TORONTO -- There was a point in Bryan Ferry's slightly odd but thoroughly engaging show last night at Massey Hall where the tall, dark and handsome former frontman for Roxy Music sang: "I know my place -- it's here with you."

In the case of Ferry, truer words were never spoken.

In town earlier this year to promote his latest album of '30s romantic standards, As Time Goes By, the 54-year-old Ferry came across as a kind of rumpled, beloved English professor.

Last night on stage, however, the caterpillar had turned into a butterfly. Big time.

Ferry, all hand gestures and expressive eyes as he crooned song after song with his mike stand set on angle, put to rest that long-held theory the British never show their emotions.

On the contrary.

The trembling-voiced singer made the most of Massey Hall's atmospherics with a backdrop of glittering stars, a disco ball, and low-key lighting while concentrating on material from As Time Goes By with lyrics on a music stand before him.

The choice of songs didn't always work -- bigger applause definitely went to the Roxy Music classics Avalon and cover of John Lennon's Jealous Guy -- but Ferry's sophisticated stage presence, visual flair and sheer magnetism could probably make the phone book an interesting read.

The other criticism was that he took his sweet time getting to the stage.

It was only after a solid 15 minutes of solo performances by his large group of 13 touring musicians -- first a striking, blonde female harp player, then an all-blonde female string quartet who appeared to be wearing leather pants, and finally his eight-piece band -- all done up in black-tie -- that the man everyone had come to hear made his appearance.

This was, after all, Ferry's first tour in five years.

Dressed simply in a white shirt, black leather pants and black blazer, Ferry launched his two-hour show with The Way You Look Tonight and Love Me Or Leave Me -- both from As Time Goes By.

But it wasn't until he pulled out his 1974 cover of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes that the audience finally warmed to his interpretive mood.

Other highlights were the poignant and pretty Chance Meeting and Where Or When, The Only Face -- with Ferry on piano and backed only by the string quartet -- and the trio of cabaret numbers, You Do Something To Me, Falling In Love Again and Just One Of Those Things.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5