Mandy Patinkin, Toned Down and Affable

Mandy Patinkin isn’t always manic.

He has a reputation for taking his body English over the top in his solo concerts. But at the first of two performances, on Sunday and Monday, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, his gestures didn’t seem as big as they had when I last saw him five years ago.

Only once did I detect a semblance of Richard III-like contortions in his stance. By contrast, there were a number of moments when he simply stood still and sang.

These tended to be the highlights of the show--when his compelling high tones floated through intricate lyrics, more often than not by Stephen Sondheim, in a blessedly unforced delivery that made every word and sentiment clear.

Unfortunately, some of these songs were then overly inflated at their climaxes, not so much by Patinkin’s gestures as by his microphone, which remained about 2 inches from his mouth.

It was one of those microphones, attached to a headset, that visibly protrudes into view, in the style of rock stars and telephone receptionists, as opposed to the less apparent head mikes normally used in musical theater.

The mike’s proximity to Patinkin’s throat, coupled with the apparent absence of anyone modulating the sound during the performance, meant that whenever Patinkin got excited and loud--which was fairly often, even if his gestures were toned down--the sound quality disintegrated to a harsh screech. This was at its worst at the end of his brief re-creation of his role in the U.S. premiere of “Evita,” which was held at the Chandler in 1979.

Granted, the Chandler is a big hall, normally used for opera. Although Patinkin has an alluring voice, with a hefty lower range as well as his famous upper register, he hasn’t been trained to project for an opera house. So he needs some amplification. But he and sound designer Otts Munderloh should reconsider what form that amplification should take.

Patinkin’s tour is connected to the release of his album “Kidults,” but he sang only seven of that album’s 16 cuts, instead choosing to bring back some of the material from earlier albums and concerts. He opened with a Sondheim rarity, “If You Can Find Me, I’m Here” from “Evening Primrose.”

Of the “Kidults” material, some of the novelty numbers work better in concert than on the recording, for Patinkin adds visual components--in the form of a hand puppet in his rendition of “Holiday for Strings” and his own Bert Lahr impression as the Cowardly Lion in a “Wizard of Oz” number. It also helps to be able to see him act some of the roles in his smart blending of “Everybody Says Don’t” and “The King’s New Clothes.”

Presented under Center Theatre Group auspices, he cross-promoted--inadvertently or not--a couple of CTG’s other shows. He sang “You Are Beautiful” from “Flower Drum Song,” which is next door at the Mark Taper Forum, and he sang excerpts from “Into the Woods,” coming soon to the Ahmanson Theatre two doors away.

He was accompanied, as usual, by Paul Ford at a simple upright piano. Again, as customary for Patinkin, the stage was bare except for a couple of bouquets and some lighting fixtures arranged with a studied casualness. In combination with the microphone, the staging almost looked like an attempt to suggest a recording session.

However, recording sessions usually don’t have audiences, and Patinkin was keenly aware of the people out there in the dark.

Without singling out individuals, he got the audience to do the hokey-pokey as he sang the song in Yiddish, and he enlisted the audience as the chorus when he warned River City of the dangers of pool, from “The Music Man.”

He talked about his wife’s Sherman Oaks roots and about the way his sons inspired his heartfelt rendition of Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.”

He told a long story about how he selected his outfit for this tour--a maroon collarless shirt, black pants, and New Balance sneakers. The story wasn’t quite as funny as it was long. It might have been funnier with a slide that showed us his first and reputedly disastrous choice of apparel.

At one point during the Sunday performance a car horn began blaring--from somewhere in the Music Center garage? It was surprising to hear such an intrusive sound leak at the Music Center, but Patinkin handled it with aplomb. He projects such an affable and temperate personality these days that his signature mannerisms may soon become simply the subject of parodies past.