ENTERTAINMENT
FRAN ROTHBARD
Special to The Jewish News
andy Patinkin's solo
concert perfor-
mances started as
an intimate revue in a 275-
seat theater off Broadway.
Just Mandy and pianist Paul
Ford, in an informal evening
of song called "Mandy
Patinkin: Dress Casual."
Mr. Patinkin put the concert
together to fill in the waiting
periods between acting jobs.
The film actor, Tony-
award winner and singer
has since performed at Lin-
coln Center backed by a 45-
piece orchestra and with the
Boston Pops, the Hollywood
Bowl Orchestra and the Cin-
cinnati Pops.
Last week, Mr. Patinkin
brought his soulful tenor
voice to Pine Knob, where he
performed with the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Patinkin admits
there's a big difference bet-
ween the small and large
venues, but like most every-
thing else in his life, he rel-
ishes the variety.
"Every place is different.
You can be in a huge place
and the audience can make
you feel very intimate," he
said during a telephone
interview from his home in
Manhattan. "I don't do that
many of these concerts. It's
new ground and I've got to
get used to it."
In the many articles that
have been written about him
since he first won critical ac-
claim on Broadway (he won
a Tony for his portrayal of
Che Guevara in Evita), the
word most used to describe
Mandy Patinkin is versatile.
He is also known for the
study and devotion he brings
to his acting roles.
A gifted singer ("a
gorgeous theatrical voice"
said one writer) and a
dedicated actor, Mr.
Patinkin has chosen roles
that cross the spectrum of
human nature — and has
taken them on with great
skill. For his role as the
Spanish swordsman in The
Princess Bride he studied
fencing for six months.
Before filming Yentl he
studied Talmud at two
yeshivot. In The House On
Carroll Street, Mr. Patinkin
played a McCarthy-era
lawyer; he studied tapes of
the hearings to prepare for
the part. To create the role of
George in the Pulitzer Prize-
winning musical Sunday In
The Park With George, for
which he won another Tony
nomination, Mr. Patinkin
spent days studying the
painting of the artist George
Seurat.
He has also worked with
the New York Shakespeare
Festival in The Winter's
Tale, The Knife, Henry IV,
Part I, Leave It To Beaver Is
Dead and Hamlet.
The actor and singer often
manages to juggle several
projects at once. Mr.
Patinkin currently is starr-
ing on Broadway as "Uncle
Archie" in The Secret
Garden. In between shows,
he performs his solo concert.
In the recently released film
Impromptu, he plays poet
Alfred de Musset; in True
Colors he plays a crook. In
August, his latest film, The
Doctor, will be released. He's
also planning his third
album, but "I don't know
what's going to be on it yet."
His dedication to perfec-
ting his craft, as intense as it
may be, barely compares to
the devotion he feels for his
family. He and his wife, ac-
tress Kathryn Grody, have
two sons. They have, he said,
worked very hard at keeping
their family first.
"Anyone who has a family
knows it is tough enough.
With two careers it's
tougher," he said. And with
two careers in show busi-
ness, it's tougher yet. "We're
Many Patinkin:
More than an
"Irish tenor."
blessed in terms of having
learned how to deal with the
business. "
For one thing, competition
doesn't seem to get in the
way. In fact, he said, "I'm
trying to get her to be more
competitive." Mr. Patinkin
is enthusiastic about his
wife's most recent work, a
one-woman play she wrote
and is now performing. A
Mom's Life is a story about
the struggle of parenthood in
which Ms. Grody plays
herself and her two children.
The play has recently been
published as a novel by Avon
Books, Mr. Patinkin said.
There was a time when
self-doubt weighed heavily
on the 38-year-old actor. In
the mid-'80s he was dropped
from the cast of Heartburn
and replaced by Jack
Nicholson; a period of
critical self-examination
followed. An introspective,
thoughtful man with a
tendency toward perfec-
tionism, Mr. Patinkin has
been known to "worry
himself sick." He said he has
learned to take things a bit
less seriously.
He credits the growth to
being married and raising
children. That and age, he
said, have made him wiser.
"You realize life is too
short."
He and Kathryn are now
shopping Hebrew schools for
their oldest son, Isaac. They
are considering taking the
family to Israel for his bar
mitzvah. "It's important to
me that my two boys have a
strong sense of heritage," he
said. "I want my sons to
have that connection with
timelessness. That's the
greatest gift, the history and
the teaching, and that you're
not alone and part of the
human race."
That heritage, he said, "is
very much a part of my
makeup." He grew up on the
south side of Chicago, the
son and grandson of scrap
metal dealers. He began
singing at age 9 in his
temple's choir and attended
Hebrew school and Hebrew-
speaking camps.
He was also active in
community theater during
the years he attended pri-
vate school. After two years
at the University of Kansas,
he went to Juilliard to study
acting.
For several years he con-
centrated on dramatic roles,
displaying a marked reluc-
tance to let anyone know he
was a gifted singer. In 1977,
when his agent sent him to
audition for Evita he almost
refused. In a few years he
became one of the most
sought-after musical actors
on Broadway.
In his concerts he draws
from that background, selec-
ting show tunes that range
from Jolson to his favorite
contemporary composer,
Stephen Sondheim. ❑
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Mandy Patinkin, with a little help from the DSO,
brought his solo act to the new Pine Knob.