By John Amodeo***On the heels (the six inch heels) of her sensational show, Slightly Sondheim, at CabaretFest Provincetown, Doris Dear, “America’s Perfect Housewife,” is headed to Boston! The MAC Award and three-time Telly Award winner, presented her all-new, sold-out, show at The Crown and Anchor’s Cabaret Room on 
Thursday, June 8, and for Dear creator Ray DeForest, the allure of Boston was irresistible. Dear’s Boston debut, with Gurl Talk, is at Josephine’s Cabaret at the Club Café’s Napoleon Room on September 15.
“It’s a really good show for people who don’t know me,” says DeForest. “It’s the show that introduces why Doris exists, the story of family, the Rumpus Room. It’s a great introduction to Doris Dear and her world.”
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) chats with Ray DeForest (RD) about Gurl Talk, Staten Island and his mom, the perfect housewife.
NLE: What made you want to come up to Boston?
RD: After doing the Sondheim show in Ptown, people started saying you should do Boston. And Meg Flather started performing in Boston, and she loves it. She said they would love you! I’m excited to see and perform a new space and find a new audience, because I love doing this.
NLE: Tell us a little about Gurl Talk.
RD: I haven’t done this show in quite a while. It’s morphed over the years. I’m a storyteller. But also doing a lot of singing. I’m doing eight songs, and all the songs are part of the stories. All the stories are true growing up with my crazy family on Staten Island. The songs are extensions of the stories, the stories lead me into the song, so the songs make sense. I write it like a musical, with a beginning, middle and an end with a denouement in the middle. It’s almost like a scripted musical, of the story of Doris and her origins and where she is today.
NE: What songs can the Boston audience expect?
RD: One of my favorite songs, “I’ll Plant My Own Tree” is an anthem for me. It closes every show I do. It’s a silly song from Valley of the Dolls, but it’s also a story of self-empowerment, and that my Rumpus Room is a safe place for everyone where everyone is welcome. I’m doing a mashup of “Just a Housewife” and “Becoming My Mother.” And that is truly Doris’ story. I like people to lean in. 
I like to create an atmosphere where we are just sitting on the sofa in my Rumpus Room with a cocktail. And people get it, that I’m honoring my mother. “Another Hundred People,” “Somewhere That’s Green,” “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” all explain who she is, why she is, and my relationship with my mother and how that informed who she is.
NLE: You modeled Doris after your mom, who you contend was the Perfect Housewife. What was she like?
RD: My mom was a model in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and she walked runways in London and Paris. When my mom saw me in my outfit, and said, “I don’t remember wearing that dress, but I sure do look terrific,” I knew I had come full circle.
NLE: What’s next for you beyond Boston?
RD: I’m working on a serious show about my cancer journey as Ray, and I’ll do it in a theater, not a cabaret room—and it will have a lot of music, because music is an important part of my life, and I’ll probably do this next year. Doris will be international next year. We’ve been putting together a UK tour that finishes at Crazy Coqs.
NLE: What is most important to you about performing?
RD: I want to make people feel better, and I hope I do that with this show. I’ve been doing this, professional acting, for 47 years, and I’m so lucky to have been doing what I love.
For more information about Ray DeForest as Doris Dear at Josephine’s Cabaret at the Club Café’s Napoleon Room (209 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA) click here.
