Florida, Michigan and More Will See LuPone and Patinkin in 2009

By Andrew Gans
27 Aug 2008

Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin
Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin
Photo by Brigitte Lacombe

Additional tour dates have been announced for An Evening with Patti LuPone & Mandy Patinkin, the acclaimed concert act starring Tony Award-winning actors and former Evita co-stars Patti LuPone, who is currently back on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Gypsy, and Mandy Patinkin.

Among the new tour dates — according to LuPone's official website — are stops in Naples, FL; and Detroit, MI. LuPone and Patinkin will also perform their concert act May 28, 2009, at Alice Tully Hall for the annual Lincoln Center benefit. The tour will likely play Lexington, KY; and Los Angeles, CA, although those dates have yet to be confirmed.

LuPone and Patinkin first presented An Evening with Patti LuPone & Mandy Patinkin in September 2002 at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX. That evening featured duets from several musical theatre classics, including tunes from South Pacific, Carousel, Sunday in the Park with George, and, of course, Evita. The award-winning actor-singers also performed individually.

Ann Reinking, who won a Best Choreography Tony Award for her work in the long-running revival of Chicago, choreographed the concert act, which was conceived by Patinkin and pianist Paul Ford and directed by Patinkin. Ford accompanies the actors on piano.

Current tour dates follow:
March 7, 2009 at the Staller Center in Stony Brook, NY
March 10-15, 2009 at the DuPont Theatre in Wilmington, DE
March 24, 2009, at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, FL
March 25, 2009, at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, FL
March 29, 2009 at the NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ
April 14-19, 2009, at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, MI
April 22, 2009 at Centennial Hall in Tucson, AZ
May 5-17, 2009 at the Palace Theatre in Cleveland, OH
May 28, 2009, at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, in New York, NY

Patti LuPone is currently enjoying what is perhaps her biggest stage success to date. For her performance as Rose in the current revival of Gypsy at the St. James Theatre, the singing actress has won the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Drama League's Distinguished Performance Award. A Tony Award winner for her work in Evita, LuPone also earned an Olivier Award for her performances in the West End productions of Les Misérables and The Cradle Will Rock. Her other theatrical credits include Sunset Boulevard, Anything Goes, Oliver!, Working, The Old Neighborhood, Master Class and Pal Joey. LuPone also headlined two solo Broadway concerts, Patti LuPone On Broadway and Matters of the Heart, and received glowing notices for her performance as Mrs. Lovett in the Lincoln Center concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and a Tony nomination for her performance in the recent revival of that Sondheim work. She was seen in the Kennedy Center's staging of Marc Blitzstein's Regina and joined Audra McDonald for Los Angeles Opera's production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. She was also seen as Rose in a Ravinia Festival concert run of Gypsy. Her screen and recording credits are numerous.

Mandy Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che in the Broadway mounting of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita. His theatrical work includes roles in The Wild Party, Sunday in the Park with George, The Secret Garden and The Knife. An Emmy Award winner for his work on "Chicago Hope," his other screen credits include "Criminal Minds," "Yentl," "Ragtime," "Dick Tracy," "Broken Glass," "Life with Mikey" and "The Princess Bride." Patinkin's latest solo recording, "Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim," is available on the Nonesuch label.