Gaines Makes His Presence Felt on the Nightclub Scene

If there were a computer program that could analyze, evaluate and sum up the elements required to produce a prototypical young leading man for Broadway musicals, it would surely print out the results in two words: Davis Gaines.

Gaines, who has attracted a fanatically loyal following since he performed as the lead in the Los Angeles production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” has all the correct leading man attributes, and then some. Blessed with a rich, baritone voice and an innate musicality, tall with boyish good looks and a charmingly diffident manner that doesn’t disguise his sharply focused dramatic intelligence, he is near the top of the A-list of casting in the arena of musical theater.

On Saturday night, Gaines made a rare club appearance at the Hollywood Roosevelt Cinegrill as part of a three-day run. The production was simplicity itself: a bare stage, a vase full of roses, a pianist, and a collection of songs that included standards, Broadway classics and a few new tunes.

Gaines sang, for the most part, superbly. His versatile vocal skills allowed him to move freely from “Almost Like Being in Love” and “The Tennessee Waltz” to “Tea for Two” and “Ol’ Man River.” He added Jerry Herman and Sammy Cahn medleys, and tossed in some intriguing new tunes, notably “I’ll Love You Back to Life.”

If there was a problem, it was Gaines’ too common tendency to push the scope of his readings past the boundaries of a nightclub-sized venue. This didn’t bother the overflow audience. But a little more effort, a little more thoughtfulness and a lot more focus on sizing his presentations will bring his nightclub performances up to the level of his already first-rate theatrical work.