Mandy Patinkin is best known on record as the hero of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (RCA, 7/90). In New York—where he created the role of George, as well as being the first Broadway Che in Evita—Patinkin is equally renowned as an actor. This one-man show is a recital of standards, some well-known, some quite recherche. It has a romantic beginning (''As time goes by'', with its seldom-heard verse), goes through a sad middle (Taxi, by Harry Chapin, a marvellous song—a mini-drama of yearning and regret), then ends up happily. ''Bring him home'' from Les Miserables is presented as a lullaby to a new-born baby. Throughout Patinkin uses his voice in a light, slightly ironic way.
Among the rarer songs there is ''Multitudes of Amys'', cut from Company, and another Sondheim curiosity, ''So Many People'' from the unproduced 1954 Saturday Night. While the disc can be enjoyed on its own as a pleasant series of ballads, it holds a special sort of fascination as one tries to make out exactly what the story is (the notes don't give anything away). Paul Ford's arrangements are snappy and inventive, and the 26-strong accompanying ensemble is kept in order by Eric Stern. This is real Broadway, sophisticated singing—an antidote to some of the crossover curiosities which haven't quite come off in recent years.'