Star of stage and screen, and successful recording artist, Mandy Patinkin is an awe inspiring performer to witness live. In 1992 a dorm-mate loaned me the self-titled CD Mandy Patinkin. One listen and I have been hooked ever since. If we were still in the days of vinyl, the needle would be currently spinning through a third copy of the album.

I believe it was in January of 1993; there I sat, leaning forward halfway out of my seat, at the Pantages Theatre in Toronto, Canada overwhelmed, clinging to every dulcet tone that dropped like angel's breath from the mans lips. Now, I sit here with four Patinkin albums and an array of movies and a wonderful stint as Jeffery Gieger in Chicago Hope as reference material.

His third album Experiment was a rather weak piece of work except for the tracks "Multitudes of Amys" and "Somewhere That's Green". The album lacks the depth and range of performance that we had come to expect on a Patinkin outing. The song selection was not the usual careful selection of material. (I call it Patinkin on Prozac.) The first self-titled album and Dress Casual are steeped in the Broadway and the American songbook tradition. Thankfully his fourth album was a return to the course that he excels on. A tribute to Sondheim and Hammerstein with brilliant interpretation and reinterpretation of material. All four though belong in your collection to have a sense of the Patinkin journey.

I feel sad for the poor souls who know him solely as the gent who utters, "My name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die." The Princess Bride. Though he is a fine actor (see Impromptu for further proof) it is the voice the sends him into a category unattainable by anyone else. Have a listen!