She’s back and she’s hot. Linda Eder brings her sultry, sexy voice back to San Francisco this coming weekend at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre, part of the Rrazz Room Concert Series.
This concert will focus on the release of Eder’s latest CD, “Now,” which is a professional reunion with her ex-husband Frank Wildhorn. And as fans of the singer know, when she works with Wildhorn, magic is created.
Eder was a Broadway star on the rise several years back with her acclaimed work in Wildhorn's musical "Jekyll & Hyde," Even though Eder brought down the house every night, she was shockingly overlooked for a Tony nomination.
Trying to break free of the mold of being compared to Barbra Streisand, Eder actually seemed destined to be the next Patti Lupone or Bernadette Peters, finding her niche on the Broadway stage.
But when Eder and Wildhorn became parents, she decided that eight shows a week isn't what she wanted to do to her child. So become the next Broadway diva was scrapped and, instead, Eder combined motherhood and performing and has been selective in her live performances while living a pretty normal life in Connecticut.
I had the privilege of talking to Eder as she prepares for her Rrazz production this coming weekend. And a more grounded and real person you'd be hard-pressed to find.
Eder and I talked like old friends She told me how much she enjoys San Francisco. "I just think San Francisco is so pretty and I love to walk up and down hills and the tree lined streets," she says. And she is well aware that her gay audience demographic has a good contingency in the Bay Area.
And while Eder has not had a Top Ten hit single record, she is popular in major cities like San Francisco with dance club hits that are remixes of some of her most popular tracks – and not always with her knowledge or approval.
Her performances in San Francisco won't have any dance remixes but it will definitely be a showcase for her and Wildhorn’s collaborations “from the new album and some fan favorites,” While it's been about six years since they worked together, Eder says, "Frank has been asking me over the years to do something together, I just had other projects I wanted to complete."
Some of these projects include a tribute album to one of her idols Judy Garland as well as song collections of from the stage and screen. Perhaps the biggest and most personal professional project was the release of her folk/country album "The Other Side of Me," which at the same time got Eder additional fans who prefer country music and finally ended the comparisons to Barbra Streisand.
"It's been a blessing and a curse," Eder says about the Streisand comparisons, remembering how people used to say she was the poor man's Barbra Streisand. But with her dabbling into different kinds of genres and even writing some songs, Eder feels she has "grown into myself."
Now that her son Jake is almost 12, Eder would entertain the idea of returning to the stage. While Wildhorn has still a few musicals that have yet to be produced on Broadway and there has been even some buzz for Eder to do "Sunset Blvd." on screen, she would "love to do a straight play as I love acting."
She did share her feelings about how one prepares to give a performance eight times a week and still manages to muster up the energy. "It's most difficult preparing the last hour when you're in the make-up chair and they are doing your face and hair," she says. "That's when you think you've got to be on stage in an hour and your mind races. But then, in the process, little by little, something happens to you and you're there, in the moment, and ready to go on."
We'll all see the result of that process this weekend when Eder performs at 8pm Friday and Saturday night at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre at 609 Sutter. To get tickets, go to www.therrazzroom.com.
Learn more about Eder at www.lindaeder.com.
Last year, I wrote an article about Eder, kind of a master class on Linda. If you want to brush up on her amazing catalog, read my other article at http://www.examiner.com/glbt-arts-in-san-francisco/concert-preview-there-s-no-one-better-than-linda-eder?render=print
Won’t take long for you to agree that she’s no poor man's Barbra Streisand but a great talent all on her own.
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