Effortless is used as praise to describe performers, especially as they age.

Which amounts to complimenting their ability to hide the physical struggle endured by their older bodies.

But Mandy Patinkin deploys zero of the usual maneuvers to hide the toll exacted on him by Being Alive. In between almost every song, he huffs and puffs, de-phlegms his passagesways, wipes sweat off his everywheres, and even leans on the piano for support. 

Not in what can feel like a hacky scripted manner, to exaggerate the exertion and call wink-wink attention to his twilight years. But in a truthful way, showcasing the toil.

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While on the subject of revealing truth…

Belting over acting has become du jour in musical theater. Crooners sing the soaring emotions, sometimes at the expense of playing the character nuances in the lyrics. 

Patinkin has always been a diction master, but his ability to act every word serves as a reminder that, contrary to popular perception, musicals are as much of a text-rooted art form as any other.