Mandy Patinkin isn’t one to rest on his laurels.
The star of stage and screen has spent the past seven years playing Saul Berenson in the acclaimed Showtime series Homeland, a role that is as challenging to perform as it has been, at times, for audiences to watch.
Across the seven series that have gone to air so far, Patinkin’s character has been through some of the most challenging storylines the show has offered, and one might be inclined to put one’s feet up and relax when shooting wrapped on each season.
Mandy Patinkin will play a series of concerts in Australia on the back of his Diary albums.
But with the seventh season behind him, and a few months to kill before production on the eighth season began, Patinkin instead elected to record an album.
The initial impetus was the re-discovery of two songs he had written in the 1970s that he never recorded and thought now might be the time.
But when his collaborator, pianist Thomas Bartlett, came by with around 100 pieces of new music, the Diary journey really began.
“I spent Christmas Eve and all of Christmas Day listening to these songs,” Patinkin explains. "Eventually I got it down to 28.”
First came Diary: January 27, 2018, with songs by writers as diverse as Rufus Wainwright, Randy Newman and Faroese composer Teitur.
Soon after, Diary: April/May 2018 was delivered, again with contributions from Newman, but the diversity of writers includes Tom Waits and Taylor Mac.
The second album also offers up Patinkin’s songs, Buckingham and Raggedy Ann.
Patinkin had never let anyone hear those songs before, but he admits that as the Diary project gathered steam, he was extremely excited for them to land in people’s ears.
“I was very excited to launch the project and I have never been quite as excited to show people something,” he says.
And for those familiar with his work away from the television, his many award winning performances on the Broadway stage, they could be surprised to find the Diary albums sitting in the adult contemporary shelves instead of with the other showtune albums.
“I think the big exception people will find is that there aren’t any showtunes,” he says. “A lot of the new material is very quiet, I like quiet, but I like some showbiz too, so as I was looking at what we were going to put on the albums, if I thought we needed a bit of energy, we would go back into the war chest of these amazing songs Thomas had found and pull things out, but we weren’t pulling out showtunes.”
The first two albums (he plans to record several more diaries and eventually release them as a box set) have been critically well received, and, as a creature of the stage, he is eager to present them live.
But fitting a major tour into his busy schedule is no mean feat, so it is a few shows in New York, one concert in California, and then to Australia, a place he has visited for concert series a number of times.
“I love coming,” he says. “The flight over is a good rest for me. I get to take a nap, read a few books, it’s good down time.
“I had to stop concertising over the past few years because I needed to focus on Homeland, so it will be great to come back.”
After his Australian shows, Patinkin will return to the US to wrap production on Homeland, the series he stars in alongside Claire Danes.Credit:Showtime
The first run of concerts will run up against production on the final season of Homeland, a complicated time for Patinkin as he prepares to say farewell to a show and a character he has become synonymous with.
“All things come to an end and I am sure there will be a mourning period,” he says.
“But I’ll never say goodbye to Saul. He has become a teacher to me. He has taught me to listen better, he has taught me how to be passionate. Being him on a daily basis has been a true privilege.
“I’m not about to let this soul go that I have lived with for eight years, just like I don’t let go of any people in my life even when they leave us.
“I say their names every day in a meditation, and I am sure I will say Saul’s name in that meditation.”
Patinkin returns to Australia this month to perform Diary live in concert with Adam Ben-David.
He plays Hamer Hall in Melbourne on November 11, The Sydney Opera House on November 14 and QPAC in Brisbane on November 17.
Tickets and information are available by visiting mandypatinkin.com.au
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