HENDERSONVILLE — For Valentine’s weekend, a surprisingly riveting and romantic performance of “The Music of Barry Manilow” was featured by the Flat Rock Playhouse at its downtown Hendersonville stage.

The 90-minute show (with an intermission), which ran Feb. 11-14, featured Guy LeMonnier, who gave voice to Manilow’s globally beloved songbook. It was the first of the FRP’s 2016 Music on the Rock series in Hendersonville.

The tribute featured a roundup of Manilow’s easy-listening classics including “Mandy,” “Copacobana” and “I Made it Through the Rain.”

Lemonier intentionally did not don a wig to recreate Manilow’s wavy tresses, nor did he wear a pastel blazer to invoke the balladeer’s signature style of dress. However (and more importantly) he captured the spirit of the songs — and offered the audience the delight of hearing a Manilow with a slightly rougher — and darker — edge.

LeMonnier was accompanied by a talented and well-directed five five-piece band that included a guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboardist and organist.

Besides LeMonnier’s intriguing vocal interpretations of Manilow, backed by such the skilled band, a highlight of the show was the performance by by the Flat Rock Chorus, under the skillful direction of Diane David. 

The chorus of four men on one side of LeMonnier, and four women flanking him on the other, swayed, rhythmically, as they ably backed the lead singer. The overall effect was mesmerizing, even for those who are not diehard fans of Manilow’s songs.

Interestingly, among the quartet of male choral singers on stage was Bob Staton, Flat Rock’s mayor.

For the Manilow tribute show, LeMonnier wore a three-piece grey suit, with a black shirt open at the neck and black shoes.

Among the hits performed early in the concert were “I Can’t Smile Without You,” “Looks Like We Made It” and “Somewhere in the Night.”

LeMonnier shared interesting tidbits on Manilow and his career throughout the show and, at one point, noted that the romantic crooner had sold 80 million records worldwide in “a great career.”

In the second set, among the memorable hits were “Could It Be Magic,” “I Write the Songs” and the show concluded with “I Made It Through the Rain.” 

As the crowd cheered, LeMonnier retured to the stage to perform a rollicking “Copacabana,” a 1978 mega-hit for Manilow. 

The song refers to the Copacabana nightclub as “the hottest spot north of Havana.” The story of which the song tells, starts in the late 1940s and focuses on Lola, a Copacabana showgirl, and her lover Tony, a bartender at the club. 

“One night, a mobster named Rico takes an interest in Lola, but he overplays his hand while trying to seduce her and is attacked by Tony. The ensuing fight results in a shooting. Thirty years later, the club has been transformed into a discotheque, but a crazed and drunken Lola, having lost Tony, still spends her nights at the Copacabana dressed in her 1940s finery,” according to Wikipedia.