Tucson brothers invite us to spend the holidays with Cher, Elton

Normally when they are on the road, the Edwards twins — Edward and Anthony — eat at restaurants that reflect the local flavor.

But in Waterbury, Connecticut, last week, where the twins were finishing up a run of their popular “Christmas With the Stars” show, the best they could do was Olive Garden.

When they come home this weekend, there will be no chain restaurants in their future.

“When I am in Tucson I am going to all of my favorite Mexican restaurants,” Anthony Edwards said during a phone call from that busy Waterbury chain restaurant.

On top of his list: Mi Nidito.

“Their rice and beans are to die for,” he said.

But he and his twin brother will have to squeeze their culinary quests in between four nearly sold-out performances at Oro Valley’s Gaslight Music Hall.

The brothers, alumni of Rincon University High School, are coming home for Christmas and they are bringing Cher, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Elton John and a host of other celebrities along. It’s the Edwards Twins first Tucson performance in 2 1/2 years and one of 300 shows the pair do each year around the country.

“We are so happy to be coming back to Tucson,” Anthony Edwards said.

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The Edwards Twins, 54, have been impersonating celebrities on stages around the country for most of their adult lives. Each year, they add characters to the act, with Anthony taking the male roles and Eddie impersonating the women. They recently added Dolly Parton to the lineup.

The Edwards Twins performances, though, are not drag shows nor are they simply impersonating celebrities similar to shows like the long-running Legends In Concert in Las Vegas. The Edwards Twins craft their shows with a story line that captures a moment in time of the artists they are impersonating.

Anthony Edwards points to his 15-minute Elton John segment. He starts with a young Elton from the 1970s, donning oversized glasses as he plays the piano and sings his early hits. With a quick costume adjustment — ditching the glasses and boa, for instance — he transforms into Elton circa 1980s then finally Elton John present day.

How does he go from a thinner young Elton to the pudgy Elton of present day?

“I am able to make you believe I have a thinner face,” he said, not elaborating on exactly how he pulls it off.

But in each phase of the artist’s life, Edwards effects a pretty impressive Elton John voice.

“People come to see The Edwards Twins because of the best impressions as well as novelty,” he said, recalling the voice lessons he took during his brief time studying at the University of Arizona. He also studied piano and makeup at Rincon High. “That’s what separates us from any other show out there. If you see a Legends in Concert, it’s just impressions, but if you see us it’s a novelty.”

Edwards said his brother’s Dolly Parton act has been recently praised by fans of the legendary country singer — “They went absolutely frickin’ nuts.” Eddie Edwards also got national attention when he landed an appearance in October in the first season of the Netflix sitcom “The Kominsky Method” with Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas. Edwards appears in the second episode that aired in late October.