Last night we went to see Mandy Patinkin in concert at the Strathmore Music Center in Rockville Maryland. It was an hour and forty minutes with no intermission. He performed mostly obscure (to us) showtunes and personal compositions with a single upright piano accompaniment. Let me say that I like most of the well known and popular showtunes we all hum to ourselves in the shower, but Patinkin’s selection of tunes from the middle of some musicals I have never heard of was exceedingly dull, tedious and for the $58 admission price just awful. Songs from the middle of a scene in a musical make sense in the context of the story, but extracted from that context, both musically and chronologically, it makes no sense whatsoever. From the very first number I sat there thinking this has got to get better. But as he sings in one piece, “If it can worse it will get worse…” It did.
The highlight of the show was when he sang three tunes, White Christmas, Maria, and some Sondheim song, in Yiddish. I had to chuckle at White Christmas in Yiddish, but will admit that the germanic sound of the words was just a little creepy in that context.
I was a good boy. I looked away from Marti as each piece ended, so I would not start laughing and so she wouldn’t ask me if I wanted to leave, I didn’t make faces, I sat there respectfully and clapped at the end of each piece. Turns out she was thinking the same thing, that it had to get better. Finally, as Marti looked at me and asked if I wanted to leave, it ended. We bolted for the door before the encore and I remarked that I now knew why there was no intermission, nobody would come back.
Run like the wind if you ever get offered tickets to one of these concerts…
Postsript: Marti points out that the house was packed and he got a standing ovation. I guess she looked back over her shoulder as we skedaddled for the parking lot. And we laughed till we cried all the way home. Something we have not done in months….
March 2, 2008
Showtunes….
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LOL! Great review… I love it!
Comment by Suzy Q — March 2, 2008 @ 10:39 am |
Ooooo, Ed – I know how much you and Marti look forward to those concerts at Strathmore… I have been to concerts and plays where I felt the same way… sometimes it is a good excuse for a nap! Mandy Patinkin does have a nice voice – too bad he made some bad choices for the performance. Glad you all could have a laugh and enjoy looking back at the quirkiness of the evening. Love ya – Susan
Comment by Susan Burch — March 2, 2008 @ 2:21 pm |
If you have taken the time to find out what this concert was you would not have felt this way. Patinkin’s concert description for this ‘pops’ tour clearly states that it is mostly Sondheim and other Broadway composers. I for one know this music well and love his interpretations but I can see where you might not like it if you are not familiar with the songs. Buyer beware. This is the same issue that people have when they go to see a Broadway show and do not take the time to find out what it is. They walk out disappointed, feeling ripped off and blaming the artists when in fact, the show description and a little research on the internet could have saved them the trouble.
Also, Patinkin does not perform ‘personal’ songs. He does not write music. Nearly all of the music in this show was written by composers like Hammerstein, Sondheim, Guettel, etc.
Comment by S — March 2, 2008 @ 3:37 pm |
I don’t know what the program was, but I have a sense of the problem. Patinkin is best known for starring in Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.” I saw the show in its original run and didn’t care for it. The narrative was more paint than plot, and the score underdid the melody and overdid the lyrics. Some of these songs may have been in the rundown.
Patinkin also played Marvin in William Finn’s “Falsettos.” If the rundown had included the lovely “What More Can I Say,” you would still be hearing it.
I saw Patinkin’s program at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre when both he and Barbara Cook perfomed concerts to supplement the six-show Sondheim festival. I enjoyed the Patinkin performanc, but he is not in Barbara Cook’s league.
Barbara does sing Sondheim, (She and Patinkin were both in the concert version of “Follies.”) but she also sings the top of the American Songbook (except for Cole Porter). A couple of years ago, Barbara did a concert called, “Mostly Sondheim.” It included the songs Sondheim wished he had written, as well as the ones we are all glad he did.
