John Kelly impersonates Joni Mitchell in a cabaret-style tribune show.

FOR the past decade or so, Joni Mitchell tunes have graced Feinstein's and the Oak Room. When uptown cabaret canaries stray from the Great American Songbook, they often turn to the loon from Saskatoon: She's a little folk, a little soft-rock, a little jazz -- classy! Even better, she's wordy and a tad weird.

But while other singers do the songs, John Kelly does the whole package. Sprung out of the 1980s East Village alt-scene, Kelly has been paying tribute to Mitchell, off and on, for 25 years now. Typically, he first tried out his characterization at a now-defunct drag-a-thon -- which gets a sly tip of the hat when Kelly sings "By the time we got to Wigstock" in "Woodstock."

Yet while Kelly wears a blond wig and a pair of Mitchellesque floor-length dresses, this reprise of his 1996 show "Paved Paradise" isn't a camp trip but rather a subtle, performance-art take on Joni Mitchell as icon.

In a hall-of-mirrors way, Kelly, who accompanies himself on guitar and dulcimer, is backed by two of the singer's own idols, Vincent van Gogh (Paul Ossola) on bass and Georgia O'Keeffe (Zecca Esquibel) on keyboards.

The set list hops through Mitchell's career in rough chronological order, reaching wide from "The Fishbowl," a poem the songwriter wrote in 10th grade, up to the title track from Mitchell's 2007 album, "Shine."

Kelly emulates his model's vocal swoops in their original key, but he doesn't try to disguise his decidedly masculine lower register. This ambiguity permeates the entire show and is driven even further by a stunning costume change during "Down to You." It ranks as one of the most honest, tender and inherently theatrical moments of the year.

This distance is both enhanced and undermined by Kelly's stylized emulation of Mitchell's expressions -- part coquettish, part bashful. Even when tuning a recalcitrant guitar, he remained in character and yet somehow other.

"Paved Paradise" is a little magical John-Joni island, outside of the here and now.

Sure, there are times when Kelly feels a little tentative. But his emotional connection to the material never falters. It's something that Mitchell -- who once said she'd "sacrifice the perfect time and the perfect pitch to color the words" -- would certainly embrace.

PAVED PARADISE REDUX: THE ART OF JONI MITCHELL

Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St.; 212-598-0400. Through Sunday.