Interview: Mandy Patinkin Chats About His Upcoming BEING ALIVE Concert at Wharton Center

On October 22nd, beloved stage and screen star Mandy Patinkin is performing his solo concert entitled Being Alive at East Lansing’s Wharton Center. Together with pianist Adam Ben-David, Patinkin will perform songs written by some of our society’s most favorite and acclaimed songwriters, including (but certainly not limited to) Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Harry Chapin, Randy Newman and Rufus Wainwright. 

BroadwayWorld Michigan had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Patinkin before his upcoming concert at Wharton Center. Read our conversation below!

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BroadwayWorld Michigan: Can you tell me a bit about the process of choosing what songs to feature in your concert, Being Alive?

Mandy Patinkin: We had another concert before the pandemic called “Diaries”. I liked it, we were happy with it, and it was good but dark. I said to Adam Ben-David, my piano player, “Look, I’m ready to get out there after two and a half years of being inside. How about you?” He said “Yeah, let’s go.” I said, “But I want it to be different. Let’s put the [concert] we did before in the drawer, maybe we’ll use one song or two but I really want this to be a welcome back. A welcome back for me, for you, for our audiences. A welcome back to being together, welcome back to the living. And I want it to be fun.” And so we went through 13 hours of my repertoire that we have approximately. We looked for what’s the right song to say hello with, and what’s a good [song] to follow that. That’s how we go. And then we have alternatives; things happen in our lives and in the world that change things, so we make changes. It’s fluid. 

I don’t put out a program with the songs in them, so that when you come into the theatre, you don’t get a program where it says what I’m going to do, because I may change it that night. I may change it one second before I start singing the song, I might change it while I’m singing a song. I go where the spirit moves me. I pay attention to what’s going on around me, both in my world and in my life and in the life of the world and the audience’s life.

You’ve done so many concerts over the years. Do you still find ways to step out of your comfort zone with regard to the genres you explore?

Yeah, and I do that by having friends who suggest material to me that certainly is not in my comfort zone. I explore other things; that’s great fun, the collaborations. Anything new is always fun. It’s a challenge and I think it’s fun for my audiences – “I can’t believe he’s doing that.” 

You are performing this concert with Adam Ben-David as your pianist. Will there be any other musicians / instruments, or just the piano? 

Just Adam and me. That’s how I do it, it’s always been that way for 35 years. There was a period where I did some orchestra concerts, but I didn’t like doing that. It was wonderful, the sound and everything was glorious, but it was a very different dynamic. There were 50 or 85 people on the stage, you have to get there in the morning, you have two rehearsals, and by the time you get to the evening performance, you’re exhausted. I found from the very beginning, what was unique about what we did, was it was a bare stage with just a piano player, Mandy and the songs that these gifted geniuses wrote that I am simply the mailman of. I’m not the genius, I’m just the mailman [of these songs] that I need and like to hear. I believe my audiences need and like to hear them as well. It’s really comforting to hear them with company. 

Is there a common theme or thread that knits the songs you pick together? 

Having fun, and being alive. That’s why the title [of this concert] is what it is. 

What music do you enjoy listening to in your downtime?

I enjoy listening to a guy named Gideon Irving, who writes music that I just love. I enjoy Mahler, I enjoy Tom Waits, anything by Tom Waits. I enjoy Randy Newman. I enjoy country music. I enjoy things that my son sends me to listen to from other people and friends. It’s very eclectic, I’m always hearing something different every day. I love listening, so that’s what I do. 

The new songs that you listen to, do those ever make it into your concerts?

Yes they do. 

What has been so rewarding about welcoming back audiences post-pandemic? 

I feel that people have been separated from each other, wearing masks, etc., for years. We don’t get that time back. If you told me I had to choose between plays, television, movies, recordings, concerts, I would absolutely choose the concert venue. We’re all together in this space. We’re breathing together, for better or for worse, and we’re listening to these ideas and thoughts that very gifted people have put down on paper, music and lyrics that they tried to realize for themselves and in many cases, never did. But they left them for all of us to listen to forever. That communal feeling is incredibly comforting to me. I’m not alone. 

It’s the most peaceful thing on earth to me, when I walk out there for that hour and a half plus. There’s nothing like it. I actually don’t know how to explain it, I only know the difference when you have one person listening or a couple thousand people listening versus being alone with a microphone. It’s all the difference in the world. I pinch myself, because I can’t get over that I’m allowed to do this, that I’ve been doing it for most of my adult life now and it’s supported my family and my soul. 

It was so difficult in that period of time, everything felt so disconnected. It’s nice to be back in the theatre again. 

It is nice to be back. The world is so fragile and broken right now, and we’re all in a state of shock at times about many, many things. I think we all need a rest from the madness surrounding us globally. We all need to do whatever we can to improve the world and the planet every moment we can, any way we can, but I also think you need to rest your soul and your mind, and listen to very wise thoughts from very smart people who are gifted artists that left these thoughts behind for mailmen like me to deliver. [These ideas are] quite wonderful and quite eclectic in the vast range from having fun, to reflecting, to hoping, to wishing, to celebrating, to remembering and everything else under the sun. There’s not a topic on earth that there hasn’t been hundreds of songs written about. 

Do you have anything else you’d like people to know about your Being Alive concert?

It’s designed to have a nice, good time, “together” time. It’s designed to make me feel good and hopefully [make] my audiences feel good. Whether you’re familiar with me from movies or TV or whatever, if you’re doing nothing and even if you’re not familiar [with me], come down, check it out. If you don’t like it, close your eyes and take a nap. If you really don’t like it, you can leave! 

We really travel everywhere because we love doing it. I love going anywhere and everywhere to bring [this concert] to people. That’s our modus operandi, and that’s why we make [these concerts] and why we go everywhere to do them. I guarantee you will get every ounce of effort from me to give you everything I can. I hope you enjoy it. 

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Tickets for Mandy Patinkin's Being Alive concert are on sale now at Wharton Center's official ticketing outlets: online at whartoncenter.com, at the official Wharton Center Ticket Office or by calling 1-800-WHARTON.

To keep updated with Mandy Patinkin, follow him on Twitter at @patinkinmandy, on Instagram at @mandypatinkin and on Facebook at facebook.com/MandyPatinkin. You can also check out his YouTube channel at @MandyPatinkinChannel.

Note: This interview has been edited for concision. 

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