c.2013 New York Times News Service

NEW YORK — Midway through her show Wednesday night at the Café Carlyle, the Filipina singer Lea Salonga recalled being told not to bother auditioning for the role of Eliza Doolittle in a revival of “My Fair Lady” because she “wasn’t white.” Although her tone was one of calm indignation, you could feel an undertone of feistiness throughout the evening. Salonga is a performer whose formidable talent is matched by her unstoppable drive and keen intelligence. As Broadway divas go, she is a cut above most.

A cultural goddess in the Philippines, Salonga, now 42, said she spends much of her time there nowadays but is regularly called back to the United States for work. Her current project, which is eyeing a run on Broadway, is a musical, “Allegiance,” developed by the actor George Takei, about a Japanese-American family interned during World War II. On first listen, one number from that show, “Higher,” written by Jay Kuo, was an inspirational ballad that follows the usual climb-the-mountain formula of would-be showstoppers.

Salonga’s program, titled “Back to Before,” is partly a tribute to her idols Barbra Streisand and Ella Fitzgerald. In the first half she concentrated on standards that included “The Song Is You,” “Manhattan” and “How Long Has This Been Going On?” — all delivered with an almost machinelike perfection. Her performance was matched by the facility of her musicians, the pianist Jeff Harris, the bassist John Miller and the guitarist Jack Cavari, who were playing arrangements by Larry Yurman.

“Greatest Love of All,” Whitney Houston’s early hit, received an unusually strong and focused interpretation whose message of unapologetic self-reliance resonated with Salonga’s show business biography. “I Won’t Mind,” a woman’s protective love song to a child who’s not hers, written by Jeff Blumenkrantz, Annie Kessler and Libby Saines, and a medley of Stephen Sondheim’s “So Many People” and “Loving You” demonstrated her comfort in a more intimate, psychologically subtle mode.

Performances continue through June 8 at the Café Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St., Manhattan; 212-744-1600, thecarlyle.com.