Song of Saul
‘Homeland’ star Mandy Patinkin talks about Tom Waits, refugees, trains and his beard
B EFORE he became Saul on TV’s “Homeland” — even before his Inigo Montoya pledged vengeance in “The Princess Bride” — Mandy Patinkin was a creature of the theater. With a tenor voice that teeters between hope and despair, the Juilliard grad created, among other roles, Che in “Evita” and Georges Seurat of “Sunday in the Park With George.” From Wednesday to Oct. 28, the Tony winner returns to the stage, this time in “Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries 2018,” at New York Theatre Workshop’s Connelly Theater. It’ll just be Patinkin and a pianist performing songs from two albums he made during his “Homeland” hiatus: an aural smorgasbord of selections by Laurie Anderson, Stephen Sondheim, Bob Dylan and Patinkin himself. “I’ve never sung anything I’ve ever written in public before,” the 65-year-old Upper West Sider tells The Post. Here’s what he says about singing, struggling and how he keeps his beard in all its gray glory.
Your voice is so distinctive. Who inspires you?
My favorite singer, for what it’s worth, is Tom Waits, because he bleeds his heart out. If I could sound like anybody on the planet, I’d sound like him. It’s a voice that’s been through time and back again. Every breath he takes — I just love him.
Whose idea was it to have you sing Shawn Mendes’ “Stitches” on James Corden’s show — in Yiddish?
James asked me to do it. Now, whether he thought of it, or his writers thought of it, I don’t know. He certainly threw me a curveball! I sent it to the same guys who translated songs for my [1998 Yiddish album] “Mamaloshen,” and they turned it around in an hour.
You’ve worked for years with the International Rescue Committee. Did “Homeland” inspire you to advocate for refugees?
Indeed it did. I was in Berlin shooting the first epi- sode of the fifth season. It took place in a Syrian refugee camp. At the exact same time, 125,000 refugees in the real world were trying to get across the Balkan border. As I looked at the faces, I saw my own ancestors. The children reminded me of my children . . .I wanted to be there. So I called a wonderful mentor of mine, Ruth Messinger of the American Jewish World Service. She said, “Call the International Rescue Committee.” And that was that. I’ve gone every year to a crisis zone as soon as I finish filming “Homeland.” There are 65 million refugees desperately in need of our attention.
Speaking of “Homeland”: Are we ever going to hear Saul sing?
No, unless Saul ends up in a synagogue, singing a prayer. In the first or second season, I improvised. There was a man who was a Muslim on the floor, having died. I looked at him, and I started singing the mourner’s Kaddish in Hebrew. It ended up in the [show].
Can you tell us anything about this eighth and final season?
I wish I could, but I would be in big trouble.
You’re a longtime model-train aficionado. What do you think of New York’s subway system these days?
I love the subway. I ride it every day — I’m used to being squished like a sardine, I’m used to waiting. And Lionel Trains makes a New York City subway car. But I want one with graffiti all over it. I think it’s a beautiful and wonderful art form.
How do you keep your beard looking so distinguished?
When I’m filming, I have an extraordinary person in Europe named Audrey, who trims it. When I’m home, I go to Danny, a master barber on 107th and Amsterdam. He charges $14 for a beard trim, and I never give him less than $20 bucks, because he’s the best.