A High Output Peter Allen

Peter Allen’s hard to figure.

Despite writing enough hit ballads--from “Don’t Cry Out Loud” to “I Honestly Love You”--to retire most songwriters to beachfront pads in Malibu, he still seems determined to prove that he is a world-class entertainer.

By this point, surely, whatever doubts he may have had are long resolved. Even though his concert at the Wilshire Theatre Friday night was a bit smaller scaled than some past appearances (only a 10-piece band this time), it buzzed and crackled with the familiar supercharged gestures of Allen’s obsessively energetic performing style.

Seated at the piano, lying on top of it, dancing and high-kicking from one side of the stage to the other, pacing nervously as he unfolded hilarious, stream-of-consciousness tales about life in the upper echelons of show biz, Allen must have burnt calories at the rate of 1,000 a minute.

He sang all his hits, of course, but he was best when using numbers from his new “Making Every Moment Count” album as the real text of his performance. Songs like “I Could Marry the Rain” and “Love Don’t Need a Reason” revealed surprisingly darker aspects of his songwriting skills.

The failure of Allen’s Broadway musical, “Legs Diamond,” appears to have generated a more world-weary and complex expression of his muse in his songs. And, appealing as his high-voltage performances may be, the new pieces suggest that Allen has wisely chosen to allow his songs to take him wherever they may lead.

Unfortunately, the performance was undercut by a sound mix that kept losing the vocals in the instrumental backgrounds, as well as by a scruffy-looking set and threadbare scrim. Fortunately, the quality and quantity of Allen’s entertaining more than made up for the tattiness of the setting.