Mandy Patinkin to Headline Long Wharf Theatre's 6/7 Gala

Broadway's master songman, Mandy Patinkin, accompanied by Paul Ford on piano, will bring his critically acclaimed theatre concert to Long Wharf Theatre for one performance only at on Friday, June 7, 2013 on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Mainstage Theatre.

Patinkin is headlining Long Wharf Theatre's annual Gala, the theatre's preeminent fundraising event of the year. The evening will being at 6:00 p.m. with elegant cocktails, small plate tastings, and a Silent Auction. Patinkin will begin his performance at 8 p.m. The evening will conclude with a dessert reception at 9:30 p.m.
Long Wharf Theatre's newly renovated Mainstage seats only 404 patrons, promising a very intimate experience for Gala guests - and a quick sellout. Sponsorship opportunities at the $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000 levels include priority seating for the performance, reserved space at the cocktail and dessert receptions, recognition in the invitation and lobby projections at the event and space in the Gala program.

For more information about becoming a sponsor of the 2013 Gala or about ticketing for the event, please contact Kathy Cihi, Special Events Manager, at kathy.cihi@longwharf.org or 203.772.8234.

Tony and Emmy Award-winner Mandy Patinkin has an extensive list of theatre credits that include Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater. He won a Tony Award for his 1980 Broadway debut as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was again nominated in 1984 for his starring role in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park With George. He returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden (1991), appeared as Marvin in Falsettos (1992) and in 1997 played a sold-out engagement of his one-man concert, Mandy Patinkin in Concert, with all profits benefiting five charitable organizations. Mandy's other solo concerts, Celebrating Sondheim and Mamaloshen have been presented on Broadway, Off-Broadway and have toured the United States. His other stage credits include The Wild Party (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), The Winter's Tale, The Knife (Drama Desk nomination), Leave it to Beaver is Dead, Rebel Women, Hamlet, Trelawney of the 'Wells," The Shadow Box and Henry IV, Part I.

Mandy won a 1995 Emmy Award for his critically acclaimed performance in the CBS series "Chicago Hope," and starred in the CBS series "Criminal Minds" as FBI profiler Jason Gideon and in the Showtime Original Series "Dead Like Me" as the reaper Rube Sofer. Mandy begins a third season as CIA Division Chief Saul Berenson in the Emmy Award-winning Showtime Original Series "Homeland". His other television appearances include the role of Kenneth Duberstein in the Showtime film "Strange Justice," playing Quasimodo opposite Richard Harris in the TNT film presentation of "The Hunchback," and a film version of Arthur Miller's "Broken Glass" for BBC/WGBH-Boston. Feature film credits include: Everyone's Hero, Choking Man, Pinero, Elmo In Grouchland, Men with Guns, Lulu on the Bridge, The Princess Bride, Yentl, The Music of Chance, Daniel, Ragtime, Impromptu, The Doctor, Alien Nation, Dick Tracy, The House on Carroll Street, True Colors, Maxie, and Squanto: Indian Warrior.

Mr. Patinkin's live performances have received wide critical acclaim. Pamela Sommers of the Washington Post wrote, "The most arresting thing about Patinkin is the conversational, often impassioned quality of his singing...you find yourself listening like you've never listened before." Clive Barnes of the New York Post called Mandy "the greatest entertainer on Broadway today - period." In the New York Daily News, Howard Kissel called his performance, "the most exciting time I've had in the theatre in ages. He could single-handedly revive the American musical theatre." And the London Evening Standard called him, "a master entertainer of a type once thought to be extinct."

In 1989, Mandy began his concert career at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. This coincided with the release of his first solo album entitled Mandy Patinkin. Since then he has toured extensively, appearing to sold-out audiences across the United States, Canada, London and Australia, performing songs from writers including Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Randy Newman, Adam Guettel and Harry Chapin, among others. In 1990 he released his second solo album entitled Mandy Patinkin In Concert: Dress Casual on CBS Records. His 1994 recording, Experiment, on the Nonesuch label, features songs from nine decades of popular music from Irving Berlin to Alan Menken. Also recorded on the Nonesuch label is Oscar & Steve and Leonard Bernstein's New York. In 1998 he debuted his most personal project, Mamaloshen, a collection of traditional, classic and contemporary songs sung entirely in Yiddish. The recording of Mamaloshen won the Deutschen Schallplattenpreis (Germany's equivalent of the Grammy Award). In 2001, Nonesuch Records released Kidults, a collection of beloved songs, designed - as the title suggests - for the kid in every adult. And, in 2002, Nonesuch Records released Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim, a figurative journey through Sondheim's music and lyrics.

Paul Ford was the original pianist for the Broadway productions of Stephen Sondheim's Passion, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, the Off-Broadway production of Assassins, and most recently the revival of Pacific Overtures and the Tony award winning revival of Assassins. His other Broadway credits include Curtains, 110 in the Shade (revival), Tom Sawyer, High Society, The Rink, Rags, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, The Secret Garden and Falsettos. Mr. Ford was the pianist for a number of concerts under the baton of Paul Gemignani including: the acclaimed Follies concert at Lincoln Center; the Carnegie Hall concert performances of A Sondheim Tribute, Anyone Can Whistle and South Pacific with Reba McEntire; A Little Night Music with the Philadelphia Symphony; Gypsy with Patti LuPone and the Chicago Symphony; and episodes of PBS' "My Favorite Broadway." He accompanied Mr. Patinkin in Mandy Patinkin: Dress Casual at The Public Theater and on Broadway, both the Broadway and Off-Broadway engagements of Mamaloshen, and continues to work with him on all of his recordings and national/international tours.