Lucky Toronto audiences are currently being given the opportunity to witness Christopher Plummer reprising his virtually one-man-show Barrymore, about the famed matinee idol who was as famed for his drinking and debauchery as his stage and film performances. Returning to the role that garnered him a Best Actor Tony Award in 1997, the now 81-year-old performer belies his age—he’s playing Barrymore at age 60, shortly before the end of his life—in a still magnificent star turn that loses none of its impact in the elegant but cavernous Elgin Theatre.

There’s nothing particularly original about William Luce’s slight drama, which utilizes the same biographical formula he employed to greater effect in The Belle of Amherst and with more lackluster results in such later works as Lucifer’s Child (about Isak Dinesen) and Lillian (Lillian Hellman). Set on a mostly bare stage littered with props and costumes, it depicts the dissipated acting legend preparing for a possible stage comeback in one of his greatest successes, Richard III.

Frequently aided by a frustrated offstage prompter, Frank (John Plumpis), the alcohol-ravaged Barrymore tenuously attempts to recite his mostly forgotten lines, frequently dipping into such other Shakespearean roles as Hamlet along the way.

But he mainly regales the audience with a rambling account of his life and career, punctuated by jokey one-liners (“Divorce costs more than marriages, but damn it, they’re worth it!”) and frequent nips from a handy liquor bottle.

Using his glorious voice and still lithe physicality to excellent effect, Plummer well conjures his subject’s charisma and magnetism while also poignantly revealing the vulnerability underlying his comic bravado.

It’s essentially a glorified stand-up routine, but it’s also such a wonderful vehicle that it seems totally understandable that the actor would want to bring it back for his loyal Canadian fans. The production is also scheduled to be filmed for broadcast to movie theaters throughout that country.

Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, 189 Yonge St., Toronto. 416-872-5555. www.ticketmaster.ca.