If you want to give Sondheim another try, get Barbara Cook’s two-CD recording of “Mostly Sondheim.” After listening to this, go see the new Sweeney Todd movie and listen for “Joanna” and “Not While I’m Around.” (An even better experience would be watching the video of Angela Lansbury’s performance in the original stage version).
I get the absence of intermission. An hour and forty minutes is actually a long concert for a single artist. With an intermission, he could have had an opening act or “guests.”
I do not get the use of only a single piano. Almost anything sounds better adding a bass and maybe two more pieces.
I have not been to Strathmore, but you should continue to patronize this and similar venues. In September, I took my daughter and her fiance to see Barbara Cook at George Mason in Virginia. The house was intimate with good acoustics, and the price about half what it is at the Kennedy Center or Avery Fisher.
Let me conclude by saying that I do not blame you for not connecting with the material. It is up to the artist to draw the audience into it. Patinkin clearly did not do this for you. The best performer will draw the entire wattage of your attention to the emotional arc of a song. You will see what I mean, once you have seen Barbara Cook.
Comment by Robert Featherstone — March 2, 2008 @ 3:48 pm |
I just want to note after reading the comments, when I picked this show (Ed did not) I did read the blurb that comes with all the seasons listings. That’s how we decide what we want to see. I knew Patinkin was a Broadway star and that he was going to do show tunes. Silly me thought they’d be ones I knew. And of course one of the best ways to broaden ones horizons is to try new things. That’s an easy and often very fun way to find out what you like and don’t like. Ol’ Mandy is very good at what he does, we just don’t like it.
We are season ticket holders at Strathmore and have been for 2 years now. Everyone has to go see something there. The acoustics put the Kennedy Center and any other place we’ve ever been to shame. Last year one of our shows was Rockapella and during their encore they said that because the place was so amazing they were going to try something. They shut off and removed their mics and sang and we could hear everything just fine. There were folks sitting in the box seats that circle around the back of the stage and one of the guys walked around facing them singing completely away from the rest of the audience and there was no change, you could hear every word! We really enjoy going there. It’s a fraction of the cost of places downtown and it’s relatively close by and the parking garage is designed so it’s easy to get in and out….all in all it’s a super venue.
The other thing I have to tell you is that Barbara Cook is going to be our headliner when we have our Grand Opening of the Workhouse Arts Center at Lorton in September. She’ll be there two nights. Our acoustics will not be amazing!
Comment by Marti — March 2, 2008 @ 7:22 pm |
Wow, I’ve seen about fourteen Mandy Patinkin concerts and loved each and every one. Through listening to Mandy’s CDs before I ever saw him in concert, I became familiar with Sondheim, and began taking CDs of his shows from the library. I discovered shows that I had only heard of on the Tony awards, and music that had great meaning.
There is a simplicity to a concert with just Paul Ford on the piano, and he and Mandy work together in such a wonderful way. Mandy chooses his music because of the story each song tells. He puts songs together to enrich the story.
For a few years in the 90s, I traveled to meet up with many other internet fans and attend Mandy concerts. I went to concerts in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Chicago, and San Francisco, often my friends and I attended multiple concerts. Last month my youngest son, who lives in Rochester, New York, called and said that he and his wife had attended Mandy’s concert there. They said they enjoyed it a great deal, so I guess I’ve passed on my appreciation of Mandy Patinkin and his music to another generation.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience and that you didn’t enjoy the concert. I guess Mandy like Sondheim is an acquired taste and not for everyone.
Comment by Rene — March 2, 2008 @ 8:38 pm |
Obviously you did not see Mandy in Evita,Sunday In The Park, The Secret Garden and The Follies……
just to name a few. I would think that before you
review a concert that you should at least know something about the performer and show some courtesy if you do not like the show. I guess you
also thought The Princess Bride, Chicago Hope and
Dead Like Me were not to your liking. If so, you had better do your homework and find out just how good Mr. Patinkin is at whatever medium he is in.
Comment by Dee Segall — March 2, 2008 @ 11:26 pm |