Review: Patti LuPone's MATTERS OF THE HEART Celebrates Love at Carnegie Hall

On Monday February 2, 2026, Patti LuPone treated the audience at Carnegie Hall to a rapturous performance of her concert about love, Matters of the Heart, which is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary. The concert is divine, a love letter to love in all of its messy glory, from first love to painful heartbreak. There were people in the audience who have been to every single performance of Matters of the Heart all the way back to its debut performance in 2000. LuPone has undeniably star quality, with a masterful voice, capable of conveying the most complex emotions whether in a belt or a gentle whisper. If I had the budget to follow her around as she tours with this current iteration of Matters of the Heart, I would too. She held the audience in rapt attention for the entire show with her commanding stage presence.

She brought us in with the gentle “Love Makes the World Go Round” (Carnival), which served as a musical theme throughout the evening, its melody intertwining cleverly with other songs. From there we went into “Wonderful Guy” (South Pacific) with strikingly different arrangements from the original musical that played into her strengths as a singer. Patti chose a lovely selection of songs running the gamut of the spectrum of love. She did a slow and moving acoustic “God Only Knows” (Beach Boys), which faded seamlessly into “Easy to Be Hard” (Hair). Patti again made that song her own, slowing down and changing the arrangements in parts and letting the lyrics breathe. She has the wonderful ability to take classic songs you might have heard a thousand times before and make her mark indelibly upon them, making you hear them with fresh ears, familiar as they may be. There were a few songs she sang from the original Matters of the Heart album that I hadn’t heard before, one of which was the very funny “Shattered Illusions,” about a woman’s quest for the perfect man and her disappointments. Patti has impeccable comedic inflection and timing, and she had the audience guffawing. The funny moments in the concert were mostly subtle, like the theme from Psycho coming in for a few beats toward the end of a song where Patti played a spurned and angry lover, but their sparseness made them all the more effective.

It's hard to choose the most moving moments from the concert, as packed as it was with hits, but one of my favorite moments was Patti’s very slow, deliberate rendition of “Air That I Breathe,” arranged with just the piano backing her. The melody of “Love Makes the World Go Round” were quietly called back at the end.

She closed Act I with a rousing “Being Alive” (Company). We returned after intermission with Patti changed into a lovely deep blue dress. Again, it's hard to choose thte best moments, but among my favorites were a moving, impassioned “Back to Before” (Ragtime), and her bouncy, poignant “Hello Young Lovers” (King and I), which ended on a belt so strong it had the audience leaping to their feet to give her a standing ovation.

Towards the end of the show, Patti addressed the audience, saying she knows how hard it was with everything going on in the world today, but to remember that the driving force in the world is love. Patti ended by giving an impassioned speech in support of the Kennedy Center, which Trump had announced the day before he planned to shutter for two years and completely rebuild. She spoke to how important art and culture was to the country, and that we couldn’t sit idly by and let him demolish the building. The audience cheered in support.

LuPone exited the stage, coming back for a light-hearted encore with “The Way You Look Tonight,” snapping photos of the audience with a disposable camera as she sang, a very funny nod to her infamous hatred of audience photography during shows.

She dedicated the show to Dick Gallagher, the concert’s original orchestrator. She pointed out Scott Wittman and thanked him for conceiving and directing the show. Joseph Thalken, on piano, provided music direction and arrangements. The wonderful Four Play String Quartet accompanying her consisted of Will Curry, Molly Goldman, Suzy Perelman and Jessica Wang.

LuPone exited once more, coming back for a brief, fun Scottish drinking song, “Haste Ye Back.” The audience exited into the frigid cold, warmed by LuPone’s singing and her simple message that love does have the power to change the world.

Find Patti LuPone’s upcoming tour dates and more information about her on her website at pattilupone.com

Find more upcoming shows at Carnegie Hall on their website here. Learn more about the 2026-27 Originals series, which begins in October, here.