Ruth Fuerst: Wake Up and Dream

Carla Gordon | May 30, 2015

Ruth Fuerst

Wake Up and Dream

Davenport’s, Chicago, IL, April 17, 2015

Reviewed by Carla Gordon for Cabaret Scenes

Early in her debut solo show, Wake Up and Dream, psychotherapist-by-day Ruth Fuerst shares her thought that cabaret and psychotherapy share an important trait, namely that both are about stories. That comment is both engaging and insightful and sets the right tone for the show. Among the effectively delivered stories urging us to pursue our dreams were Kander and Ebb’s “Ring Them Bells,” “A Piece of Sky” (The Bergmans/Michel Legrand), and Cole Porter’s droll “Experiment.” Speaking of droll, Musical Director Bob Moreen served as an excellent straight man, giving Fuerst the beeswax and then some during both their duet of Berlin’s “You’re Just in Love” and some well-placed Freudian “slips” in a goofball parody of “Mame” called “Freud.” Audience members couldn’t help but chime in on the chorus. Fuerst captures wistfulness in her journey as a mom in “Baby Believe” with her lead-in about bedtime stories, and shares the longing in the Gershwins’ “But Not for Me.” She is a warm communicator with a big, genuine smile. There are, however, some vocal issues to be addressed as she goes forward—in particular, an occasionally distracting disconnect between head and chest voices.