Mandy Patinkin has been a Broadway star, a movie star and a TV star, but says what he loves best is to perform live music, up close, for an audience.
“It’s my favorite,” he said by phone recently from his apartment in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “It’s immediate. We all feed off each other. I only do it because they (audience members) are there … Everything is a reflection of what’s going on with the audience. If you’ve sung a song a hundred thousand times, it’s still new.”
Patinkin has sung a lot of songs over the decades and has amassed a dedicated fanbase, thanks not only to his incredible vocal range and acting talent but also to his indelible humanity.
To fans, he’s not just a talent but a mensch — a man of integrity and honor — and that glows from him, like light from an incandescent bulb. It makes for a very warm presence for his audiences.
That is likely to be obvious at his show on Nov. 1 at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto, part of its “Jewish Luminaries” series.
He will be accompanied by Adam Ben-David on piano, singing music partly from his albums “Diary: January 27, 2018” and “Diary: April/May 2018,” which he developed with the help of musician/producer Thomas Bartlett.
“I’ve been working with him in the studio,” Patinkin said. “It’s very different from the material I used in the last 30 years. That material was mainly show tunes and story songs.”
The newer repertoire, said Patinkin, is “more singer-songwriter material. Everything I am attracted to is lyric-driven. I am a lyrics-driven person. Story and words, quieter and calmer.”
The latest album, “Diary: April/May 2018,” includes one song by Stephen Sondheim, “Children and Art,” from “Sunday in the Park With George,” but also songs by Bob Dylan, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Keren Ann, Taylor Mac and a couple of tunes Patinkin wrote.
“Diary: January 27, 2018” includes a Rufus Wainwright tune, “Going to a Town,” for which Patinkin changed the lyrics to reflect his concerns about what’s going on in Israel these days. He substituted the word “Jerusalem” for the word “America.” His slow, mournful-but-powerful voice sings: “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down/I’m going to a place that has already been disgraced/I’m gonna see some folks who have already been let down/I’m so tired of Jerusalem.”
“I want a two-state solution,” he said.
Patinkin debuted his new show in New York on Oct. 10, where it will repeat through Oct. 28, then come to the JCC in Palo Alto. Then the show moves to Hawaii, followed by Australia.
After that, Patinkin said, he will be back at work on “Homeland,” the Showtime series, for which he has received Emmy nominations. This will be the final season. After that, it’s back in the studio to work on new music.
Patinkin won an Emmy for his role on “Chicago Hope” in 1994 but quit that show because he didn’t like being away from wife Kathryn Grody and sons Isaac and Gideon. He quit another show, “Criminal Minds,” because he wasn’t comfortable with the program’s ongoing violence. He’s been with “Homeland” since 2011.
On Broadway, Patinkin won a Tony Award for creating the role of Che in “Evita,” in 1979. He was nominated for another Tony Award in 1984 for his role in “Sunday in the Park with George.”
But he may be best known for his role in the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride.” Millions of people are familiar with, and probably thousands, upon meeting him, ask him to repeat the line:
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Despite his on-screen success, the best times for Patinkin, still, are in front of a live audience.
“It’s about being connected, about being alive,” Patinkin said. “The way the audience behaves informs your behavior. How they listen, how they quiet, how they rustle, while we’re together. That’s why I love it.
“A film is made in the editing room, the same with TV. You’re never there with the audience, not sharing the experience. But at a concert, you’re all together, sharing the experience. The audience is part of the creation.”
Freelance Writer John Orr can be emailed at johnorr@regardingarts.com.
What: Mandy Patinkin in concert.
When: Thursday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Schultz Cultural Arts Hall, Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto.
Cost: $145-$250.
Info: Go to paloaltojcc.org/mandy or call 650-223-8649.