Linda Eder - Back to the Beach

There was a time when singer and Broadway star Linda Eder could stroll down Atlantic City's Boardwalk on a crowded summer evening and go unnoticed. In fact, it happened on a fairly regular basis in the mid 1980s. Back then, Eder was a recent transplant from Minneapolis, building a reputation and fan base performing her show four times a night, six nights a week at Harrah's.

In the years since, Eder's celebrity profile has risen considerably. In 1987, she tried out for the television talent show Star Search, and won a spot on the first episode of that show's 1988 season. She proved unbeatable for an unprecedented 12-week run. The Star Search appearances led to a record contract and her big break; she was cast as Lucy in a new musical version of Jekyll & Hyde.

The show debuted in 1990 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. In April 1997, Jekyll & Hyde made its way to Broadway. That year, Eder was nominated and won a Theater World Award for her performance as Lucy. Since then, she's appeared on stage in Beauty and the Beast, The Civil War and Camille Claudel, and has released eight solo albums, including her most recent, 2005's By Myself: The Songs of Judy Garland.

Eder has performed in Atlantic City numerous times since her lounge act days. While she considers herself a mid-level celebrity at best, her days of going unnoticed in a crowd have passed. In February 2006, she returned to perform two shows with singer and pianist Michael Feinstein at the Atlantic City Hilton.

"It's a new show — an idea that we've wanted to do for a while," Eder said at the time in an interview for Atlantic City Weekly. "We put it together last year and did five shows to try it out. It was so much fun, and the response was fantastic, so we've got a lot more booked."

Eder and Feinstein are on stage together for the entire show, with the exception of two short solo segments where each performs two or three songs apiece. The duo is accompanied by Eder's seven-piece touring band, under the direction of John Oddo.

Touted as an evening of "masterpieces from the American songbook," the show includes songs by legends like Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington, as well as more contemporary artists.

"It's everything from Steve and Eydie, to Sonny and Cher, to Joni Mitchell, to more current material," Eder says. "My definition of a standard is anything that is written well enough so that it stays around as the years go on. New standards are being created all the time."
Eder says she enjoys the variety afforded by successful careers as both a stage performer and recording artist. At this point in her life, however, family considerations have kept her from committing to another Broadway show.

"I want to do it again, but I'm not in a big rush," she says. "It's a wonderful experience and great fun, but it's also the most work. I know the hours that it involves. I have a six-and-a-half year-old son who's now in school, and I know that if I were in a show on Broadway, I really wouldn't see him that much. So I'm very tempered by that.

"There is a piece in the works being especially written for me that I really like, so we'll see…. We're progressing with that, but it would be at least two years before it would be ready to come to New York."