Jason Graae’s Solo Outing Brims With Energy, Emotion

Jason Graae is one of those guys who always looks like he’s just run two miles, downed a half-dozen sugar doughnuts and chased them with as many cups of coffee. He is just wired.

That antic energy works well for the Los Angeles-based singer-actor. He’ll do most anything for a laugh and usually gets one--as he did in the most recent edition of “Forbidden Broadway” and in last year’s Reprise! presentation of “The Boys From Syracuse.”

He buzzes with this energy in his new cabaret show, “Jason Graae--An Evening of Self-Indulgence,” which opened Wednesday at the Cinegrill. But he mellows the mood, nicely, with a nearly equal amount of calm introspection. In these quieter numbers, attention shifts to his radiant baritone as well as his endearing ability to get misty-eyed when singing a love song.

The result is at times a bit too self-indulgent--but given the title, you can’t say he doesn’t warn you.

Opening with “But Alive,” a song from the musical “Applause” about performance jitters, he segues, humorously, into “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You,” from “Evita.” Using the song as a self-promoting sales pitch, he sails out among the tables and throws himself against one of the room’s support pillars in a love-for-sale pose.

Among the slow numbers in this program directed by Heather Lee is “Something That I Wanted You to Know,” by the show’s pianist, Gerald Sternbach, and lyricist Lindy Robbins. Here, Graae reconnects with an old flame by telephone, cheerfully bubbling along until, suddenly, his voice catches, his eyes fill, and he reveals just how deeply he regrets letting this love pass.

* Jason Graae, through Sunday at the Cinegrill, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., 8 p.m. $15 plus $10 food or drink minimum. (323) 466-7000.