Doing my part...

...to make Mandy Patinkin's amazing voice known to the world of the Mommy Bloggers!

He's the bearded guy on the left.

Enjoy!

I put a link to this clip in the combox but it didn't seem to work. If you have never had the chance to listen to the original Broadway recording of The Secret Garden you need to, now! You've loved him as Inigo Montoya, you might remember him from Chicago Hope or maybe you recognize him from early episodes of Criminal Minds. But this man's first success was on the stage! He originated the part of Che in Evita on the Great White Way and even won a Tony for it. It wasn't until after his second Tony nomination for the role of Georges Seurat/George in Sunday in the Park with George that he even began his quest to find the six fingered man who killed his father. BTW... you can get Sunday in the Park with George from Netflix... it's a film recording of a stage production with Mandy and Bernadette Peters (not for kids)!

And just for fun, here is a list of some other actors that you might not be aware enjoyed success on the musical theater stage either before or while making a name for themselves in film and/or television. Click on their name for a clip of them singing and dancing but watch the warnings if little ones are around:

Angela Lansbury: best known for Murder She Wrote and Beauty and the Beast as the lovable Mrs. Potts (Angela has received 5 Tony Awards which is the record so far! In the clip I linked to, the sound cuts out for a little at the beginning but comes back.)

Jerry Orbach: Law & Order (You've heard him before as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast... in this clip from 42nd Street, there is a *ammit at the 00:52-00:54 mark right before the song begins)

Scott Bakula: recently on Chuck, previously the star of Quantum Leap. Check out Philadelphia Chickens to hear him sing Pig Island. Laura Linney sings Please Can I Keep It? (In this clip, if you are watching with kids, you might want to stop it when they transition into It's Not Too Late at the 2:09 mark.)

Victor Garber: Titanic, Alias, Eli Stone (Not for kids! This clip is from Assassins and there is quite a bit of language not to mention an annoying high pitch squeal. Victor is singing the part of John Wilkes Booth, so the language fits the character, but still.)

Nathan Lane: The Lion King, Mad About You (I thought this clip was hysterical! Gregory Hines and Nathan Lane sing songs normally sung by women to demonstrate how women in musical theater get the best songs. Oh my goodness, how I miss watching Gregory Hines!)

Hugh Jackman: X-Men (jump to the 1:46 mark on this clip to skip over some silly stuff that might or might not go over your kids' head.)

Matthew Broderick: Ferris Bueller's Day Off , also The Lion King (Clip is from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying)

Neil Patrick Harris: singing Les Miserables on a talk show with a fellow cast member from How I Met Your Mother

Joanna Gleason: The Good Wife, The West Wing (Joanna won a Tony award for her performance in Into the Woods which you can also order from Netflix!)

I know I've missed a lot of others. Feel free to add to this list in the combox if you don't mind outing yourself as a musical theater geek!