Linda Eder’s at Her Best Going Beyond Broadway

Linda Eder is best known for her starring role in the Broadway musical “Jekyll & Hyde.” But with six solo albums, it’s obvious that her skills reach well beyond the musical theater.

Her performance at the Wiltern Theatre on Wednesday before a fervently enthusiastic full house was the work of an artist with an engaging manner and a witty sense of humor. Far from needing a theatrical characterization in which to display her abilities, Eder confidently dominated the stage with her performing persona.

Interestingly, she was at her best with material that was far from Broadway, including Boz Scaggs’ “We’re All Alone” and the Dusty Springfield hit “Son of a Preacher Man.” Her success with songs of this sort undoubtedly relates to the fact that they do not demand over-the-top, big-voiced, high-note belting--not always the most appealing aspect of Eder’s singing.

Too much of her program, however, was devoted to the songs of Frank Wildhorn, which is understandable, perhaps, given that Wildhorn, the composer of “Jekyll & Hyde” as well as “The Scarlet Pimpernel” and “The Civil Wars,” is Eder’s husband.

A showcase number from “Jekyll & Hyde,” for example, was sung in effectively theatrical fashion, but it tended to serve as the template for other Eder-Wildhorn collaborations, many of which overemphasized the opportunity to display Eder’s upper range.

That range emerged in two distinct manners: piercing, shatter-the-crystal intensity and sweet-toned, sotto voce tenderness. The former was predictably crowd-pleasing, with Eder frequently reverting to the climactic drama of her youthful appearances on “Star Search.” Her softer-voiced high notes, on the other hand, were irresistible. She would do well to use them more often.

Although Eder has often been called a Barbra Streisand wannabe, her style seemed less comparable to Streisand’s than to Celine Dion’s and Bernadette Peters’. But before she can unleash the full extent of her own musicality, Eder needs to find songs and interpretations that--like her onstage manner--offer a deeper, more diverse emotional range.