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An entertainer is downright blessed if he can carve out a place in one world, much less three or four.

But Brian Stokes Mitchell has cut a path through several worlds.

First there was life as a minor TV actor, in "Roots: The Next Generation," "Love Boat" and in a continuing part on "Trapper John, MD." Then there were voiceovers for animation classics like "Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf" and "Captain Planet and the Planeteers."

Broadway came. After a few important roles (albeit filling in for exiting actors), Mitchell broke out in 1998 as Coalhouse Walker in the original production of "Ragtime." The musical met with mixed reviews, but he didn't.

A rising star, critics called him. An electric presence, they said.

A role in an August Wilson play followed, along with a Tony-winning turn in "Kiss Me, Kate," and finally, a revival of "Man of La Mancha," which garnered the kind of critical fawning that people used to pay for.

Then, in 2005, he jumped ship again with a cabaret act called "Love/Life." "Nine times out of 10," begins New York Times critic Stephen Holden of the show, "a heroic theatrical voice inside a cabaret suggests the bellow of a Paul Bunyan-size giant who has stumbled in from a lumber camp. ... The lesson he teaches is that you can blow the roof off if the size of your voice is matched by the range and depth of your feeling."

Mitchell, who friends call Stokes, brings along his eclectic life experience when he plays the Phil on Sunday.

And somehow, he's still real, movie-star friendly, which is not so much friendly as it is open with a purpose. He's warm — like a friend of a friend who called for a chat.

Did I mention his new eponymous solo album?

"I always say, it's whoever wants me," says Mitchell, who, like many actors, doesn't like to reveal his age. "I have a little of everything going on."

Question: You've worked inside a narrative for a long time — from television to Broadway musicals. What moved you into the cabaret world and eventually your solo album?

Answer: I had a child. ... His name is Ellington. What ended up happening was I started to do a cabaret shows and doing more and more concert work. I realized that I get same enjoyment performing with a live audience and making as good a money and doing as about a 10th as much work. I can do a concert every few weeks now — pick and choose concerts, when and how I want to do them. ... Each concert I tailor to the venue. It's fun for me. No two shows are the same.

Q: How so?

A: I do a lot of different things. I do a lot of Broadway and classical things like "Porgy and Bess." I perform with a symphony orchestra. I perform with jazz band. I perform with jazz piano. I perform with a jazz quartet.

Q: And in Naples? What are you planning?

A: Jazz standards and more musical theater. (He laughs.) One of the things that was a humongous kind of hit is the "South Pacific" concert I did at Carnegie Hall. That brought attention to what I do. ... So I'll probably do something from "South Pacific," "Man of La Mancha" and "Ragtime," some standards, probably a tune or two from the album. I really love the standards and jazz from the '40s. It's a really a great time for music.

Q: "Love/Life" really seems like a turning point for your career.

A: It feels really like my life has been a series of turning points. ... "Love/Life," in a sense, was another turning point for me. It got incredible reviews. ... The timing was right. I got a chance to make my songs my own way. The whole thing was wonderful. I realized I can do this. I can do cabaret.

(He laughs.) I think what surprised me the most — and it was a really nice surprise — was how well it ended up working. You plan a show in your head; you plan the order of the songs; you take educated guess about what audience would respond to and take an educated guess about what kind of patter and how much and what kind of humor. I was happy that it worked.

It's not dissimilar from a Broadway show. You rehearse and rehearse and rehearse. The jokes are funny at first but the more and more you do it, the more you start doubting. Is it working? Is it good? Will people like it? Is it a joke that only you're getting? You have no idea until you get it in front of the audience.

Q: How long did you do "Love/Life"?

A: Two weeks. And then I did it at Lincoln Center. They asked me to fill in on Sunday nights and Mondays: Those were the nights the musical "The Light in the Piazza" was dark.

Q: And it worked on that scale?

A: That what's neat about the show. It can fit anywhere. I can make it as intimate or as grand as I want it to be.

