Interview: Eden Espinosa of SNS SOIREE at Garden Theater

In WICKED, Eden Espinosa’s skin was green. In LEMPICKA, the Tony-nominated actress had to age from 19 to 85 in a musical. On Feb. 28, Espinosa gets to perform in the skin she feels the most comfortable – her own.

Espinosa will be center stage in Short North Stage’s Soiree fundraiser, performing material from her expansive two-decade career 8 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Garden Theater (1187 North High Street in downtown Columbus).

“I enjoy moments like this,” Espinosa said in a telephone interview from New York City. “I want the audience to feel like they got to know me a little bit better at the end of the night.”

"Everyone at Short North Stage is so excited to bring such an exceptional artist to our stage during one of our biggest nights of the year,” Associate Artistic Director Dionysia Williams Velazco said. “Eden not only brings her gifted voice to our stage, she will also be sharing her teaching talents with our High School Internship program and the community. It’s going to be a great weekend!"

Espinosa will perform selections from RENT, WICKED and WAITRESS as well as a few other “surprises.” She is the latest in Broadway standouts to perform in the annual event, following Diana DeGarmo (the American Idol Season 3 runner up), composer Andrew Lippa, and Laura Bell Bundy.

When SNS reached out to her, Espinosa jumped at the chance to help.

“The other companies and theaters all around the country are fostering young artists and people's dreams and talents,” she said. “If I can give back or help raise money by lending my talents, I’m happy to do so. I’ve had a couple of friends who have done (the soiree) in the past and they said it was amazing.

“I love how collaborative SNS wanted to be in creating a special night. Plus, I get to perform with local talent and a live band, which is rare. I'm excited to bring this special curated night to Columbus.”

If you would have told Espinosa in middle school she’d be traveling around the country to perform, there’s a good chance she would not have believed you. While she was always drawn to singing, dancing, and acting, she never listed Broadway actress as her top choice.

“I wanted to be a bunch of other things first,” she said. “Every day it was ‘I want to be a pop star,’ ‘I want to be a lawyer,’ ‘I want to be a psychologist.’ It wasn’t until high school that I caught the theater bug and wanted to move to New York to pursue this.”

What changed everything was the cast recording of RENT. The voices, the rawness, the vibe of the Jonathan Larson musical “struck a chord” with her. “I could be myself,” Espinosa said. “I didn't have to manipulate my voice in any way.”

Perhaps it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. After originating the title role of BROOKLYN: THE MUSICAL in 2004 and playing Elphaba in WICKED on Broadway, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, Espinosa took on the role of Maureen Johnson in the closing Broadway company of RENT in 2008.

After RENT closed, it would be 16 years before Espinosa would have another major role in New York’s famed theatre district. She recorded two solo albums, Look Around (2012) and Revelation (2019) and appeared on shows like BRILLIANT MINDS, THE EQUALIZER and FBI: MOST WANTED.

She also became a respected voice-over specialist, creating voices for Katy Putty on MAD TV in 2011, Rapunzel’s handmaiden and confidant Cassandra in the 2017 film Tangled: Before Ever After, and The Queen Of Hearts in Disney Junior's Alice's Wonderland Bakery among others.

In 2024, she returned to the Great White Way, originating the role of Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka in the debut of LEMPICKA. The team of Matt Gould (book and music) and Carson Krietzer (book and lyrics) created a musical that follows Lempicka as she flees the Russian Revolution to Paris.

The show was nominated for three Tony Awards, including one for Espinosa in the Best Actress in a Musical category. The show lasted for 27 previews and 41 regular performances before it closed on May 19, 2024, but it took an emotional toll on the actress.

“I wasn't in the best place mentally,” Espinosa admitted. “Our producers cared for us in a beautiful way, providing us with acupuncture, massage, and everything else they could have thought of. I was in ‘fight or flight’ mode.

Espinosa learned the importance of knowing herself and regulating her emotions in a stressful situation.

“The last time I originated something was 20 years ago. The pressure is very different,” she said. “You have much more press and publicity appearances here. People were thinking, ‘She's back but will this show be successful?’”

In the end, one of the biggest takeaways from that time was learning not to be overly concerned about what people think.

“I've been in the business for over 25 years, so there's tons of examples on TikTok me having terrible vocal days,” Espinosa said. “Everyone is a theater critic on TikTok and they’ll make posts and make sure you’re tagged to them. It's easy to let that define you or discourage you.

“Yet, even on my best day, there's going to be somebody who doesn't like it. That's just the reality of what I do. You get up in front of people and you're in a vulnerable state.  We're basically asking for their approval. My job is to be of service to the song, the material, the character, the scene. Whether they like it or not is none of my concern.”

To make it in this business, one has to have some pretty thick skin — whether it’s green or not — and the confidence to stand in it as yourself.