News

An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin

• At the Royal Alexandra Theatre
• In Toronto on Tuesday

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome once again to the much anticipated Broadway Smackdown at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre. In the red corner, weighing in at a muscular and trim 175 pounds, from Chicago, Ill., star of stage, screen and television, you know him as Che, you know him from Chicago Hope, you know him better than your own father, Mr. Mandy Patinkin! And in the blue corner, weighing somewhat less, the Mama Rosa of all Mama Rosas, the Eva Peron who stole your heart, the Fantine to end all Fantines, from Long Island, NY., the Sallyin’ Italian, Ms. Patti LuPone! This is a five-round match. Singers, come out belting! And remember, no hitting below the vocal chords.

Mandy Patinkin

Round One: Spontaneous, rapturous applause

It didn’t take long. After a couple of lesser known Stephen Sondheim numbers, and a visit to the South Pacific for a Patinkin-centred Some Enchanted Evening, Lupone cut forth with a verbal staccato torrent on Sondheim’s Getting Married Today that would have been the envy of any auctioneers in the house. A rising wave of applause ensued, not a tsunami exactly, but enough to give round one to Lupone.

Round Two: You take the high notes and I’ll take the low notes

It’s hard to compare vocal ranges here, because Patinkin can bottom out like a thunderstorm in the Grand Canyon, while Lupone’s forte is in ranges only schnauzers can appreciate, so we’ll compare them strength for strength. Lupone hit a long, clear crescendo on her trademark Don’t Cry For Me Argentina that did more for cleaning out ear canals than a week of candling. Impressive. But Patinkin went coal-mine deep early on in A Cockeyed Optimist (of all things) with a note so rumbly pure that a handful of patrons may well have experienced abdominal cramps. More impressive. Round two goes to Patinkin.

Patti LuPone.

Round Three: I was born to mug

No contest, not even a fair fight. Lupone is first and foremost a song-belter in the Ethal Merman mould, with the actual acting part merely a necessity to get from song to song. Though no Jim Carrey, Patinkin can and will display a rubber face and some nifty and comedic dance moves, as displayed here on Sondheim’s The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me-Blues. The lessons were perhaps learned while filming The Princess Bride. At any rate, round three to Patinkin.

Round Four: I won’t dance. Why should I?

Apart from a couple of octogenarian sashays, the most exciting choreography of the evening came while the pair was sitting in office chairs with wheels, on the 1956 number April In Fairbanks. Their jet-like exits, stage left and right, provided the quickest movement and best chuckles of the entire show. We call this round a draw.

Round Five: The knockout punch

So who provided the single biggest thrill on the night? Lupone let lose with a couple of serious uppercuts. Everything’s Coming Up Roses (from Gypsy) was bold without being overstated, and Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina was as epic as ever. But Patinkin’s take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s If I Loved You totally played to his strengths. Patinkin totally nailed it, winning round five.

The winner

Patinkin by a split decision. And, of course, all those spectators sitting ringside for whom these Broadway gems and classics constitute the best music has to offer.

An Evening With Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin continues through Sunday.

Special to The Globe and Mail