Mandy Patinkin has done it all, performing on Broadway stages, concert stages, the silver screen, small screen and in the recording studio. Patinkin won a Tony for his Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "Evita" and was nominated for his role as Georges Seurat in Stephen Sondheim’s "Sunday in the Park with George." On film, he starred in Rob Reiner’s 1987 fantasy film “The Princess Bride” as Inigo Montoya and played Avigdor in Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl”. He was in television programs “Dead Like Me” and “Chicago Hope” (for which he won an Emmy). On Friday, April 11, Patinkin will be joined by opera singer Nathan Gunn for a night of music and fun at DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, bringing together the worlds of opera and Broadway onto one stage in “An Evening with Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn”. I was blessed with the opportunity to have a conversation with Patinkin and discuss the upcoming show, his career and the magic of storytelling and art.
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How did you and Nathan Gunn create “An Evening with Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn”?
I believe it was during Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday concert … Nathan and I were put in a little storage room upstairs in the sky. We shared this little space while we were in the rehearsal and during the performance. That was supposed to be our dressing area. I had never met Nathan before; I didn’t even know who he was! He goes down to rehearse his part. There was a video monitor up there [in the room] and a speaker, so wherever we were we could hear what was going on onstage. All of a sudden, I hear this guy singing, and it blows me away! His was one of the most gorgeous voices I had ever heard. He finishes and comes all the way back to the heavens, wherever our little cubby hole was. We’re talking and I say “You sound great; you’re amazing! Listen, you know, Frank Sinatra used to go out with Pavarotti, and they did a little thing together sometimes: an opera singer and a guy who sang pop songs. Would you have any interest in doing that?” He looked at me and went: “Absolutely!” That was the moment it began. He was game and I thought it would be fun to mix up the two worlds of opera and show tunes.
I sing story songs, and so does he! We were both excited to get going and we started to rehearse with my piano player Paul Ford and [Nathan’s] wife Julie Gunn who is his piano player. We started to think of ideas and put together a repertoire. Since then, Paul Ford retired, and then he just passed away a few weeks ago, but in 2015, Paul had taught my entire repertoire of everything I do to Adam Ben-David who will be playing the piano along with Julie Gunn and along with another surprise guest that will be on stage with us as well, as opposed to just Nathan and myself. So, there will be five of us out there!
Did you find any stylistic tension between musical theatre and opera?
No.
When developing the setlist, did you have any major song considerations?
I don’t go about it that way; I don’t have any considerations. We try to figure out which songs Nathan’s thinking about doing, which songs Mandy’s thinking about doing, which ones we like the most, which ones do we start with. Is there a way for us to do something together in this one? No, okay; let’s do this other one instead. Okay, now what would be a good thing to follow it? We try to see what might have followed the story of the first song. It doesn’t have to be literal; sometimes it’s just figurative, and sometimes the follow up is the opposite of what the song is. Sometimes it’s an echo of it. There are no rules; it’s just what we feel on the day!
We go about it like the way a painter works. A painter will just start painting the way he feels. Sometimes it’s literal, and you’ll see the apple and the bottle of wine. Sometimes it’s just colors and movement of the air, brush or light. Then, the observer — the audience of the painting — reacts to it, and everybody [reacts] differently. That’s what I just love about everything, I guess… everybody has their own reaction to everything, and it’s not the same as everyone else’s. I really feel it’s important to respect the difference that we all have about everything we feel and everything we think even if it isn’t in agreement with what we’re thinking. Just to have some regard and respect for the why of it all: why do you think something so differently from everything I’ve been brought up to think? What’s happened in our lives so that you see the painting this way, or the words this way or the song this way and I hear it a different way? That’s called life! Have some respect for the differences and the right to disagree. That is both art and the art of living.
When performing a show tune in a concert setting, you don’t have the build up from the book, characters and plot. How does performing a number in the context of the show compare to on its own in a concert?
I never do it in the context of the way it’s written, whether it be a show tune or anything. I pick a story. I’m lyric-driven, meaning the words and the story are what I pay attention to most. I’ve never found that the music wasn’t good enough to accompany a good story; it always worked. I have my radar out for stories, and that’s what I look for! I look for a story that is universal to me, meaning that it is not reliant on the source material or the show it came from or whoever wrote it. A lot of these pop guys who write songs write them about their families or their girlfriend or the world, but you don’t know what they write it about; you just know the song. For me, I never know what the original source material was… I listen to it for how it runs through my soul; how it runs through my observance of existence: of my life, of my kids’ life, of friends’ life, of the world’s life! That’s what I look for.
“Sunday in the Park with George” is a beautiful piece, especially lyrically. When Sondheim wrote “Finishing the Hat”, you performed it the same day he gave it to you.
I think so.
Did you know, when performing it that first time, the extent the song would influence and move audiences?
