Matthew Martin Ward
What I Love
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, September 14, 2024
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
After 50-plus years as a music director, composer, accompanist, classical pianist, Broadway and Off-Broadway pit musician, and beloved collaborator, Matthew Martin Ward made his solo cabaret debut at Don’t Tell Mama. After viewing this incredibly witty, beautifully paced show, the only remaining question I had was “what took so long?” The afternoon was planned around some of the things Ward loves, from New York City to his school days to classical music; that allowed his personality and emotions to support his incredibly varied set list, which ranged from pop standards to obscure Broadway material to delightful originals. His comments were warm and witty, his playing was passionate and versatile, and his singing style was uniquely his own.
He began the show literally in the dark, his a cappella voice crooning the atmospheric “Night in the City” (Joni Mitchell), which blended into the harsh “Manhattan Madness” (Irving Berlin). In these two songs he created a complex vision of the metropolitan location, especially when explored it further in the brooding “While the City Sleeps” (Charles Strouse/Lee Adams). But Ward is too smart a showman to keep up that moody atmosphere; he launched into memories of his early education and celebrated certain terrible educators with his original song that was paired with Peter Napolitano’s Ira Gershwin-like lyrics in “The Teachers I Remember.” He followed this darkly comic moment with another original, this time with clever lyrics by Stephen Cole: “Dead Lovers”; it celebrated the perfect romance, managed to rhyme “calming” with “embalming,” and was delivered with lots of razzamatazz.
There were also poignant moments—“The New Suit” (Marc Blitzstein)—and charmingly wicked numbers —“Currier and Ives” (Dorothy Fields/Sigmund Romberg). There were dazzling show-off moments in “The Fool on the Hill” (John Lennon/Paul McCartney); its arrangement recalled Chopin and required virtuosic piano playing. There were uniting sequences as when he led a singalong for his own composition “Find Your Way Home” (sheet music was delivered to the audience). Singalongs are always tricky, but given that more than half of the audience were MAC members, this one really sounded good. The constant variety helped Ward escape the danger of pianist/singer shows; they can easily become visually and dramatically stati. What’s more, he even indulged in a bit of hand puppetry for a funny moment. The afternoon invoked the golden days when talents such as Bobby Short and John Wallowitch held forth at the piano. Now that Ward has found his way to the center of the stage, hopefully he will return there often.
