Mandy Patinkin

The "Evita" and "Sunday in the Park with George" star will be at the Kodak Theatre on Saturday to do what many people think he does best: sing.

I chatted with Mr P. for a Q and A that will run this week in anticipation of the concert. Learned he's getting ready to play Prospero in "The Tempest" later in 2009. I don't imagine, after his rather unceremonious exit from "Criminal Minds" last summer, that Patinkin will be returning to series television anytime soon. Nor are the movies beating down his door. He played Joe Papp pack in "Pinero" in 2001. Then something called "Choking Man" in 2006, followed by a voice role in the animated baseball movie "Everyone's Hero" that same year, and that's it.

But the stage remains fruitful. He won't be back to Broadway anytime soon, but having a go at "The Tempest" for director Brian Kulick and Classic Stage, well...

"I try to do classical piece every year, and so I'm very excited. This is exactly what I wanted to be doing," said Patinkin who last attempted a Shakespeare play 20 years ago, playing Leontes in "The Winter's Tale for that same Joe Papp at the Public.

Papp apparently told Patinkin to be sure to mix the music and the classics. But the music _ and TV _ took over for awhile there.

Now Patinkin's back with the Bard, studying with a 27 year-old Shakespeare scholar, and relearning the Elizabethan dialog as though he were "returning to a foreign language."

"The mental gymnastics of it, the music of it, the ideas are thrilling," Patinkin said, "and there again, I can't believe I kept myself from this. It's a beautiful piece about forgiveness, and I just don't think there's anything of more importance to my life or to this world's life than the ability to understand and embrace forgiveness."

I will, unfortunately, be missing Patinkin's show Saturday. However, he says he intends to return in 2009 with fellow "Evita" star Patti LuPone for their dual concert.