by Melissa Griegel…
Photos by Melissa Griegel Photography
Linda Eder (Jekyll & Hyde) and her son, musician Jake Wildhorn, took to the 54 Below on Monday, February 9th in a new show entitled Play it Forward. “This is a show I have been dreaming about doing for many years,” Eder said. “Play It Forward is a play on the words ‘Pay it Forward ‘, because I have so many musician and actor friends with grown children who have now gone into the business, starting with my own talented singer/songwriter son, Jake. Sharing the stage with him at the end of the night is a dream come true.”
In introducing her son Jake, Eder told the audience she initially tried to dissuade him from going into the business, since it’s a long hard road. “But, he gets his musical talent from both sides,”she joked, so it was basically preordained. Jake is Eder’s son from her marriage with multi-Grammy and Tony Award nominated composer/producer Frank Wildhorn. Eder won the Theater World Award (1996–97) for Best Broadway Debut in Jekyll & Hyde, a Broadway show featuring the music of Frank Wildhorn. Jekyll & Hyde’s music director, Grammy-winner Jason Howland (Beautiful: The Carol King Musical), was in the audience cheering on Eder.
Eder’s set list was a mix of songs from her repertoire that spans Broadway, standards, pop, and rock. Her musical director Keith Cotton sang a duet with Eder on Irving Berlin’s “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” from Easter Parade. Frank Wildhorn’s music was prominent, with five songs by the composer.
A student of Eder’s, Gianna Grosso, kicked off a trio of songs from Jekyll & Hyde by joining Eder to sing “In His Eyes”. “In His Eyes” was followed by two huge crowd-pleasers from the show, “Bring on the Men” and “Someone Like You”, the latter of which is a popular wedding song and received a standing ovation. I especially enjoyed “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and “Son of a Preacher Man” by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins.
Jake Wildhorn graced the stage for the last third of the show, singing Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” with his mom. Wildhorn was gracious and humble and said it was hard following his mom on stage. However, when she turned it over to him to sing solo, he laughed and said, “Okay, this is my show now!” The very capable Wildhorn played guitar and sang three songs for which he wrote the music and the lyrics. Wildhorn’s music is a mix of Alternative Blues Rock and Acoustic Rock, with a touch of Contemporary Pop. He followed up his 2020 self-titled album Jake Wildhorn with 12 Rounds in 2023, and recently released his latest album The Last Coyote. Listen to Wildhorn’s music here: Jake Wildhorn YouTube.
The mother-son team ended the evening with some well-known Beatles’ songs. The 54 Below patrons swayed and clapped along to “Help!” and “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Eder and Wildhorn were backed by musical director and pianis tKeith Cotton , guitarist Zach Sicherman, bassist Michael O’Brien, and percussionist Eric Halvorson.
You can purchase tickets here: Play it Forward Tickets for the March 5th performance of Eder and Wildhorn’s “Play it Forward” at 54 Below at 7 pm. Eder will also be doing a solo show, featuring Billy Stritch at 54 Below on March 25th at 7 pm. Buy tickets here: Eder and Stritch Tickets.
