If You Could Read My Mind: Chanteuse Susan Lambert Triumphs at Wellfleet Preservation Hall

Susan Lambert’s new one-woman show, If You Could Read My Mind, presented for one night only at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, absolutely shimmered with light and love and, perhaps, more than just a little wisdom.

Her previous show, The Couch, brought us on a tour of people she encounters in her other professional life, highlighting stories of people in therapy sessions; it was intense and personal—one felt that Lambert cared deeply about all these questing souls, amalgamations of real and fictional clients.

If The Couch reflected Lambert’s professional life, If You Could Read My Mind brings the audience straight into her personal story, which she recounts in tandem with a collection of familiar songs woven somehow seamlessly into her narrative.

Much of what she shares, truth be told, is painful; but her ability to find humor even in the midst of difficulties and darkness lifts her experiences, makes them relatable.

Lambert’s voice ripples with warmth and confidence. She’s a performer in the French chanteuse tradition, reminding me of one of my favorite performers, Juliette Greco, with her easy chanson à texte transition into each song, her ability to convey emotions through words transitioning into rich, tonal melody.

The breadth of songs she chooses with which to tell her story reveals something about her own range of ability: there are songs from musicals (Follies, Waitress, Ever After, La Cage aux Folles), which require different skills than some of the character songs she chooses (from Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gordon Lightfoot, and Fleetwood Mac, among others).

Not even a chanteuse exists in a vacuum, of course, and Lambert’s two directors (Scott Cunningham directed the show; Jon Goldberg arranged the music and accompanied Lambert on-stage) have honed her talents and challenged her to find more layers both in the music and the in depths of her own feelings to lay bare to the audience.

Together the three have created an experience that is touching, thoughtful, and very, very memorable.