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LI lawyer wins Billy Joel role in 'Movin' Out'

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

January 24, 2008

Matthew Friedman was ready to give up.

He was a 30-something attorney from Dix Hills and he was reaching that point - the one dreamers know all too well, the one where it becomes clear that it is time to let it go.

He had his share of near successes in his quest to become a professional musician and follow in the footsteps of his hero, Billy Joel. But each time, he came up a little short. Maybe, he thought, it was never going to happen.

Letting the dream go was on Friedman's mind as he handled a run-of-the-mill motion in a Brooklyn courtroom. That's when, much to his embarrassment, his cell phone rang.

As he rushed to turn off his phone, Friedman saw who was calling and quickly asked the judge if he could be excused, saying, "Your honor, I know this is a breach of protocol, but I have a life and death phone call that I must take. Can I be excused for two minutes?"

He hurried into the hallway to take the call.

"Matthew, this is Stuart Malina from 'Movin' Out,'" the voice on the other end said. "Your life is about to change forever."

And it did.

"Sometimes," Friedman says, remembering that moment with a big smile, "dreams really do come true."

Today, Friedman is the Piano Man, the lead singer in the touring company of the Billy Joel-Twyla Tharp musical "Movin' Out" - a position he has held since June and one that he has just agreed to hold onto for at least another six months. He spends most nights at center stage - or, because of the unique staging of "Movin' Out," about 15 feet above center stage - singing his heart out on songs he has dreamed of performing for the public since he was a little kid.

"My nickname in high school was 'Matty Joel,'" Friedman says, leaning back on the sofas at Unwined, the Upper West Side club where he performs when he's not on the road. "In my 10th-grade talent show, I played and sang 'Tell Her About It.'"

Now, he plays "Tell Her About It" for packed houses across the country and in Canada almost every night. It's a life he dreamed of all through college and law school at Hofstra University and through his years handling insurance law cases for the Wall Street firm of Wollerstein and Futoran. He had always played his own music and with his brothers in the Friedman Brothers Band, as well as others' music in session bands and wedding bands around the area.

"When I was younger, I used to think that opportunity was just around the corner," Friedman says. "After a decade or so, though, opportunity starts looking like it's miles and miles away."

The wedding singer

Friedman's odyssey to become the Piano Man began more than five years ago, with an opportunity hatched from one of his gigs in a wedding band.

He happened to play a wedding with singer Amy Goff in 2002, and they hit it off right away. Goff brought him home to meet her husband, Chuck Burgi, who now plays drums in Joel's band, and they also got along well.

When auditions for new "Piano Men" began in 2003, Burgi, who was part of the original "Movin' Out" band, remembered Friedman and helped him get an audition with the show's producers, including Stuart Malina, who won a Tony with Joel for their orchestration of "Movin' Out" in 2003.

"It was hard to find people for this show," Malina says. "We needed people who had ability, a great singing voice and stage presence. We went through four or five rounds of auditions before we hired anybody."

Malina says he remembered Friedman's first audition and how those involved in the show were torn. "He was terrific, but he weighed more than 300 pounds," Malina says. "There were worries that he was a visual distraction, and the producers weren't happy about it."

They passed on Friedman, mainly because of his inexperience at performing at that level, but also because of the way he looked. Malina said Friedman asked him to be brutally honest about what he could improve.