Talk about your dream teams. Tony winners and towering talents Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone will perform on the Centennial Hall stage next week. "An Evening With Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin" may well end up on Broadway, and the UApresents performance is the only Arizona one planned.
"Perform" is a weak word for what the two do. Patinkin and LuPone define all that's rich and good about the theater. They both dig deep into songs, possessing them. The stories they tell through music and lyrics bulge with heart and honesty.
They first met 25 years ago when she was the title character in "Evita," and he was Che — roles that won them both Tony awards.
Though they went their separate ways, they remained close friends.
LuPone has had a textured career in film and stage. Most recently, she closed in the Broadway production of "Gypsy," which won her a Tony for her Mama Rose. Her staggering performance gave new dimension to the demanding role.
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Patinkin, 56, has made it in movies and on television ("Chicago Hope" and "The Princess Bride" are among his defining roles). But it is his Broadway turns, including George in "Sunday in the Park With George," and concert shows such as "Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual" that have given him the most satisfaction.
It was about five years ago that Patinkin came up with the idea of a concert with LuPone. The two had been invited to sing at a Texas event — "A 'Getting to Know You' song and then we'd leave" — said Patinkin, speaking on his cell phone while waiting to hop a plane from Los Angeles to Detroit, where he and LuPone were to perform.
"I hate those kind of evenings, and I wanted to back off," he said. "But then I said 'Hey, what if we could do something together that actually meant something?' "
Lupone was game, and Patinkin put together "An Evening. . . ."
"We opened in Texas, and it was wonderful," said Patinkin. "Then we took four years off, I made some changes, and we opened again in Philly. Then we put it to sleep again, made a few more changes, gave it more atmosphere."
"I want to kill him," LuPone said with a laugh.
"He keeps changing it."
The evening is chock-full of songs from the greats, such as Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers.
"It's a journey of two souls," Patinkin said of the concert.
"It's a figurative journey of two souls using familiar and unfamiliar material, both spoken and sung."
LuPone, who will turn 60 while she's in Tucson, is between plays. Why doesn't she choose to take it easy?
"It's Mandy," she explained.
"I love being on stage with him. I love our interaction, the idea that we are back on stage again. . . . Mandy is a dangerous actor, and I feel safe in his arms."
She can't explain her chemistry with Patinkin.
"That is up to the gods, whether you have chemistry or not. It's just something in the ether, and you can't define it."
Patinkin agreed. You've either got it, or you don't, he said. LuPone and Patinkin have it.
They also have in common a great love of the audience.
"It's really and truly about the actor/audience relationship," said Lupone.
"There is nothing like live theater," Patinkin said. "You are in the company of humanity."
Preview
• "An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin."
• Presented by: UApresents.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
• Where: Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd., on the University of Arizona campus.
• Tickets: $40-$80.
• Reservations/information: 621-3341.
