Artistic director Brian Kulick will direct Shakespeare's magical late-career romance, which begins performances Sept. 3. Patinkin (Evita, Sunday in the Park With George, The Secret Garden) will play Prospero, the shipwrecked sorcerer whose daughter falls for another castaway. He's expected to sing in the production as well.
The official opening is Sept. 18. The limited run plays to Oct. 12 at CSC's home on East 13th Street. CSC will announce its complete 2008-09 season in the coming weeks.
According to CSC, Prospero is "master of a magical isle where shipwrecks, fantastic creatures, chance encounters, mystery and romance abound." In this revival of Shakespeare's "celebration of the imagination…it is anticipated that he will lend his stunning vocal abilities to the production as well."
As a benefit in honor of Classic Stage Company's 40th anniversary season, Patinkin will also return to Broadway for one night only on May 19 for Mandy Patinkin on Broadway, with Paul Ford on piano. As previously announced, it will be presented at 8 PM at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street). Tickets are $50-$125 and can be purchased online at www.classicstage.org, or by phone at (212) 677-4210 x. 40.
* In his 1980 Broadway debut, Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was nominated in 1984 for his starring role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George. In 1991 he returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden and in 1997 played a sold-out engagement of his one-man concert, Mandy Patinkin in Concert, with all profits benefiting five charitable organizations. Patinkin's other solo concerts, Celebrating Sondheim and Mamaloshen have been presented both on Broadway and Off. Other stage credits include The Wild Party, Falsettos, The Winter's Tale, The Knife, Leave It to Beaver is Dead, Rebel Women, Hamlet, Trelawney of the 'Wells,' The Shadow Box, The Split, Savages and Henry IV, Part I.
He won a 1995 Emmy Award for his critically acclaimed performance in the CBS series "Chicago Hope," recently starred in the CBS series "Criminal Minds" as FBI profiler Jason Gideon and the Showtime Original Series "Dead Like Me."
Now in its 40th season, CSC is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre "committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience."
