Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin in sync at Cadillac Palace

Broadway stars Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin have their devoted fans and derisive detractors. Yet both performers reaffirmed why they are unquestionably Broadway legends in the musical theater concert "An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin," now at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre.

There's no denying the distinctive (some would say mannered) singing styles of LuPone and Patinkin. Both have been mercilessly skewered in the off-Broadway revue "Forbidden Broadway."

But both LuPone and Patinkin show here how they are masters of their singing art and create compelling characters that keep an audience rapt with attention and awe.

Rather than devote the show entirely to past glories, the two stars interact in a series of songs that each have a dramatic storytelling arc. There are also large chunks of dialogue and songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" and "Carousel." LuPone and Patinkin bring a dramatic vitality to this classic material, often written off for being overtly sentimental.

They also soar while tackling the tricky lyrics and harmonies of the many Stephen Sondheim songs that populate this concert aimed squarely at musical theater fanatics.

Framed by David Kornis' stripped down set of stationary ghost lights and strongly supported by music director Paul Ford at the piano and bassist Scott Rosenthal, LuPone and Patinkin get the most out of the material. And when they perform Ann Reinking's clever choreography (particularly in the comic song spoof "April in Fairbanks"), they make the audience roar with laughter.

The only major disappointment from LuPone and Patinkin's concert is that there is nothing from "Evita," the 1979 Broadway smash that skyrocketed them both to fame. The hit song "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" was in the printed playbill song list, but LuPone apparently read the disclaimer "Song list subject to change without notice."