Mandy Patinkin Returns To B'Way for May 19th Benefit

 Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin returns to Broadway for one night only to benefit off-Broadway's Classic Stage Company on Monday, May 19.   Mandy Patinkin ON BROADWAY, with Paul Ford on piano, a solo tour de force concert, will be presented at 8pm at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street). Under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, Classic Stage Company, the esteemed off-Broadway theatre, is currently celebrating its 40th Anniversary season.
 
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.  Feature film credits include: The Choking Man, Pinero, Elmo In Grouchland, Men with Guns, 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. 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".  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.  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 and in London, 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 stage production of Mamaloshen was performed on and Off-Broadway and has toured throughout the country.  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 Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion, 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 the acclaimed Follies concert at Lincoln Center, the Carnegie Hall concert performances of A Sondheim Tribute, Anyone Can Whistle, and A Little Night Music with the Philadelphia Symphony, Gypsy with Patti LuPone and the Chicago Symphony, and episodes of PBS' "My Favorite Broadway," all under the baton of Paul Gemignani. He accompanied Mr. Patinkin in Mandy Patinkin: Dress Casual at the Public Theatre and on Broadway in Mamaloshen and Celebrating Sondheim, and continues to work with him on all of his recordings and national/international tours.
 
Now in its 40th season as one of New York's most exciting Off-Broadway theaters, CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. CSC is currently presenting Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Dianne Wiest and Alan Cumming.  The company recently concluded a completely sold-out run of the critically acclaimed new play New Jerusalem, written by David Ives and directed by Walter Bobbie, and began their season with an acclaimed, highly successful production of Richard III, starring Michael Cumpsty.
 
CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Classic Stage's artists are the best-established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theater, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work. 
 
Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible Masterpass membership, which in addition to prime seats, entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold out Open Rehearsal events.  For more information on Classic Stage Company visit the theatre's website at www.classicstage.org.
 
Tickets to Mandy Patinkin ON BROADWAY range from $75 to $125 for the
8pm concert on Monday, May 19.  Benefit sponsorships are available from $1,000 to $15,000 which will include tickets, pre-show dinner, champagne reception with Mr. Patinkin, and other VIP benefits. To purchase tickets, go to classicstage.org, or call 212-677-4210 X40.