American Idol

Season 3 “Idol” finalist Amy Adams and her husband, Ross.

When Amy Adams talks about her singing career, she’s quick to focus on the other parts of the business. At 27, the Season 3 contestant from “American Idol” has shifted her priorities. In fact, she has to take a break from talking to me to quiet her son, Harrison Varner.

“FIrst and foremost, I’m being a mom,” Adams said of her post-”Idol” life. “I love that. That is the best feeling in the world.”

Singing is far from absent in her life, though. Adams recently completed a national Broadway tour as Narrator in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The touring cast also included Patrick Cassidy, someone Adams said she enjoyed working with at promotional events.

“We were lucky enough to get to go out into children’s hospitals and bring the show and sing songs,” she said. “It was a really great thing.”

Adams, a native of Bakersfield, Calif., is back home with her husband, Ross; their son, Harrison; and a daughter Ross had from a previous relationship.

“Doing the Broadway stuff has made me refocus,” Adams said of her career. The “Joseph” tour ended in July.

As far as upcoming singing gigs, Adams is looking at another possible Broadway tour. She’s been working on recording a country-inspired CD, but the theater work proved to be more rewarding than she imagined. “I am being submitted for a lot of different shows,” she said, but “it really would have to work out for my family.”

Even though she has enjoyed some time on stage since being eliminated from the third season of “Idol,” Adams said she has struggled a little bit to find her place in the industry. During the “Joseph” tour, the singer experienced some difficulties with keeping her voice prepared for the demanding role. “The hard part is you have no training, but you have a name,” she said.

While she waits for the next big gig to come along, Adams is far from giving up on her “Idol”-sized dreams. “I think the main thing I’ve learned is that everything and everybody is a connection in this business,” she said.

“Twenty years down the road, I’ll hopefully be doing movies consistently. The real phenomenon right now, especially with movie musicals, I think that’s great. Hopefully that grows into something more so it gives people like us, like me, an outlet to share that craft with the world.”

Adams said she regrets not being able to showcase her voice more on “Idol.” She said she wishes America could hear her now, after the theater work helped her train and develop her voice far beyond her performance of “Dancing in the Street,” the song she performed before her elimination from the Fox series.

“If you look at ‘American Idol’ and, if you look at what ‘American Idol’ is … I think it’s really like a popularity contest gone bad,” Adams said.

It’s not that she means to come off sounding negative about the show or what it has done for so many people. In fact, it was “Idol” representatives who recommended her for the “Joseph” role. And she does have good things to say about the show’s winners, including people she said embody what today’s idol is all about.

“The ultimate ‘American Idol’ is like Carrie Underwood. Or Kelly Clarkson. She’s really remained true to herself,” Adams said.

When I ask Adams if she’d like to add anything else before we ended the interview, she throws in a subtle joke. But, even though she’s laughing, she’s being serious.

“I lost my virginity when I was 18,” she said. “So, keep it clean, girls.”

Amy Adams

FIVE QUICK QUESTIONS WITH AMY ADAMS:
1. What word or phrase can you not go a day without saying?
“I always say ‘hot little mess.’”

2. What is in your CD player right now?
“What is in my CD player? I have Jewel’s new album in my CD player.”

3. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?
“Dreamgirls. It was fantastic. It’s so weird because I know how talented Jennifer is, and it was great to see her have her outlet. I was like a proud mom.”

4. How did you ring in 2007?
“With my next door neighbors and my family. We were just together, and it was the best feeling in the world.”

5. What was the last thing you ate?
“This morning I ate flack seed cereal with some maple granola.”