Can it be? It was really more than 30 years ago that Bernadette Peters was the adorable Kewpie doll with the cupid's-bow mouth in “The Jerk,” the Steve Martin comedy? Alas, it’s true. Time has not stopped, not for any of us.

But the multi-talented Peters still sings with the verve, power and expressiveness we heard from her when she was the young Broadway ingénue in the ‘70s. And she still looks like a million bucks, which is why she can still slink around the stage in glamorous evening gowns.

In the almost 40 years since she won her first Tony nomination (for her performance in the musical “On the Town”), Peters has repeatedly won over audiences and critics alike with her vibrant, show-stopping performances in Broadway musicals and in her solo concerts — not to mention her sometimes-surprising film roles.

And it isn’t just her vocal power, range and phrasing. She’s also a charismatic physical presence onstage, where she often seems to use her entire body when singing — sometimes bending at the waist, or reaching for the sky, or throwing her head back and tossing her Botticelli curls as she delivers the final, soaring note.

Onstage, Peters — who comes to the Power Center on Saturday, for an Ann Arbor Summer Festival show — is also seductive. She’s not afraid to camp it up a bit, reclining on the piano in leonine fashion and employing come-hither glances and gestures — not to mention some well-timed pauses for tongue-in-cheek “dramatic” effect.

Given her many years of experience and expertise in Broadway productions, Peters’ solo shows tend to focus largely on her interpretations of show tunes. Her repertoire typically includes such Broadway-melody show-stoppers as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” from “South Pacific,” “Let Me Entertain You” from “Gypsy,” “Johannah” from “Sweeney Todd,” and plenty of Stephen Sondheim songs in general.

But she also incorporates non-Broadway tunes into her solo performances, like a smoldering, semi-campy rendition of Peggy Lee’s “Fever,” or a subtly luminous interpretation of the traditional folk song “Shenandoah.” And she taps into her considerable charm when engaging the audience with her between-song comic patter, which she delivers in her signature, endearingly girlish speaking voice.

Although Peters frequently performs with a full orchestra, Saturday’s show will feature a more intimate ensemble, says Gregg Powell, who will be playing double bass in that ensemble. Powell, who is also the principal bassist and personnel manager for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, says the ensemble for Saturday’s performance will consist of piano, drums, bass and a string quintet, “plus two woodwind players who will be juggling a plethora of saxophones, flutes, clarinets, and oboes.

“This will be a dream come true for each of us, being so personally connected to and involved in her performance,” says Powell, a longtime admirer of Peters’ vocal talents and her presence as a performer.

“She really is an American treasure, who personifies everything that is great about musical theater,” Powell says. “Not only is she a consummate musician, but she’s a vocal chameleon with incredible range; she can play a wide variety of different characters. She portrays each character absolutely as intended by the composer, while many other singers can only portray one monochromatic character — or themselves.” Listen to Bernadette Peters "Broadway Baby" (MP3).

Those who are not show tune fans, of course, are more familiar with Peters from her film work. Ever since her ‘70s beginnings, she’s balanced her musical theater career with her work as a film actress. Some may recall her early cinematic days, like her role as the beehived secretary in “The Longest Yard” in ’74, and her sexy-cute presence in Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie” in ’76.

Then came her role as the female robot, opposite Andy Kaufman, in “Heartbeeps,” in ’81. My personal favorite from that era, though, was her affecting turn as the shy, lonely schoolteacher in the surreal, expressionistic “Pennies From Heaven” (also from ’81), which reunited her with Martin and included a visually-vivid tabletop dance number by the nimble Christopher Walken.

After that, Peters mostly returned to the stage, playing the role of Dot in Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” in ’83. Then, she won her first Tony two years later for her dominating presence in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Song and Dance,” wherein the entire first act was just Peters, onstage, commanding the audience’s entire attention.

In 1987, she received a Drama Desk nomination for her riveting turn as The Witch in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.” Yet another Tony nomination came her way in ’92 for her performance as Paula in the musical version of “The Goodbye Girl,” composed by Marvin Hamlisch.

In the last decade, she’s appeared in such films as “It Runs in the Family,” “Let It Snow,” “Bobby’s Girl” and “Prince Charming.” In ’01, she also earned an Emmy nod for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy for her brief turn in the TV show “Ally McBeal.”

More recently, Peters, who is also an animal rescue / animal adoption activist, ventured into another medium when she wrote a book, “Stella Is a Star,” which is “about pit bull named Kramer who doesn’t feel he’s appreciated and poses as a pig,” Peters told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “It’s to benefit my work with animals.”

But back to her singing. Her two most recent solo CDs, “Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein” and “Sondheim, Etc., Etc.: Live at Carnegie Hall — The Rest of It,” prompted the critics to hurl more precious metal at her feet. And one of her recent highlights was her performance as Mama Rose in the 2003-04 revival of Sondheim’s “Gypsy.”

Just a couple of weeks after her Ann Arbor date, Peters is scheduled to head back to Broadway, taking over for recent Tony winner Catherine Zeta-Jones in the current revival of Sondheim's "A Little Night Music."

What makes Peters unique as a vocalist, offers Powell, is that she “draws the listener into the drama that she creates, using subtle shades of vocal color and exquisite tone. Her voice is distinct and easily recognizable, and her tone is always appropriate for the lyrics, and for the style of the piece. She never sacrifices intonation for passion. She’s the whole package of singer and actor in one delightful persona.”

Kevin Ransom is a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.