Mandy Patinkin to Star in COMPULSION at Yale Rep, Directed by Oskar Eustis in 2010

The New York Times has confirmed that Broadway vet Mandy Patinkin will star in the new play about a man's obsession with the diary of Anne Frank by Rinne Groff, currently titled Compulsion. The play will make its premiere at Yale Repertory Theater next year. Patinkin will reportedly star as a character inspired by Meyer Levin, the journalist and screenwriter who assisted in publicizing the existence of the diary, and who believed that the opportunity to turn it into a play had been stolen from him.

The production will be directed by the Public's Oskar Eustis, who reportedly recruited Patinkin. Though the production was initially scheduled to run in February of 2010, the dates have been moved to accommodate Patinkin's touring schedule with Patti LuPone.  

Of the role, Patinkin tells the New York Times that the play dramatizes through his character the "compulsive point of view of someone who can't hear the necessary changes that are in the air...He feels that the fragility of the Jewish state is embodied in this woman's belief system - her desire that all people are good, but his terror at the same time that the state of Israel and all Jews could be annihilated, just like Anne Frank was."

To read the full report in the New York Times, click here.

The production, which is being produced by the Public and Berkeley Repertory Theater, will begin preview performances on Jan. 29 with an official opening slated for Feb. 4. The run is scheduled to end on Feb. 28.

Patinkin rose to fame when he appeared on Broadway as Che in Evita in 1979. Patinkin went on to win that year's Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. He then moved to film, playing parts in movies such as Yentl and Ragtime. He returned to Broadway in 1984 to star in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park with George, which saw him earn another Tony Award nomination for Best Actor (Musical). Patinkin will be touring with former Evita co-star and lifelong friend Patti LuPone in 2010.

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