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

