The H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center hosted a stunning performance Thursday evening by stage and screen actor Mandy Patinkin. Patinkin, who is a singer as well as a Broadway, TV and film star, entertained a large crowd with a show that was so much more than a simple musical performance.

For those who may not be sure who Mandy Patinkin is, it might be best to start at the end of Thursday’s performance. For his second — yes, second — curtain call, he returned to the stage. He took a swordsman’s stance, and uttered what may be his most famous lines of all, from 1987’s Rob Reiner film “The Princess Bride.” “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Those lines brought the house down, and were perhaps a more fitting finale than anything else Patinkin might have done. As a side note, “The Princess Bride” was written by William Goldman, who also wrote “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

The stage was set up very sparsely –— no real sets or decorations. A very tall ladder, with an unshaded floor lamp next to it, was to the right. To the left was an upright piano, a bench and a microphone on a stand. The back of the stage has an unused look; boxes, road cases, ladders and shelves were scattered haphazardly. It all appeared more like a theater set up for auditions instead of a performance. It was a very informal look well-suited for a show titled “Dress Casual.”

The lights came up to reveal a pianist sitting at the piano — Paul Ford, with whom Patinkin first worked in the mid ’80s in Steven Sondheim’s off and then on-Broadway musical “Sunday in the Park with George.” He was followed a moment later by Mandy Patinkin himself, carrying two large baskets of fresh flowers, which he deposited on each side of the stage. Patinkin was in fact dressed casually, wearing sneakers, black jeans a black dress shirt. He also wore a wireless headset microphone, leaving his hands free where maintaining the minimalist theme.

He began the show with an old vaudeville song from the early 1900s, “Always Chasing Rainbows,” a number that used to be performed by Judy Garland. Much of his material came from that era and much of his repertoire came more from the stage than the radio. He performed with the physicality and the singing voice of a Broadway actor rather than a singer at a concert. Patinkin projected so powerfully that the microphone was almost superfluous. In keeping with the stage persona, he did use a few props including two chairs, a ukulele and a folded newspaper, as well as a pair of glasses he sent a stage hand to retrieve from his dressing room.

Patinkin was both charming and disarming throughout the evening, and quite self-deprecating as well. He poked fun at himself about his age, mentioning his need for glasses and his concern that the lights might reflect off his bald spot. For one of the songs that he forgot the lyrics to, he sat on the bench with the pianist Ford and read off Ford’s sheet music.

“Dress Casual” was more of an intimate gathering, or a friendly get-together, than a star performing for an audience. It was closer to a reunion where everyone listened to a favorite uncle reminisce, or read from a wonderful book full of short stories, some familiar and some new.

At one point Patinkin acted out the opening scene from the musical “The Music Man,” with its lightning fast, rhythmic dialogue. He was ably assisted by pianist Ford, who filled in as background characters the few times such roles were necessary.

Among the more familiar tunes Patinkin performed Thursday were “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and a tease of the beginning of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which he then reprised in its entirety near the end of the show.

Patinkin has a very distinctive voice. It is one more suited for his Tony award-winning/nominated performances on stages world-wide rather than the confines of a recording studio, although he has recorded several very well-received albums. Deep vibrato, volume that can reach the back of the theater, and breath control and stamina that would put many athletes to shame. It may not be what you expect, but it is definitely worth a listen.

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