Eder’s Voice Comes Through Despite Flu

Vocalist Linda Eder and Broadway musical composer Frank Wildhorn, married in 1998, turn on its ear the old, politically incorrect saw that behind every successful man is a woman. In their case, it’s Eder out front championing Wildhorn’s music, past, present and future, frequently making it sound better than it is.

While Eder’s support of Wildhorn’s music has undoubtedly buoyed his career, Eder isn’t standing in his shadow. His music, pleasant and pop-perfect, has propelled Eder’s growing reputation.

Eder, who wed the composer as she starred in his cult-hit musical “Jekyll & Hyde,” showed just what a trouper she is Saturday at Segerstrom Hall in the Orange County Performing Arts Center (she performed there Friday as well as part of the center’s annual Candlelight Concert fund-raiser).

Suffering from the flu (she took time to introduce the local doctor who had been caring for her) and patiently dealing with infrequent bouts of static that crackled through the sound system, Eder rose above it all, letting her magical voice and calm presence carry the day.

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At one point, Eder told the audience that she felt that she was singing with “someone else’s voice.” But the sound, replete with silky highs, growling accents and pinpoint pitch, was clearly her own. She didn’t make it easy on herself, scaling the heights of the traditional holiday anthem “O Holy Night” with strength and grace. The only times her malady was apparent were when she spoke in quavering voice or sang in unusually dark, quiet tones.

Eder seemed more comfortable with the performance than she did a year ago when she played the more intimate Founders Hall. Her delivery of the title tune from Wildhorn’s upcoming extravaganza “Havana,” in which she is scheduled to play the daughter of a Mafia boss, moved more naturally inside the Latin rhythms than it did last time around. As in last year’s performances, Eder performed with an eight-piece ensemble, including three horns. Unlike that visit to Founders Hall, despite the occasional bout of static, her voice was never obscured by the accompaniment.

She focused on tunes from her latest album, “It’s No Secret,” with material written by Wildhorn and his lyricist Jack Murphy. The songs, including the title tune, “You Never Remind Me’ and “This Time Around” (on which Wildhorn wrote both the music and lyrics) proved that Eder, like Barbra Streisand, can make even the most predictable pop tunes into something larger than themselves simply on the strength of her voice. The best number here, “Romancin’ the Blues,” was the simplest, and Eder’s phrasing came more from the jazz-saloon singer tradition than from Broadway.

But it’s on familiar material that Eder shines best. Her angelic reading of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” highlighted the purity of her voice; the rousing “Man of La Mancha” was filled with appropriate theatrical touches. She sang Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” with assured beauty and just a hint of nostalgia. Still, a duet with Douglas Sills, who starred in Wildhorn’s production of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” was a cluttered affair in which the visible affection the performers displayed for each other didn’t translate into musical serendipity.