Matt Zarley may come in close to last alphabetically, but he’s definitely near the head of the list vocally. He possesses a strong, powerful baritone, which fills a room completely with its rich tones, pinpoint pitch and flawless delivery. He enunciates perfectly so that every lyric is clear, which is a good thing since he wrote the lyrics for half the songs in his show — lyrics about love’s triumphs and heartbreaks.

One of his most effective songs lyrically is “Had I Known,” which he wrote with Chris Curtis — a lament directed at a former lover (“Had I known it would be the last time I would hold you/I would have held you a little bit closer”).  While the message of the song was clear, the delivery was a bit overwhelming, and a sweeter, gentler approach — the norm when Zarley sings the song — might have been better. Other originals included “Say Goodbye” (Zarley/Steven Cahill), an excellent ballad in which he used his voice to lovely effect, and his encore, “Here I Am” (Zarley/Tom Kitt/Andy Zulla), in which he declares he is exactly “where I’m supposed to be” to achieve happiness in life. Another song on which his voice soared was in a spectacular performance of “Daniel” (Elton John/Bernie Taupin), abetted by a nice piano solo from Musical Director Steven Cahill.

Zarley scored on a medley of songs from shows he has done, including: a strong, deliberate reading of the “Who Am I Anyway” segment from A Chorus Line that began and ended the medley; “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph …; an all-too-brief slice of “All That Jazz” from Chicago; and a dynamic version of the title song from Kiss of the Spider Woman, along with “Memory” from Cats and “Anthem” from Chess. He also did a mash-up (that’s what the yonger generation refers to as a medley) of several songs from Dreamgirls — the show he said changed his life — in a salute to composer Henry Krieger.

Zarley also saluted his grandmother and brother — big Elvis Presley fans, he said — with a thoughtful reading of “Always on My Mind” (Johnny Christopher/Mark James/Wayne Carson Thompson) that made the song his own; and gave a shout-out to his parents on “You’re Always There” (Zarley/Steve Marzullo).

In general, Zarley showed off his strong voice without too many flights of fancy into pop, though he occasionally slipped into brief falsetto moments that made his sound a little less legit.

Providing strong instrumental support throughout were Matt Luccich on drums, Jonny Morrow on bass, Nick Perez on guitar, plus Cahill on piano — although the amped-up volume on all four instruments was a bit loud within the confines of Barre. In a nice touch, Zarley allowed each musician to do a brief solo as he introduced him.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
July 30, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org