Mandy Patinkin eagerly reaches out to entertain his fans

By R. Christiansen
Chicago Tribune, October 30,2001

No one ever accused Mandy Patinkin of trying to hide his feelings. In song and story in his one-man concerts, he wears his heart on his sleeve, or anywhere else he can display it, eager to touch and entertain.

"Less is more is not my forte," he tells his audience at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, and at the end of almost 2 and 1/2 hours of his work, you believe him.

In the present times of stress, Patinkin is particularly eager to reach out to his following, urging them to come to New York to feel the sense of community there and to do their duties as Americans by getting out of the house and going to the theater.

Early on in his show, he offers bits of information from a magazine article on anthrax, noting that the flu, which is expected to account for 20,000 American deaths this season, is far more lethal.

To prove his point, he brings out Dr. Melman, his Aunt Ida's doctor, to give him a flu shot on stage. He jokes a bit about that, but he's serious when he asks everyone in the audience to go and do likewise.

At the end of his performance, after the encore and the standing ovation, he announces that, having formed his own charitable organization for donations to four worthy causes, he will stand in the lobby with a big cardboard box to accept funds of any denomination from customers who wish to contribute.

He then takes off his microphone, dashes up the aisle and, as good as his word, stands there greeting his departing fans.

He also sings.

The selections this time include the usual healthy helping of selections from the Broadway musicals of Stephen Sondheim; a couple songs by Arthur Schwartz, the father of Patinkin's friend, New York disc jockey Jonathan Schwartz; a "Minute Waltz" patter song; a novelty trio with two hand puppets; and Yiddish renditions of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "God Bless America," which ends with a huge flag dropping down as a backdrop.

He also brings his customers into the act, cajoling and coercing them into whistling or going through the motions of the hokeypokey (which he danced at his wedding) or singing along with him in Meredith Willson's "Trouble" from "The Music Man."

At times, as he gets lost in the middle of a long account of how he came to pick out the expensive black slacks and maroon shirt he's wearing for his current concert tour, he baffles even his faithful companion, piano accompanist Paul Ford, who either shakes his head or throws up his hands in disbelief.

Allowing that he might stretch the patience of even his most devout followers, Patinkin kids himself by saying that, of course, "This show is rehearsed to within an inch of its life."

Well, that's our Mandy. You've got to love him--or leave him alone.