Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin
Brooklyn College
March 15, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
Orch GG 4, with Allison

Even after knowing how intense Mandy Patinkin gets from video, cd, and tv shows, nothing could have prepared me for seeing him live. Holy cow. It was fantastic, absolutely, but there were times he was so over the top that he morphed into the Forbidden Broadway parody of himself, and actually outdid it. His voice is just so BIG. He has an enormous, inhuman range. He'll go from low baritone to high falsetto from one note to the next. And the histrionics! Indescribable. The best part of the evening, aside from Mandy, was the old lady sitting behind us who decided to narrate the evening. Thank God for her because I wasn't sure what my opinion of the show was! Allow me to share the highlights:

Mind you, we were in the 4th row, so there is a good chance Mandy heard her as she was making no attempt to whisper.

Mandy: I've said before how lucky we all are to be alive at the same time as Stephen Sondheim.

Woman: (really best if read aloud in brazen old-lady-New York accent) Eh, I don't like Stephen Sondheim.

Mandy dabs sweat off his forehead with a towel.

Woman: He's not well! He's got a heart condition. That's why he's sweating so much!

Variations in this included: I'm telling you, he's not well! And He's got a heart condition, I tell you!

Yeah, either that or he was standing under hot spotlights… As Allison, an opera singer, said, if he had a heart condition, he would not be hitting those notes. Plus, he wouldn't be heading for a towel; he'd be bee-lining to an oxygen tank.

Woman: Eh, I don't like this song!

Audience: Shhh!

Mandy: Eh, let 'em talk. They need to talk. Let 'em talk.

He sang Maria from West Side Story—in Yiddish. And it was beautiful. Who knew?

Also, he sang 'Finishing the Hat' from Sunday in the Park with George, and Allison said she felt like she imagines people must have upon seeing Sinatra sing 'My Way' live.