May/Jun 2008 - German World Magazine

Neva Rae Powers always knew she wanted to be in show
business. Born in Indiana, and educated at the Cincinnati
College & Conservatory of Music, she moved to New York
in the early 70’s pursuing her dream. Fortunately, not only did she
have talent, but her agent was a friend of Marcel Prawy, who was
the dramaturge at the Vienna State Opera. In 1981, Marcel was
working on a project that would demonstrate the origins of modern
musical theatre in the Viennese Operetta, and cast Neva in his
production.
“I met somebody there, and fell in love. Vienna’s a very romantic
city…Marcel Prawy knew Prof. Frank Kubik and wanted to feature
him in this piece. Frank and I met, and a few months later we
were married.” she laughs, as I sit with her in her New York studio.
“It was wild. I came back here, put all my stuff into storage and
went back to Vienna.”
“Vienna was romantic. Because there’s an influence there from
the Turks & Eastern Europe, in the architecture, and in the food
and music, which I loved - culturally, everything is fantastic. Even
though it’s a city of 2 million people, everything is centrally located.
”
When I asked about working in Vienna, Neva revealed her
extensive resume: “I did opera, concerts, recitals, musicals. I was
on a television show, ‘Der Leihopa’…I was the daughter-in-law
from America. I also had a funny gig, where I was the face of the
Raiffeisen Zentralbank. And I was such a typical Austrian, that I
did all of their print work and television commercials for a year.”
Though presently a ‘New Yorker’, Neva still feels a strong tie to
Vienna, and last fall went back to perform Souvenir at the English
Theatre where she had first performed 26 years earlier. “It’s a tour
de force part; there are only two people in the entire show, so you
really have to be on your game.” Neva is currently sailing the
Mexican Riviera on the Norwegian Star, as the musical director
for ‘Music of the Night’, featuring the music of Andrew Lloyd
Webber.
VON
BY
TERENA CALDWELL
“Souvenirs of Vienna”
American singer
Neva Rae Powers’ love affair
with the Austrian capital
May/June 2008 www.german-world.com
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