OKLAHOMA!
The other corner of the romantic triangle is often reduced to a one-dimensional villain. As jealous hired hand Jud Fry, bearish Michael Ruehrmund transcends such a stereotype. A powerful singer and actor, Ruehrmund makes the rarely included Lonely Room such a compelling portrait of loneliness.
- Michael Grossberg, The Columbus Dispatch
Even the villainy is first-rate, courtesy of Michael Ruehrmund. In fact, Ruehrmund’s Jud—sort of a cross between Elvis and A Streetcar Named Desire’s Stanley Kowalski—is so fully realized that he makes some of the stories nicer folks seem flat by comparison. You almost hate to see him go when he inevitably pays the price for his nastiness.
- Richard Ades, The Other Paper
KISS ME, KATE
As hammy Fred Graham, who plays Petruchio in the show within the show, Michael Ruehrmund is good humored, delightfully smug and shows off a plummy baritone in Wunderbar and Were Thine That Special Face.
- Michael Grossberg, The Columbus Dispatch
Michael Ruehrmund is particularly watchable as Fred, who plays Petruchio in the show-within-a-show, a musical version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. His rich baritone voice and subtly hammy performance-within-a-performance are a treat.
- Richard Ades, The Other Paper
CABARET
Where the roles call for sincerity, this Cabaret shines -- especially in the hesitant relationship between Katie Schirtzinger’s fearful Fraulein Schneider and Michael Ruehrmund’s hopeful Herr Schultz.
- Michael Grossberg, The Columbus Dispatch
On the other hand, Katie Schirtzinger’s Schneider and Michael Ruehrmund’s Schultz connect in a way that is heartwarming. Their courtship scene when he brings her a pineapple is touching.
- Dennis Thompson, Upper Arlington News
Michael Ruehrmund is touching as the Jewish Merchant
- Doug Hoehn, Columbus Alive
THE SECRET GARDEN
Solid support comes from . . . Michael Ruehrmund as the conflicted uncle with designs on the house
- Michael Grossberg, The Columbus Dispatch
