Review: Matthew Scott THE JESUS YEAR Miraculous Musical Storytelling At 54 Below

In September of the last year, I was editing a review for Matthew Scott’s one-man show THE JESUS YEAR: A LETTER FROM MY DAD and I didn’t just think, “This sounds good” or “I wish I had reviewed this” - the one recurring, repeated thought that I had was, “Damn.  I’m sorry I missed this.”  Thankfully, many are the times that a show in a club gets such a positive response from the audience that the performer opts for an encore - there are times when it doesn’t happen, and more’s the pity.  This time, though, Matthew Scott didn’t just decide to play his musical cabaret a second time, he recorded it.  The album got a rave review from our team that I edited and, again, I thought, “I really need to see this show.”  So there was no way (NO way) that I was going to miss The Jesus Year, even waiting a few months after its scheduled reprisal was moved from May to September.

Finally, on Tuesday night, September 26th, I got my wish.  And every word of Bobby Patrick’s two reviews of The Jesus Year (HERE and HERE) is absolutely true.  The Jesus Year is a work of art and Matthew Scott must feel very proud of himself, indeed, his entire family must feel proud of him.  The Jesus Year is The Real Thing.

The Jesus Year is not a religious show, though it is a spiritual one.  The title comes from a popular expression referring to the year that one turns thirty-three (there is more to it, but that’s the essence of the expression), and in the case of young Mister Scott, it is the year his father decided to write a letter to his four sons, out of concern that he might not be around to watch them grow up.  The premonition proved accurate, and when Matthew was thirteen, his father died, leaving behind a heartbroken family, the matriarch of which discovered the epistle, some time later, and passed it along to her children.  A true artist of the Thespianic persuasion, Matthew has taken that letter and fashioned  it into a show - one of the greatest shows it has been this writer’s honor to see, ever.

The Jesus Year is not a sad show.  The Jesus Year is not maudlin or depressing or self-indulgent, even though the subject of an impressionable teenage boy losing his father is key to the tale being told, and not something one might expect as a nightclub entertainment.  The Jesus Year is a piece of theater that tells a story that will resonate with anyone because it is about family, it is about the relationships that make us family.  Yes, the thread that holds it together is this one incredible letter to which Matthew refers in the story, reading the words written down by his dad, but through the letter and through Scott’s impeccable script, the audience can see his relationship with his father, his mother, his brothers, his wife, his son, all of which resonates inside of the soul, as one feels the visceral pull of the heartstrings leading back to our own fathers, mothers, siblings, spouses, and children.  WIth massive amounts of humor (both in the writing and the delivery), open vulnerability, and absolute honesty, Matthew Scott lays bare his being for the audience’s entertainment.  And entertained, the audience is.

The Jesus Year could be a play.  To this writer it is a play.  What makes it a cabaret instead of what people know as “a play” is the fact that the music is not original music.  Matthew Scott has taken pre-existing compositions and married them, meticulously, to the various anecdotes of his life story, using William Finn’s “I Went Fishing With My Dad” and Billy Joel’s “You’re My Home” to paint perfect pictures evocative of his bonds with his father and his wife, respectively, always, with every song, using a voice so pure of tone as to resemble a crystal bell being rung on a sunny winter morning in the Alps.  He melds music with memories in manners that make the story arc relevant to all who are his witnesses because we already know the songs.  If this were a bonafide new musical with an original score, audiences would enjoy the show because Scott is overpoweringly likable and his script is flawless, in every way.  But sitting and watching that new musical, audiences would have to pay attention to the new lyrics, they would need to follow along.  By making his story into a musical cabaret, Matthew Scott has given his patrons an invisible assist.  Those songs by Ben Folds, and Cat Stevens, and Harry Chapin act as a passagway into Scott’s story, his personality, and his corner because we already have a relationship with those songs.  We understand, with greater resonance, the emotional depth that Matthew is presenting when using Paul McCartney’s “Calico Skies’ to describe the experience of becoming a father, we are given a more powerful introduction to the heartbreak when William Finn’s “When The Earth Stopped Turning,” is applied to his father’s death.   It is eloquence in storytelling, excellently executed by a master and a man, for The Jesus Year is a masterpiece.

Observe how Matthew Scott starts his program by interpolating his monologue into “The World According To Snoopy,” informing his onlookers of the facts that build the foundation of his play:  at thirteen he was already a singing actor, he had a supportive mother and siblings who attended his school plays, and his father had recently died.  Note how expert Musical Director Vadim Feichtner’s arrangement takes on colors and nuances not present in the original context of the composition, in order to fuel this particular play.  And appreciate how skillfully Joe Calarco has directed Scott to move through every scene in his musical play without pausing to converse with the audience, as a more regularly orchestrated cabaret show would encourage.  There is no breaking from the script until the story is complete.  Matthew Scott is a character in a play and at this performance the character of Matthew Scott is being performed by Matthew Scott.  When the play is over, when the curtain call is complete, when the journey has been taken, then the actor becomes the man, and the audience is acknowledged, the thank you speech is presented, and the play is over.  The trio of proficients have taken you by the hands and led you, story by special story, song by stunning song, moment by magical moment through The Jesus Year, and you have found yourself marveling at the miracle that is right and proper storytelling at its highest, yet most accessible, form.  It just doesn’t get better than this.

Thanks, Dad.

Find great shows to see on the 54 Below website HERE.

Matthew Scott is on Instagram HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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