"A, he’s adorable,
B, he’s a baritone,
C, he’s a charm in cabaret.”

This hokey paraphrase of an old pop tune, “The Alphabet Song,” just seems to fit Stearns Matthews, who is an alphabet of favorable qualities. In his new show, this will be…, with musical director Steven Ray Watkins’s piano and vocal support and Lennie Watts in the director’s chair, Matthews immediately sets a point of view and the focus remains steady.

His patter is easy, affable and slightly self-deprecating, admitting he’s in a mid-20s crisis, caught in an uncomfortable present but headed for a brighter future. Selections fit the theme; “Somebody” (Dave Berg, Sam Tate and Annie Tate) points out the hope that the right somebody could be in the next car, the morning train or the coffee shop. Early on, Matthews’s father taught him to think, “I am Stearns Matthews and I’m always right.” His mother’s dream was that he become Bob on Sesame Street. With confidence, he went into a bright Sesame Street medley.

(Incidentally, back to the “The Alphabet Song” -- the tune was featured on Sesame Street, although Matthews did not include it in his medley.)

Matthews is a compelling baritone with a mature investment in the lyrics. He wows the crowd with a sharp delivery of  “You Can’t Take the Color Out of Colorado,” or, in fact, or, in fact,  the “homo” out of Oklahoma, the “sissy” out of Mississippi, and so on. The song, by Dick Gallagher and Mark Waldrop, is clever — but credit also goes to Matthews’s facility with wit, pace, stress and knocking home the narrative. Also hilarious is his delivery of “Folsom Prison Blues” (Johnny Cash), which he describes as the love child of Cash and Liza Minnelli.

His ballads are heartfelt and evocative and build the narrative, like John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Married” paired with “Sleepy Man” (Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman). It is a tender combination, each enhancing the depth of the other. The gender-switching in “Sleepy Man” is smooth and unobtrusive.

Stearns Matthews wrings everything he can out of his “mid-20s crisis,” and, if he is this good now, there’s gonna be something even better in his future. This adorable baritone is a charm on any stage.

Stearns Matthews has one more show, June 23 at 7 pm.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
June 8, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org