That brilliant actor and musical-comedy master Mandy Patinkin and his wife, actress and playwright Kathryn Grody, stayed at La Fonda on the Plaza not long ago during a City Different visit.

Patinkin, of course, originated a number of major stage roles including that of Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park with George and Ché Guevara in the first Broadway production of Evita. His more well-known roles on the silver screen include Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, 88 Keys in Dick Tracy and Huxley in the sadly underrated The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. Grody, twice an Obie winner for off-Broadway appearances, still performs her one-woman show, A Mom's Life, which she also wrote.


If you love British sitcoms, historical series or suchlike (think PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served?, The Tudors, Fawlty Towers and Brideshead Revisited) you may already be a fan of Downton Abbey, the hit historical drama starring Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern and Dan Stevens. Well ... according to reuters.com, oft-time Santa Fe resident and major supporter of the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, Shirley MacLaine, will be joining the cast for season three as Martha Levinson, mother of Lady Grantham, played by Elizabeth McGovern. Gareth Neame, managing editor for Carnival Films, said that MacLaine's character will be "a wonderful combatant for Maggie Smith's dowager countess." We can just bet. Both ladies have enjoyed -- and continue to enjoy -- distinguished theatrical careers in both comedy and tragedy, onstage and on screen. Both are of the same generation, having been born in 1934. Both are members of that rarified group of female actors who have grown old with grace while losing none of their radiant femininity -- or, when called upon, gritty toughness. It should be quite a season! For more information on Shirley, visit www.shirleymaclaine.com. To keep up with the goings on at Downton Abbey, its cast and premise, go to www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey.


A lot of folks have been scratching their heads, wondering why The Santa Fe Opera has chosen to mount Polish composer Karol Szymanowski's powerful but seldom heard (until recently) opera, King Roger this summer. Don't worry, trust El Mitotero, and be happy: it's going to be a smash hit, especially with dreamboat baritone and "Hot Pole" Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role. Brilliant director Stephen Wadsworth returns to Santa Fe for the first time in years to helm the project. If you want further proof, visit the SFO website for a video of Kwiecien discussing the opera and his role; http://santafeopera.org, and click on the King Roger link.

I want Mitote! Send your sightings, tips and suggestions to elmitote@sfnewmexican.com.