Broadway legend Mandy Patinkin brings ‘Being Alive’ to the Garde Arts Center

Mandy Patinkin is not just live onstage Saturday night at the Garde Arts Center in New London, he’s “Being Alive.” That’s the title of his new concert tour, named for the life-affirming song in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Company.”

“Being Alive” is also about being happy in the moment.

As an actor, Patinkin is known for everything from the movies “The Princess Bride” (“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”) and “Alien Nation” to the TV series “Chicago Hope” and “Homeland” to the original casts of the Broadway musicals “Evita” and “Sunday in the Park With George.” But he has also been doing his one-man concert shows since the late 1980s.

In his latest concert, Patinkin, accompanied by pianist Adam Ben-David, may perform anything from Broadway showtunes to songs by contemporary pop composers (he’s done some Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett in the past) to vaudeville songs from a century ago. He may even sing in Yiddish.

Patinkin spoke to the Courant about his decades-long singing career, an upcoming Showtime series with his wife of 43 years, Kathryn Grody, and his son Gideon and the state of his beard.

Was ‘Dress Casual’ in 1989 your first concert show?

The first time I did it was at the Public Theater (in New York City). I was doing “The Winter’s Tale” there with Chris Reeve, Alfre Woodard and Diane Venora. I had six Monday nights off from playing Leontes in “The Winter’s Tale.” That was the first time I tried a concert. After that, we did it at the Helen Hayes on Broadway. Now, I’ve been touring [as a singer] for 30-plus years.

Are you singing songs from your recent albums?

I did a few albums before the pandemic with Thomas Bartlett. I used a lot of that stuff in a concert that I did before the pandemic called “Diaries.” Then the pandemic hit and everybody went to sleep, including me. Then I wanted to come back and I said look, that was a bit dark because it was a little dark back then. I want to make something happy, something really fun and alive to welcome us all back to the living. So we put the other one aside. We went through hours and hours of material and I said let’s make a fun evening. So that’s what we did, we made a fun evening. At some point somebody said “What do we call this?,” and I said “I just want to feel alive, I want the audience to feel alive, let’s call it ‘Being Alive.’”

Have you sung the song ‘Being Alive’ a lot?

I have sung that song on and off a fair amount. I don’t like to tell people which songs I’ll be doing. I like them to be surprised. I don’t want them to expect X, Y or Z. I don’t even want them to necessarily expect (“Being Alive”). There’ll be a whole range of stuff. It’s very eclectic. Not just showtunes.

We came up with this setlist and we’ve done 18 or 19 concerts so far. We’ve got tons of bookings all the way through this time next year. I keep trying to free up my schedule because I love doing this more than anything and it’s my first love. I am particularly enjoying this iteration.

I promise the audience you’ll have fun. If you don’t, you can leave, don’t worry, I won’t be hurt. But I won’t let you forget that you’re leaving either.

Has the way you sing these songs changed over the years?

They’re classic songs written, in my humble opinion, by geniuses who wished these ideas for themselves and for the world. Sometimes many of these great genius music writers and lyricists never realized them for themselves, but they left them for the rest of us for eternity. That’s what I think becomes classic, something you want to hear over and over again. Some of these songs are new to me but some are old. The reason they don’t get old to me is because they are mirrors of the day, the time, the moment. They are constantly available to every thought in my head from my life, from the world, from my family, from the newspaper. That’s what keeps it alive for me. My wife said to me long ago before I went onstage for some play, she said, “Mandy, you know this. Just listen to the words and see where they take you.” As part of my little prayer routine, I always say that little phrase. Don’t think about a plan you had from the last time you sang the song or the last time you heard those words. Listen to them tonight and see where they take you.

Some of us are aware of your TV career but still think of you mainly as a theater guy. Do people coming to this know you as somebody who’s been doing these concerts for over 30 years?

I don’t know, and I find it really interesting. Some know me from this, some know me from that. I don’t address any of that. I welcome them all. There are people who don’t know me from anything as well. I think it’s funny when people know you from a TV show or a movie or a play and hear you do this. “Oh my god! It’s pretty funny that you do that!”

Did you enjoy playing the radical self-appointed judge on ‘The Good Fight?’ You seemed to be having fun with that.

I’m an old friend of Christine Baranski. She played the mother in the workshop production of “Sunday in the Park With George.” So we’re friends from way back when.

What’s next?

We’re doing a new series called “Seasoned” which Showtime gave a green light to. My wife and myself are playing ourselves. Because of all the success that my son birthed with the social media during the pandemic, filming his parents, that led them to create a series for us. We’ve been playing ourselves for three years on social media, and we continue to do that. We do nothing. It’s all my son Gideon’s genius and brilliance. We’re just the two old dumb parents. He knows how to push our buttons.

Beard or no beard?

I do have a beard. I cut it off for a while. A bunch of weeks ago my son said “Dad, you need to grow that back,” because I had it in the pilot for the series we’re filming. He said “Do me a favor. Don’t ever shave it or trim it. Just let it grow until we film in case we want to do something with you like, you know, a 1,000-year-old Methuselah.”

Mandy Patinkin performs “Being Alive” on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London. $48-$88. gardearts.org.