Carbonell Award — Best Actress in a Musical
Aldonza in man of la mancha

 Carbonell Award for Best Actress in a Musical

She is a truly rare performer, a singer who acts and an actress who moves. Her voice treads the treacherous path between opera and musical comedy triumphantly. Her glorious voice never overpowers the score and every lyric can be heard. This is a no tricks, no ego and very classy performance.

--The Irvine World News, USA

The fiery and bewitching Adria Firestone gave spark to the difficult role of Aldonza (Dulcinea). Her saucy and ribald "I's All the Same" snapped a number of veteran patrons to attention. Firestone shows she is an artist of real depth and pathos.

 
– The Courant, Connecticut Opera

Much of the GCO production's appeal shows up in the second act. Adria Firestone as Julie delivers a lovely restrained vocal treatment of the torch song Bill and finally sets the show's dramatic tone in a subtle mimed farewell to her protégé.

 
- Ft. Lauderdale News, USA (Gold Coast Opera)

Houston Grand Opera · Wortham Theater Center · 1989

Following its Houston engagement, the production represented the United States during the opening season of the new Cairo Opera House in Egypt.

(nominated for Carbonell Award, Best Supporting Actress in  a Musical)

The major roles were beautifully sung with the exception of Adria Firestone, whose role was magnificently sung. The theater could have caught fire during one of Ms. Firestone's numbers and no one would have moved.

--Sun, USA

Firestone lights up the stage when she makes an appearance, smoldering with equal parts of sexuality and menace. "Solomon Song", is given a splendidly comic rendition by the regal, sultry Miss Firestone.

--Boca News

Adria Firestone is a renowned operatic mezzo, but did we know she could wiggle and undulate in such comically sensuous fashion? She was bold as brass, and her voice rang out particularly in the scintillating "Not Since Nineveh" and the sexy "Rahadlakum." Adria, no doubt, took a leaf from Mae West's book, for even in repose, she kept her motor running, a Lalume, to observe with utmost pleasure.

The Tribune, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

At ten years old, Adria Firestone won her first scholarship to study theatre, stage makeup, and dance at Barry College—now Barry University—in Miami Shores, Florida. 

When asked to perform her monologue, she admitted that she did not know what a monologue was. Sister Marie Carol handed her a book and simply said, “Go up on the stage and read this page with expression.” She did, and won the summer scholarship.

Soon afterward, Adria appeared as Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music, her first musical. Her mother allowed her to remain after her own classes and watch the high-school performers rehearse. 

Sitting alone in the darkened auditorium, she watched a beautiful young black performer swinging across the stage and singing “Swinging on a Star.”

In that moment, Adria thought, “I’m going to do that.”

And so began a lifelong love affair with the stage.

Utah Opera · 2002 Cultural Olympiad

Following multiple engagements with Utah Opera, Adria Firestone returned as Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. 

Presented during Salt Lake City’s 2002 Cultural Olympiad, it marked her final major staged production—and a fitting culmination in a role centered on maturity, memory, love, and the life of a performer.

From a young girl discovering the theatre at Barry College to a mature artist portraying Sondheim’s unforgettable Desirée Armfeldt, the stage remained Adria’s artistic home for a lifetime.