The Stars Come Out To Play.

Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn talk to Coral Drouyn on the eve of their Australian Concert Tour.

Let’s not beat about the bush. Mandy Patinkin is a Superstar and has been for many years, though you would never know it from talking to him. The man who gave us the immortal line "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die," in The Princess Bride; the Tony award winningChe in Evita; the quintessential George who spent Sunday in the Park with Sondheim, and who is the CIA agent with integrity (is that an oxymoron?) in Homeland, is a warm and funny man who is out to have fun, and wants the audiences to do the same…with great talent comes great humility.

Nathan Gunn, the operatic baritone who stuns audiences not only with his voice but also his stunning looks and physique (no pecs on display on this tour, he’s trying to live down the “hunk” tag) is a also a huge star in his own right. So when you hear that the two men will be together on stage for a fantastic evening of eclectic music and humour, well – you just have to go if you really love theatre; and I say theatre because this promises to be so much more than a concert.

The story of how the two met sharing a dressing room at Stephen Sondheim’s 80^th birthday concert three years ago is the stuff that 1940s musicals could hang a book on, but it really happened. A mutual admiration society became a friendship very quickly – sometimes people just click, they “get” each other; and so it was with Gunn and Patinkin, despite them being from different theatrical worlds and almost a generation apart.

“It’s kind of blurry who suggested we should work together,” Mandy says. Nathan agrees. “I think I said something like ‘it would be great to work with you’ not even thinking about how and Mandy very positively said, ‘Well then, let’s do it.”

I get the feeling that when Mandy says “Let’s do it”, you say yes immediately, for fear of missing out on something. So they did, and it worked, and audiences gave standing ovations and the press ran out of superlatives. But for the two stars it is the joy of being onstage together that drives them. That, and spontaneity.

Nathan explains “It’s such a different discipline to opera, where everything is so regimented. It’s a heady experience to have so much freedom on stage.” Mandy agrees. “Music theatre, films, television, you’re playing a role … you give the best performance you can, but they’re someone else’s words, and you’re someone else when you’re saying them. The freedom to interpret lyrics as yourself, to talk to an audience asyou, that’s highly addictive. At heart I’m a storyteller, and stories always change in the telling. The show is never the same two nights in a row. The songs are set, but that’s it.” Nathan laughs, “During one show I actually forgot the words to Somewhere Over The Rainbow and I just dried. Mandy just looked at me and said ‘You want me to tell you the words don’t you? Weeelll….” Mandy chimes in. “We both just laughed because I’m the one who usually forgets the words to something, but it’s no big deal because we’re human. We’re not pre-programmed, we think and feel and express spontaneously, and sometimes the mind just decides it wants a break. And the audience is always with us when it happens. They know what it is to be human.”

Both have such busy schedules that the sheer delight of finding the time to tour keeps them fresh and excited. Mandy has finished shooting the third series of Homeland and has a new project coming up next year, initially off Broadway. “It’s with the very exciting Taylor Mac,” he explains. “We play the last two men on earth…two vaudevillians who can’t speak the same language. Their common language is their vaudeville shtick.” He sounds excited, almost child-like. Mandy’s love of comedy is well known, yet the roles get more intense as he ages. “It’s natural” he concedes, “but I love to laugh, so if you hear of any part, anytime, that’s funny, please, let me know.

When you listen to both men talk you are instantly struck by their passion for what they do…it’s driven both of them since they were in their teens and they agree that the day the passion is gone will be the day they stop performing. “It was always the passion for the music,” Nathan says, “It wasn’t in any way considering that it might be a good career choice, it was just knowing that I had to sing. And so when I got the choice of several music scholarships at around 16 I said to myself, ‘Now I have to add hard work to the passion, I have to take it seriously if it’s going to be my life.’ I hadn’t thought of it that way before.” Nathan somehow found time, while taking it seriously, to marry a fellow music major, Julie Jordon (who is his accompanist on this tour) and have five children, one of whom is already a music major at college. Mandy’s wife is also with him as well as long-term accompanist, the incredibly prolific Paul Ford. The tour is very much a family affair.

Mandy generously tells me the wonderful story of him giving in to the passion that drives this, and all his other, concert tours. “It was after Evita…maybe even after Sunday in the Park. I’d recorded some songs…not from the shows, just me singing, and I was doing A Winter’s Tale at Joe Papp’s Public Theatre. And Joe asked me what was I going to do to promote the album.” He laughs. “And I didn’t have a clue. I mean, I couldn’t imagine just standing up and singing to an audience as myself. That was scary. The character, the role, is a security blanket. I’m an actor, I didn’t know if I could just be me on a stage. So Joe Papp said ‘Listen Patinkin, I’ll give you the theatre on Monday nights (when it was normally black). You get your Pianist (Paul) and you work in the set ‘cos we’re not striking it for you, and you find out what this thing is between you and these songs. I have never been so nervous in my life. But we did it, and I was shaking, but the adrenaline rush….it was unbelievable. The connection to the music, the lyrics, the stories in those songs…it was emotionally overwhelming. There was a connection with the audience that was different to anything I had experienced, and I knew that this was my passion and always would be. I love acting. I’m grateful for every new chance. But to stand on a stage and feel connected to people and sing songs that move me and the audience….that has to be the greatest rush there is.”

Thank you Mandy for reminding us why we do what we do.

You get to see these two great artists living their passion in Melbourne tomorrow night (21^st November) other tour dates are below. And TicketMaster has just released some last minute tickets at incredible savings. I’ll see you in the foyer.

AN EVENING WITH MANDY PATINKIN AND NATHAN GUNN

MELBOURNE

Venue: Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne

Date: Thursday 21 November

Time: 8.00pm

Bookings: artscentremelbourne.com.au or 1300 182 183, ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 136 166

SYDNEY

Venue: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

Date: Tuesday 26 November

Time: 8.00pm

Bookings: sydneyoperahouse.com or 02 9250 7777, ticketmaster.com.au or 136 100

BRISBANE

Venue: Concert Hall, QPAC

Date: Thursday 28 November

Time: 8.00pm

Bookings: qpac.com.au or phone 136 246