Alan Cumming at Carnegie Hall (Photo: Koitz via The Broadway Blog.)
“Have a hanky at the ready,” said Alan Cumming in his Carnegie Hall debut last week that celebrated the release of his new album, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the Carlyle (available on iTunes, Amazon, or other online retailers). Cumming’s repertoire is a hodgepodge of musical theater, pop, folk songs from his native Scotland, and a few wildcards, but it is his superb storytelling that weaves them all together in a way that will, indeed, bring a tear to your eye, along with a few chuckles along the way.
Cumming’s playlist came together during his recent return Broadway engagement in Cabaret, during which he created a pop-up lounge (with liquor sponsor and all) in his dressing room for cast members and guests to hang out and sing their hearts out. He compiled these months of informal gatherings and the inspiration that came from the sessions into a song list and series of informal monologues that he performed in a limited engagement at New York City’s Café Carlyle. He and his merry band (led by musical director Lance Horne) have since taken the show on an international circuit and have future dates scheduled in Detroit, Minneapolis, Dallas, and more—including Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theatre (June 25, 2016).
Alan Cumming (Photo: Steve Vaccariello via The Broadway Blog.)
Cumming’s decades-spanning career includes a range of film, television and theater credits. He studied Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. New York audiences first met Cumming in 1998 in the award-winning revival of Cabaret, for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics’ Circle Award for his performance as the Master of Ceremonies. Television fans have relished in his recurring role as Eli Gold on CBS’s The Good Wife, while moviegoers have witnesses a chameleon-like presence on screen in films like Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Titus, The Smurfs (voiceover), and dozens more.
The Carnegie Hall concert was a joyful interpretation of the Café Carlyle recording and also included special appearances by Ricki Lake (with whom Cumming did an online commercial for Trojan condoms), Kristin Chenoweth (who Cumming originally met during the filming of the 1999 televised version of Annie), and Darren Criss, who exhibited his exceptional musicality by playing piano during a duet of “I Don’t Care Much” as well as a folksy guitar interpretation of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid.
Alan Cumming and friends at Carnegie Hall (Photo: Koitz via The Broadway Blog.)
Cumming’s smoky bari-tenor voice aptly tackles an array of musical styles, including some fun mash-ups that he proclaims he was a bit “judgy” about, including Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory,” and Katy Perry’s “Firework.” But even theater legend Stephen Sondheim can’t escape Cumming’s humor with a quick intercut called “No One Is Alive Not While I’m Around.”
Cumming wears his heart on his sleeve (that is, if he had sleeves, for he’s known for a unique style of formalwear that tends to lack them) and offers passionate, lyric interpretation as he dedicates “Goodnight Saigon” to his grandfather Tommy Darling. The recording unfortunately doesn’t include the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, who appeared at Carnegie Hall, but does conclude with a sentimental interpretation of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” and Cumming’s ode to the theater: “Ladies Who Lunch.”
Lunch with Alan Cumming would be a treat, but his live recording is a satisfying substitution.
Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the Café Carlyle
Matthew Wexler is The Broadway Blog’s editor. Follow him on social media at @roodeloo.