Q: But in a cabaret setting, your audience is so close. Was that scary?

A: When I was in my teens, 16 years old, I was in a group called Bright Side. ... We performed every place: all over southern California, Japan. Ten shows a week in different places. It very much in the same kind of venues I'd do the cabaret show — in convention centers and little rooms. I really learned then to perform in front of group of different sizes. That's what's I was saying, I didn't know what I knew.

Q: Do you find yourself still exploring character — just one song at a time?

A: That's what's fun about them. It's almost like doing separate little monologues. ... Part of the fun is actually becoming a different character. It's easy on "Ragtime," "South Pacific" or "La Mancha." I can go into those characters. On "Love for Sale" or "How Long Has This Been Going On," I have to I find the character of that. Generally the music and the lyric define the character of it.

I also orchestrated and arranged a lot of the material on the album. One of the joys of orchestrating is you largely influence the character of the song. You can do something as a slow ballad or fun, uptempo, almost silly. That's really the arranger's choice. In fact, I wrote a new center for "Love For Sale." It really expanded what the song's about.

Q: Did it bother the purists in the audience?

A: It doesn't seem to. ... It's still true to the spirit of the song.

Q: The new CD was quite a while in the making. What, six years?

A: Yeah, because it was interrupted by many Broadway shows. I started after "Ragtime." "Oh, I'll finish in four months, five months. Then I got the idea of arranging. I heard it in my head so I thought I could just write it down. I studied composing and arranging in my 20s. I had forgotten how much I'd forgotten I had to study. Basic things like harp pedal, string articulation and bowing — things that had been on the top of my mind — I had to refresh. "Kiss Me, Kate" then "King Hedley II" to "Sweeney Todd." It just didn't allow me that opportunity to finish the way I wanted to. When Ellington was born it gave me a hunk of time to sit down and work on it. The whole album took a year, a year and a half.

Q: The album is pretty heavily weighted toward Broadway tunes. Was that a conscious choice?

A: It was and it wasn't. It's there, in part, because my audience expects that kind of music there, and hey, I wanted to. But I also wanted to be true to myself. I never listen to musical theater. I'm downloading Bruce Hornsby right now. ... I'm a lot of different things, not just musical theater. I wanted the album to appeal to a wider audience. In some people's minds, musical theater is very square and very corny. I wanted to be able to show, "Hey, it's not just that. It can be very deep and very rich. I wanted to arrange the music so it's "Oh wow, I didn't know it could sound like that."

Q: After years in front of an audience, what was your experience recording? Was your work in animation helpful there?

A: I'm very comfortable with it. Not so much from animation, but I've had a recording studio in my house from the time I was 20 years old. When we were kids, I had a tape recorder in my room. My dad, we always had stereos and my brother and I would play around and make tape recordings. When I left home, I got a four-track recorder, then an eight-track, then it grew to a 16-track recorder and a 16-track digital system. Now I have a Pro Tools system. In fact, I did most of the engineering on the album. Most of the vocals I recorded with Pro Tools in my studio. I love recording.

Q: Do you have any concerns about spreading yourself too thin?

A: Yes, on the album it was a frustration. That's why I started farming arrangements and farming out other things. ... I didn't have the time. And I have people like Don Sebesky. This is what they do 8 hours a day. ... I couldn't possibly do better than they could. So it takes care of two things: One, I don't have to do it and two, I get this incredible arrangement.

Q: You're so grounded. You see a problem. You fix it.

A: Sometimes you have to have the control and sometimes it's a stupid thing.

Q: Is there a musical role out there you yearn to play?

A: I can't say there is anymore. I call myself the luckiest bastard in the world because I've played all the roles I've really loved. Sweeney Todd. Don Quixote. "Ragtime" was an original musical, but what a role! I saw the movie and thought, well, I missed that film role and then got the musical. That's what I'm hoping for. I'm hoping for someone to write something new and wonderful. Revivals are great, but I haven't given up on Broadway. I'm just waiting for the next good thing.