~ Author: Mark Anthony Martinez II
Patti LuPone’s solo show at Carnegie Hall on February 2nd, 2026, was a love letter: to love itself and to her fans. She sang about every variety of love: passionate, long-term, maternal, carnal, even more carnal, familial, somehow even more carnal, and every minute of her performance showed why she is the legendary performer she is.
I was thrilled to see Ms. LuPone, having somehow missed every previous opportunity to catch her onstage, whether in a show or in concert. The hall was packed, and the stage was awash in a hazy palette of pastel pinks and blues.
The concert, titled Matters of the Heart, turned out to be LuPone’s third time performing the program. She first conceived it with her longtime collaborator Scott Wittman while living in Los Angeles in 1993, and revived it roughly thirty years later.
The stage was set with the Four Play String Quartet, Will Curry, Molly Goldman, Suzy Perelman, and Jessica Wang, alongside Joseph Thalken, the concert’s music director and pianist. After a brief musical prelude, LuPone walked onstage in a white dress lined with rhinestones and adorned with ribbons at the neckline. She sauntered in, introduced the evening, and immediately captured the audience with her comic timing, before singing a single note.
LuPone opened with a medley built around “Love Makes the World Go ’Round” from Carnival, breaking into spoken monologue as she guided the audience through the night’s musical journey.
From the outset, I was struck by the fact that she appeared to perform the entire concert from memory, something many singers opt not to do in such a stripped-down setting. The only pause she took between numbers was to sip water from a glass perched atop the piano; otherwise, she powered through the evening like a workhorse.
She sang beautifully, of course, but this being my first time seeing her live, I hadn’t fully realized the sheer magnitude of her comic ability. Some of the night’s best moments came from its most outrageous songs, which showcased both her vocal prowess and her acting chops. Her rendition of “Shattered Illusions,” originally sung by Fascinating Aïda, set the tone for the evening. The song recounts a series of failed romances, each riddled with dashed expectations, culminating in a verse about having sexual relations with an abbot while dressed in a habit: if that gives any indication of what followed.
Another standout was her performance of Randy Newman’s “Better Off Dead,” which hilariously captured the misery of a one-sided relationship. Each complaint ended with the deadpan refrain, “Better off dead.” The song concluded with the strings quoting the theme from Psycho, perfectly sealing the piece’s off-kilter energy.
After several more numbers, the first half of the concert ended with a rousing rendition of “Being Alive” from Company, allowing LuPone her big diva moment of the night.
What was particularly wonderful to witness was how generously LuPone shared the spotlight. When the audience responded enthusiastically to a song, she consistently turned to acknowledge the instrumentalists, inviting them to stand and receive their applause as well.
In that same spirit, toward the end of the evening she brought Scott Wittman onstage to thank him for his collaboration and to give him the flowers he so richly deserved for helping make the concert possible.
After intermission, the white flowers atop the piano were replaced with red ones. LuPone returned to the stage in a purple, rhinestoned dress and launched into the second half of the show.
This set opened with a medley of “When the World Was Young” and “I Never Do Anything Twice,” another standout in which music and comedy worked hand in hand. At one point, during a reference to certain sexual acts, the musicians donned white blindfolds while LuPone produced a whip and cracked it several times. She was not joking when she said that a good portion of the evening’s repertoire revolved around lust.
Some of the sweetest moments of the night came when, between songs, LuPone spoke candidly about her own life and loves. One highlight was her story of how she met her husband, by sitting on his lap to get his attention. It was deeply satisfying to see such a consummate performer not only as a singer and actor, but as a person whose lived experience fuels the stories she tells onstage.
LuPone is also famously unafraid to speak her mind, a trait that often results in unintentional viral moments. Near the end of the evening, she addressed the current political climate in the United States, expressing her anger and heartbreak over recent developments at the Kennedy Center, including its renaming and a planned multi-year shutdown. She urged the audience not to stand idly by, but to protect art and culture in this country.
Before her final number, LuPone briefly left the stage and returned holding a disposable camera, snapping photos of the audience and her fellow performers as the musicians played the outro of the previous song. When she finished, she tossed the camera into the audience, presumably to her husband, though if not, one lucky patron went home with quite a souvenir. The concert ended with “Haste Ye Back,” bringing a truly wonderful evening of music to a close.
~ Mark Anthony Martinez II
Oberon's Glade 