I think it was that day… We were only working on the first act, and a lot of my part wasn’t written. James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim wrote all the characters in the painting first, and it was after they had done that when they realized they left out a character, and that was the character of the artist. So, my part wasn’t written when we began rehearsals, except for one part of “Color and Light”. I would literally just sketch people — I went to the Art Student’s League to learn how to draw — in my sketchbook and draw the scene. Then I would walk to a mark on the stage, say something that Lapine had written like “I have to finish the hat”, and then I would walk to a different mark and begin drawing someone else play their scene. On this particular day, I didn’t know what was coming. We all went across the street to the West Bank Café, and in the basement, there was a piano they let us borrow for the day. Steve [Sondheim] sits down at the piano and James, Paul Gemignani [the show’s conductor] and myself were there. Steve was very nervous as he sat down at the piano, and he played this thing with his head down and great intensity. When he finished playing, he was sopping wet from sweat and nerves; he was nervous! It was like he just walked out of the ocean. When I looked up, I was in tears. I saw Lapine and Gemignani were also in tears. It was the first time any of us had ever heard it, and we couldn’t get over what we had just heard. Steve was like a nervous wreck. He asked if I would put it in the show as soon as I could, and he gave me the lyrics on a piece of onion skin typed on a typewriter. I still have it because I taped it in my sketchbook that I used during the scene so I could have the words if I needed them. That’s a very cherished piece of paper for me because Steve typed that himself.
How often do you get the “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya…” line from “The Princess Bride” recited to you?
Almost every day of my life somebody mentions it, and every time someone mentions it, I can never get over that I’m the guy that got to play that part in that movie. I just pinch myself and go, “How did that happen?” It’s always a wonderful treat to hear anybody mention it.
Do you have any memories or thoughts from the production of the film?
I had extraordinary experiences, but I guess the most beautiful experience was working with Andre the Giant. He was just truly the gentle giant. There are two moments I will share with you. One during the movie and one about 30 years later.
The very last thing we were filming, Andre and I were on the boat in a soundstage doing a little pickup shot of the boat coming into the Cliffs of Insanity where we get off and begin the climb. There was the script supervisor in the boat as we were approaching, and then she’d duck out of sight when the cameras were rolling. They were spending a lot of time lighting, and she, just a wonderful woman, said to Andre as we were waiting: “Andre, have you enjoyed this experience? Has it been pleasurable for you?”, and he said: “Oh yes.” She said: “How?”, and he said: “Nobody looks at me”. It was a killer moment, and you realize, wherever we went, everyone looked at Andre. It was an extraordinary moment because there were over 200 people on that film set. When you’re filming, a lot of the crew disappears, but they all brought their families this day and they stood in line like children at Disneyland and they waited to get a photograph and picture with Andre, and he stayed there for hours until every single person got a photo and an autograph with him. It was amazing.
The most important thing, I think, was about 30 years later. I was about 60 years old. I’m in Philadelphia in the hotel gym on the exercise machine working out and going over the words for the concert that night with my friend Patti LuPone. On the exercise machine, there was a TV that happened to be on “The Princess Bride”. I didn’t have earphones in; I couldn’t hear. I didn’t even know how to work the TV! I finish my workout, go back to my hotel room and my wife is there. She has the TV on to the movie! I don’t remember the last time I had seen it; probably when it first came out. Just as I walk in, it’s the scene where Andre is down below, and he shouts up to the Man in Black and Inigo and Robin White — the princess — falls in his arms in slow-motion. Right after that happens, the Man in Black says to Inigo — a 34-year-old Mandy playing Inigo: “Would you like to be the new Dread Pirate Roberts?” 30 years later, I heard what Inigo said to the Man in Black, and I never heard it while I was filming it. I did it, but I didn’t really hear or know what I was saying. People quote every word of that movie, but they never quote that line, and I think it is the greatest line in the movie and, for my money, that William Goldman ever wrote. That line is the most important thing I think, at this moment in our history, that could be heard and said. Those words were: “You know, it’s very strange. I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I do not know what to do with the rest of my life.” So, when people say to me they want to hear the line from “The Princess Bride,” the only line I want to tell them is that one.
You won a Tony for "Evita" (1980). Do you have any memories from the show?
I met my dear friend Patti LuPone and we became forever friends during that show. That’s what it’s about for me.
Do you have any advice for aspiring performers? This isn’t necessarily just for performance majors; I’m a neuroscience major who enjoys acting and singing.
Do it. Don’t think about it. Don’t wish for it. Find a way to do it, see how it goes, think if you liked it and see if you want to do it again or not. But don’t think about it and never give it a shot! No matter what your dream is, give it everything you’ve got, but don’t not try!
What should audiences expect from “An Evening with Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn”?
I expect us to have a good time, and I want the audience to have a good time too! That’s what we put it together for, and that’s what we’re doing it for. I expect for us to have a good time and to have fun!
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“An Evening with Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn” will be in concert at 7:30 p.m. on April 11 in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. This will be Patinkin’s first time performing at DPAC, so let’s give him a warm Notre Dame Irish welcome!
The excerpts from this interview were edited for clarity and length.
