felt really connected to the lyrics and the music.

DG: So, how long have you been working on this?

EE: Overall? Well, I first started talking about doing an album - probably four years ago. And it's really taken me this long to feel, you know - but when we decided on this project, it's been about a year. I played a Cabaret Festival in Adelaide, Australia in June and so we basically played the album there live and that was my concert - kind of like my out of town tryout. And so, we've been working with these arrangements since probably May and we started recording in late August, early September and here we are today.

DG: What does this album say about you?

EE: The sound that was created for this album is very much an expression of not only the producer and the arranger, but me as well. I love the sound of the album - the instrumentation - it's very organic. It's my interpretation and my expression of these songs. It also says on another level that Broadway artists also have other sides of artistic expression rather than just on the stage, you know? I think sometimes we get pigeon-holed, especially when we do concerts or cabaret, that it's just a piano and its got to be a theatre sound - but a lot of us have another side to us and other ways that we like to express ourselves - vocally and artistically - and I think that's what this album is for me.

David Green is the Executive Director of The Carol Channing-Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts -- working to restore the Arts to our nation’s public schools and provide an arts education to every child in America. He is the founder and President of the nationally acclaimed Conservatory Musical Theatre University, a training ground for talented young people with aspirations for careers in theatre, most specifically musical theatre. Mr. Green's Broadway alumni include Tony -nominee Matthew Morrison, Stephanie Block, Lindsay Mendez, Scott Barnhardt, Anneliese VanDerPol and Krysta Rodriguez, to name a few. As a producer and director, he has staged over 150 theatrical productions for both educational and professional theatre and with such stars as Carol Channing, Cathy Rigby, Jonelle Allen, Eric Kunze, Davis Gaines, Stephanie Zimbalist, John Raitt, Betty Garrett and more. Mr. Green is honored to serve the Inland Empire of Southern California as a contributor to BroadwayWorld.

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