Harry Connick Jr. plays it off the cuff on Broadway and at Hollywood Bowl

— It’s coming up soon, but Harry Connick Jr. isn’t exactly sure yet what program he, his big band and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are going to be performing at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday.

Actually, he didn’t much like planning in advance during his recently concluded 13-performance Broadway run either. As he told one New York reporter: “It would kill me if anyone who saw this show twice saw the same thing.”

What he does know is they’ll be playing some songs from his Grammy-nominated album of American classics, “Your Songs,” which has propelled a world tour that has already taken the Connecticut-based entertainer to such places as Europe, the Middle East, Australia and China. At the Neil Simon Theatre, as at the Bowl, audiences just had to wait to know that night’s mix of romantic ballads, big-band jazz, New Orleans funk and amusing patter.

Connick clearly likes the spontaneity. His shows here — and, presumably, at the Bowl — just started with easy listening tunes from his new album. In the show’s first act here, he came out dressed in suit and tie, sometimes accompanying himself on piano as he sang sultrily with his big band and an additional string section — which will be even larger when he’s accompanied by Los Angeles Philharmonic string players at the Bowl. A whole new, casually dressed Connick appeared in the second act to riff with members of his onstage band, transform an upright piano into a percussion instrument, shimmy with his musicians and schmooze with his audience.

Offstage, however, he’s decidedly low energy. Casual in gray cargo pants and T-shirt, his large frame relaxed at the breakfast table, the 42-year-old recording star and matinee idol looks like just another hotel guest. Never mind that he’s reportedly on the short list as an “American Idol” judge and maybe even a lead in another Broadway musical. His manner is slow and easy whether answering questions, dealing with a waiter or waving at his family as they amble by across the lobby.

“It’s just me doing my show,” he says, charming a reporter with his Southern gentleman’s manners and Louisiana drawl, much as he charmed audiences with his excitement about doing his first Broadway concert series in 20 years. “Nothing’s scripted.”

At the heart of those shows — in New York and Hollywood — is his new album, released on Columbia Records last September, and conceived by Clive Davis, the celebrated record producer and music executive. It is comprised of 14 songs written by or made famous by the likes of Billy Joel, Elton John, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole. While songs such as “All the Way” may reinforce Connick’s stylistic similarities to Sinatra, others remind us of his own distinctive way with a lyric.

Davis had proposed they collaborate on a project, Connick says. “He told me he thought I should take really familiar songs that everybody knows and just be a singer,” the musician says. “These are songs I normally wouldn’t touch, only because they were so well done by the original artists. But the novelty of it was intriguing to me.”

It was clearly intriguing to Davis. “I love Harry Connick’s musicianship, persona and voice,” he says. “We decided to do an album on great songwriting, and there were no limitations. It was really for him to stand for great songs, whenever written. All the music was arranged, orchestrated and conducted by Harry, and I felt it should be.”

Connick has been touring pretty constantly for a year, but he says he’d go out for two weeks, then home for a week. Both onstage and in an interview, Connick makes it clear how important family is to him. On opening night, for instance, he asked his wife and three daughters to stand up in the auditorium, telling his audience, “Looking at them out there, I can’t tell you what my heart does. They are not the reason I’m happy. They’re the reason I’m alive.”

That’s how Connick talks. He uses the word “privilege” a lot and seems genuinely thankful for what fate has dealt him. That includes his wife of 16 years, model Jill Goodacre, whom he met in Los Angeles after simply admiring her from afar. The way he tells it, he was swimming in the Sunset Marquis pool when she walked by “and I said to myself, ‘It’s that girl!’ I jumped out of the pool, introduced myself to her and asked her to have some lunch. We had lunch and that was it. That was 20 years ago. It was one of the great days of my life.”

Connick’s great days started early. Raised in New Orleans, where his lawyer parents co-owned a record store, he was playing piano at 3. At age 6, he performed at father Harry Connick Sr.’s swearing-in ceremony as district attorney of New Orleans (where he served from 1973 to 2003) and at 9, he played a Beethoven piano concerto with the New Orleans Symphony. His early piano teachers included jazz greats Ellis Marsalis and James Booker, and by age 10, he’d recorded with a local jazz band. He was performing in the French Quarter not many years later.

At 18, Connick left New Orleans for New York, and a year later he was signed by Columbia Records. He won his first Grammy after singing such classics as “It Had to Be You” for the soundtrack of the 1989 film “When Harry Met Sally.” His two dozen albums have sold more than 25 million records worldwide, and he has acted in more than a dozen films, starting with his debut in “Memphis Belle.” His TV shows have included several concert appearances, as well as a recurring role on NBC’s “Will & Grace.”

Connick also has fared well on Broadway. He received Tony nominations for his music and lyrics for the 2001 musical “Thou Shalt Not” and for his co-starring role in the 2006 revival of “The Pajama Game.”

“I don’t know anyone else who can do what Harry does,” says director Susan Stroman, who worked with him on “Thou Shalt Not.” “Harry can write music, sing and act, and he’s a wonderful collaborator. He brings great energy into a rehearsal room, and because his energy is high and he works 100%, everyone else does.”

Connick does seem to jump totally into whatever he’s doing, whether it’s a rehearsal or performing to a packed Broadway house. “Any audience is going to get everything I have,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I brought my daughter onstage to tell a joke! I would never ever plan to do that. But when I got to that point, I knew the audience and I wanted to give them something personal.”

When his “Pajama Game” costar Kelli O’Hara came to see his show here, Connick also brought her onstage. Not only did she enjoy singing for him, says O’Hara, but “as an audience member, I was floored. I thought I knew him pretty well, but he surprises you every time. My husband and I kept looking at each other and saying, ‘Did you know he could do that?’ ”

There’s also the chance he could wind up back on a Broadway stage again. Though he says he hasn’t been asked, he says he’s flattered to hear he’s on the short list if a Broadway production of the new musical “Robin and the 7 Hoods” materializes. The show of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen standards just opened at the Old Globe and executive producer Barry Brown confirms that Connick “is, indeed, one of the names we’ve been discussing....and, yes, he’s certainly near or at the very top of our list.” Brown adds that due to director Casey Nicholaw’s schedule, he imagines any production would be for the 2011-12 season.

As for what he’ll do next, Connick’s been talking about doing a film musical as well as writing a new stage musical with playwright and director George Wolfe. Or maybe he’ll take on “American Idol.” As a celebrity mentor earlier this year, he told his singers stories about Frank Sinatra and his music, did their arrangements, even played piano when each sang a Sinatra song. Besides giving his album a little boost, the stint got him bandied about as a possible future judge on the popular TV show.

“They asked if I would ever be interested in being a judge, and I said yes,” Connick says. “I had a great time. I grew up in an environment in which there was a lot of mentoring going on. Ellis Marsalis was the greatest teacher anyone could ever have, and I like the excitement of clinics and master classes. I like creative environments.”

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