FEATURES: Oh, Mandy

Prepare to be entertained by multitalented performer 

Mandy Patinkin has roared on Broadway, stolen hearts on television and in film, belted beautifully in the recording studio, and owned the classic stage roles.

So what type of work would this multitalented artist choose if he could only do one?

"If I had to choose only one thing, there is no question that I would choose the live stage concert," Patinkin said, calling from New York. "It is a reservoir of endless material. You can always find something that reflects what you are going to say, written by great artists."

Patinkin comes to the concert stage on Thursday, for one night only at the Austad Auditorium. The event is sponsored by the Stewart Education Foundation and presented by the foundation and the WSU College of Arts and Humanities.

Patinkin is accompanied by pianist and arranger Paul Ford, whom he has worked with for two decades.

Ford, said Patinkin, is one of the most gifted musicians in the world.

"(Ford) is just one of the great gifts I have ever been given -- only to be outdone by my wife and my two children," said Patinkin. "His knowledge, too, of this material? He is like the Library of Congress. He knows the genre better than anyone I've ever known."

Theater and music

Originally from the south side of Chicago, Patinkin started singing in the boys choir in synagogue.

"Later, I went to college (Juilliard) and started doing plays," he said. "I never sang a note there. And after Juilliard, I did one play after another, never singing."

His big break, both as an actor and a singer, came playing Che Guevara in "Evita" on Broadway. He won a Tony for the role.

"This led to a mix of singing roles and coupled with what is referred to as straight roles -- non-singing roles, that is. And after a while, someone asked me to make a record, and I always wanted to do that."

He released his first solo album in 1989.

Laughing, he added, "After I did (the album), then it was like, 'Now what do I do, put them in a drawer?' "

The classics

After the album came out, Patinkin got in his mind to do a series of concerts. He had some specific ideas for the show, which did not include a huge orchestra and all of the frills, as those in the know advised him to do.

"But I said, 'I don't want to do that. I want to do it with just Paul, my pianist, with an upright Yamaha.' "

New York theater impresario Joseph Papp, long a Patinkin supporter, is the man who gave Patinkin the chance to realize his concert dream.

"Joe came over for a Shabbat dinner one night, and wanted me to do 'A Winter's Tale' at The Public (Theater). So, I told him about the concert idea. 'Everyone says I can't do it,' I said. He said, 'You didn't ask me yet. I can let you do it. You play Leontes for me, eight shows a week, and you'll have six Mondays off -- you can do your little concert then.'

"So, I did. And when I did the first concert, Joe came backstage after, in the dressing room and put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Well, I guess you like doing that. You must always do both of these things together' -- meaning the classics and the songs. Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekov, along with the music, too ... and I am happiest when I do both."

Patinkin confessed to being thrilled at the moment. While he is doing concerts, he is also preparing to play the banished sorcerer Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," at the Classic Theater in New York.

"I have been working on (Prospero) several months already, and rehearsal doesn't start until July. The play opens in September. So really, I'll be preparing for over six months -- or maybe really, my whole life -- to play this role."

The unexpected

As for what Patinkin will perform in Ogden, he doesn't know for sure.

"I often change at the last minute," he said. "We have over 10 hours of material we cull from, plus I am always learning new things." He chuckled.

"I will probably walk out onstage and still have papers in my hands, with new songs. I often think that those performances are better than after I have learned the song completely, because it is so fresh and new."

Patinkin said the songs that make up his repertoire are classic because of the universal issues expressed within.

"There are places in the show -- I can't get away from it -- where I put some songs together for the show that might be ... a prayer, something about this war, and how we can go about achieving peace and bringing our children home. I usually sing about that, and often other current events, too.

"But I have lots of songs that are ... just about life and living and having fun, too. I see myself as the mailman for all these geniuses that have written classic songs over the years -- about what they wished for and thought. I deliver that, wind, rain, sleet or hail. I deliver it to myself, and I deliver it to every member of the audience. I take that job very seriously."

He chooses songs for the lyrics and the stories they tell, and he concentrates on those elements when performing.

"I do what my wife told me to do years ago: 'You've worked on this, you know it. Now listen to the words and see where they take you.'

"Oftentimes, I will hear my mind getting too complicated and cluttered when I am singing, and when I do, I try and do that Zen thing -- try not to be in the past, be right where you are now, and listen to what you are saying."