Holiday musical honors Long Island's Matthew Lightsey, who died in 2022 car crash

When 4-year-old Matthew Lightsey came home from preschool, he announced to his family that he had a song to sing. 

Picking him up from school, Fran Lightsey, his mother, was told by his teacher that the preschooler had learned the entire song in one day — something that she had never seen before.

It was in that moment, as he sang each word with confidence and poise, that Fran realized her son had a gift. 

"He sang that song, not missing a note," Fran Lightsey said.

This Babylon composer, who died in a car crash at 22, will be remembered this weekend when a local theater group performs the musical he co-composed. 

"The Christmas Express," a musical about what happens when Santa is given a high-tech sled, was created with lyrics by Lightsey and music by John Paul Louis. It will be performed at the South Shore Theatre Experience at 115 S. Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst Friday through Sunday.

Lightsey was recognized by his mentors before his death on the Long Island Expressway in June 2022. Fran Lightsey said his accomplishments were only the start of his much-anticipated career. 

"He lived his dream until the day he died," she said.

A lifelong performer

The youngest of four sons, Lightsey performed in local theater from an early age all over the Island, taking part in at least 125 shows, Fran said.

His first role was Lumiere in his fourth-grade production of "Beauty and the Beast."

"There's no part of Long Island I don't think I didn't drive to," she said of her shuttling her son to various productions.

Fran Lightsey said her son was a kind yet humble person. At his wake, several of his former classmates at The City College shared stories of how he helped them with a broken-down car or just made them feel seen.

"They were like, 'If it wasn't for Matthew, I'd still be alone,' " Fran Lightsey said. 

In addition to theater, Lightsey taught himself how to play the piano, guitar and flute, refusing to take lessons.

"I begged him to go for [singing] lessons, and he goes, 'No, I have the bathroom and the shower, because that does the trick,' " his mother said.

Lightsey began writing songs for "The Composer’s Melody," his first musical, in the eighth and ninth grades.

Fran Lightsey recalled Matthew playing piano in the early morning hours in their Babylon home, having awakened with ideas for songs.

He met fellow musician and creative partner John Paul Louis when they were students at West Babylon High School and did a Ben Folds cover for an open mic night.

Louis said it was easy to bounce ideas off Lightsey, who had a talent for refining an idea for a song.

"He had a certain drive where he was like, 'I'm going to do this all the time,' " Louis said. "And I was the same way."

Their songwriting became so in sync that Louis assumed they would be working together "for a long time." In addition to "The Composer’s Melody" and "The Christmas Express," the two had begun working on a musical about John Wilkes Booth.

"It was just a really good collaboration," he said. "I don't think I'll ever find anybody like that again."

"The Composer’s Melody" ran for three performances in February 2020 at Hudson Guild Theater in Manhattan and then for six performances in June 2021 at South Shore Theatre Experience.

A natural collaboration

It was at a Long Island production where Claude Solnik, author of the book for "The Christmas Express," was wowed by their abilities.

Solnik, a playwright in residence at Theater for the New City in Manhattan, had an upcoming reserved date and space, and asked the duo to collaborate with any one of his already written scripts. (Solnik is also a freelance writer for Newsday.)

Lightsey and Louis said yes and chose "The Christmas Express." The duo wrote 23 songs in the span of about one month.

Louis said that because he and Lightsey had already worked together on other projects like "The Composer’s Melody," writing a large number of songs in a short time was doable because it was like using muscle memory.

"We would work for hours and hours on end, just writing songs and getting better at what we did," Louis said about their teamwork.

Heather Legnosky, director of the Lindenhurst production of "The Christmas Express," who had worked with Lightsey when they were students at Suffolk County Community College, said she found the lyrics of the songs to be beautiful and vibrant, and fun for the audience to hear.

"You can tell when you listen to these songs that Matt put a lot of work into them," she said.

While Lightsey and Louis made their song deadlines, the production was canceled due to a cast member getting COVID-19 at the end of 2021.

Louis said the the cast and crew had hoped to try again the following year during the holiday season. But after Lightsey’s fatal crash, the production was canceled.

Two years later, Louis helped the production of "The Christmas Express" come back into full swing, acting as the musical director for its limited run in Manhattan this fall and now in Lindenhurst.

A portion of the show's proceeds will go toward the Matthew Lightsey Inspire Me Scholarship, which is given to a high school student. 

The Long Island production also happened around what would have been Lightsey’s 25th birthday, on Dec. 14.

Fran Lightsey said that for this production to take place in the same theater her son and Louis had their first musical produced, surrounded by friends and their community, means more than words can describe.

"This would mean so much to him," she said. "This would mean the world to him."

To purchase tickets or to donate to Lightsey's scholarship, visit the South Shore Theatre Experience website at southshoretheatre.com.