and Kathryn Grody” and is facilitated by their son Gideon,
who produces all of the couple’s popular social media.
Patinkin’s “Being Alive” concert is coming to East Lansing’s
Wharton Center for Performing Arts on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Patinkin recently finished 52 concerts throughout the
United States, Canada and London. For over 35 years, he
has been entertaining audiences with his solo shows as well
as performances with Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone and
opera singer Nathan Gunn.
“Since 1989, I have been doing concerts all over the world
and I don’t even know where I am,” Patinkin says with a
laugh. “Sometimes I just get in the car, get to the plane, get
to the hotel, go to the theater, and get back to the hotel and
the next day get back on the plane.
“I just love people everywhere. I love the privilege of get-
ting to do this. There’s nothing I love more than performing
concerts,” he says. “I take a walk every day with my dog,
Becky, and I run one of the concerts because I have about
13-14 hours’ worth of material in my head that I don’t want
to lose. I feel like the most blessed guy in the world with my
family, my kids and the music.”
ADAM BEN-DAVID ON KEYS
Joining Patinkin at his “Being Alive” concert on Oct.
22 at the Wharton Center will be Adam Ben-David on
Kidman.
“Kathryn’s innate spirit is so free and full of
humanity. I just adore how unapologetically and
culturally Jewish she and Mandy are and how
much good they do for society. They
truly live tikkun olam [making the
world a better place].”
At the beginning of August, Albert
and LeeLun launched a tax-deductible
campaign to raise money to produce
a “heartfelt and magical” 12-15-min-
ute stand-alone short of Double
Happiness with the end-game goal of producing
a full-length feature film.
“I love, love, love this story,” says Grody, who’s
turning 78 on Nov. 6. “It’s a really moving idea to
me. And it’s one of those stories you never see
because people think love stops at age 50 and
that’s so absurd. It’s classic that this Jewish family
that spent every Christmas at the same Chinese
restaurant and now both people are widowed,
and they discover each other in a very real and
kind of messy way. It’s a lovely story.”
The ultimate multi-tasker, Grody recently per-
formed her one-woman show “The Unexpected
Third, A Radical Rollicking Rumination on the
Optimism of Staying Alive” and completed filming
another short called Wooly Bully while working
tirelessly with Patinkin to get out the vote.
“This story is a love letter to both the Chinese
and Jewish communities in New York and cele-
brates the unexpected joy of finding love in the
later chapters of your life,” adds LeeLun, who is
the co-writer and producer.
LeeLun and Albert are hoping to raise
$50,000+ and start shooting the second week of
December. They are currently scouting restaurant
locations.
“Please donate,” Grody urges. “It’s a mitzvah.”
All donations are tax-deductible through Double Happiness 501(c) (3)
sponsor: New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT). To donate,
go to: nywift.org/double-happiness. To preview Double Happiness,
use this video link: vimeo.com/964882688?share=copy. For more
information, visit lbi.org/projects/podcast. Listen and subscribe to
EXILE on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
OCTOBER 3 • 2024 | 49
J
N
Kathryn
Grody
“When everything is taken away, then
what?” asks Mandy Patinkin in each
episode of season three of the critically
acclaimed EXILE podcast that was just
released throughout July and August.
Produced by the Leo Baeck Institute
and Antica
Productions,
EXILE, narrated by
Patinkin, spotlights
untold stories of
Jewish lives under
fascism.
“Each individual
we profile this
season demon-
strates resilience,
courage, and
the power of the
human spirit in the
face of oppression
and war. EXILE
is a monument
to their contributions,” said Dr. Markus
Krah, the John H. Slade executive direc-
tor of the Leo Baeck Institute, a research
library founded in 1955 by Jewish emi-
gres.
“These are stories of German Jews
who survived the Holocaust and did
extraordinary things with their lives,” says
Patinkin, who has narrated 18 episodes
and has six more coming out in season
four. “The Leo Baeck Institute has won-
derful writers and historians who put it
all together from their archival material,
interviews and recordings from the past.”
The initial episodes of EXILE were
recorded during the pandemic from a
portable studio sent to Patinkin’s home in
upstate New York, followed by recording
sessions in Toronto and New York City.
“These are beautiful stories of surviv-
al and what people made of their lives,
and it was the
connection of my
Jewish heritage that
got me involved
in the podcast,”
says Patinkin, who
sang in the choir
for seven years
at Congregation
Rodfei Zedek grow-
ing up in Chicago.
“I always say
that if you’re a
Conservative Jew
from Chicago,
that makes you a
Reform Jew in New
York and an Orthodox Jew in California,”
Patinkin jokes.
Patinkin attended Hebrew school
every day as well as Shabbat services on
Friday nights and Saturday mornings.
“Cantor Maurice Goldberg and his wife
ran the adult and children’s choirs, and
on Friday nights we all sang together,”
Patinkin recalls fondly. “It was certainly
the birth of my love for music and where
it got in my bones and where I felt joy.”
For more information, visit lbi.org/projects/podcast. Listen
and subscribe to EXILE: “EXILE” on Apple Podcasts or
“EXILE” on Spotify.
Mandy
Patinkin in
concert
JOAN MARCUS
ARTS&LIFE
continued on page 51
THE LEO BAECK INSTITUTE