Mandy patinkin talks new show and life's joys

OTHER THAN CRUISING, DO YOU ENJOY TRAVELING? I love, love, love traveling. I love being on the move. The morning of July 5, I took my electric car — that I was afraid to ever take any long

distance other than about 90 miles — I took it all the way down from upstate New York to Hollywood, Florida, to visit a dear friend of mine and take some walks with him. Then I drove from

there with my dog, Becky, from Hollywood, Florida, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Then to the middle of Colorado [for] family stuff, and then my wife met me there, and then she and I drove all

the way back home. I’ve been on tour doing solo concerts since about 1989. You get in the car, you go to the airport, you fly to the place, you get in the car, you go to the hotel, you

sleep, you go to the theater, you do the concert — and then you reverse the whole process to the next city. You’re always moving. And that’s what I love. It makes me feel alive. And I’m very

relaxed. If the plane gets canceled for any reason, there’s nobody more OK with it than me. I’m happy to just sit there or go to a hotel for the day. ON YOUR SOLO ROAD TRIPS, HOW DO YOU

PASS THE TIME? Well, no one can believe this, but I like quiet. I like absolute quiet. I look at the scenery. I love it. I must say, I had one conversation about _Winnie-the-Pooh_ with a

friend of mine, and while I was on the road trip he sent me a link to an extraordinary British recording — like a book on tape — of these Brits doing it with Stephen Fry and I think Jane

Horrocks and Judi Dench and other people. It was one of the greatest things I ever listened to. I listened to it twice. That was all I listened to in the five weeks I was on the road. My

wife and I have a deal. If she’s in the car with me, she brings her earphones because she likes to listen to podcasts 24/7. So she sits there and listens and I drive in the quiet. DO YOU

HAVE ANY GOALS FOR 2024? I’m working on a couple of new concerts with my piano player/collaborator Adam Ben-David. I just did a play reading of a new play … and we’re going to work on it

more. I found it really captivating. So I’m going to be putting some time and energy into that. We created our own television series from our social media — my wife and myself and my son

Gideon [Grody-Patinkin]. His writing partner/director friend Ewen Wright wrote it. … We have the pilot made already and we have the other scripts in the can, and so as soon as things

settle down from the strike, we’ll be trying to find a new home for that. That’s our number one goal. SO, IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE YOU PLAN TO SLOW DOWN ANYTIME SOON? I feel like there’s

enough of a break coming, and I don’t want to waste my time right now. I love being alive, I love my family and I love the world, and I love beautiful days. A beautiful day today — I took a

gorgeous walk and ran a concert [in my head]. I run a concert so I don’t forget the songs. I’ve got about 12 hours of songs in my head. And that’s how I begin my day. It’s sort of a walking,

singing meditation.