Alan Cumming on ‘Sappy Songs,’
playing Portland and
baring more than his soul
Recently I went to lunch with a friend. In an effort to protect her from cyber bullying and the inevitable social media backlash, we’ll call her “Naomi.” Over vegetarian chimichangas, I told her that I was looking forward to interviewing Alan Cumming — the Tony Award-winning showstopper, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and three-time Emmy nominee
Blessed with a voice that carries, Naomi asked, “Who’s Alan Cumming?” The entire restaurant froze Every head turned in our direction. I somehow managed to maintain my composure, even though I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Getting Naomi up to speed on key figures in the pop culture pantheon is not unlike an especially rigorous “American Ninja Warrior” challenge.
I start reeling off Cumming’s list of credits: “Seven seasons of “The Good Wife. ” Before that, he was a revelation as the Nazi emcee in the Broadway revival of “Cabaret.” In “X-Men 2,” he played a teleporting mutant assassin named Nightcrawler. Let’s see Bradley Cooper pull that off!” Naomi is impressed by all of this, but she’s still drawing a blank. In desperation, I whip out my overheated android and retrieve hundreds of images of the self-described “frolicky pansexual.” There’s Alan hobnobbing with Monica Lewinsky … chatting up Seth Meyers … hanging out with a group of Syrian refugees.
“Oh, that guy!” Naomi says, brightening considerably. “Yeah, he’s very talented. He can do anything.” Can do and will do.
“I always joke that I don’t have a life, I have a schedule,” Cumming says during our interview. “I get up in the morning and say, ‘Okay, where am I supposed to be? What’s next?’ After our talk, I’m going to get into a car and go upstate to my house in the Catskills. Even when I’m there, I try to stay focused. Though this weekend, I’m focusing on just relaxing.”
It’s a wise man who kicks back while he still can.Over the next few months, the 52 year-old performer will be roaming all over the country with his cabaret show, “Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs.” Between appearances in Miami and Philadelphia, Cumming will bring his critically acclaimed revue to Portland’s Merrill Auditorium on Feb. 18. While Cumming has never performed in Maine, he does have significant ties to the area. “My husband, Grant Shaffer, is an amazing illustrator … Grant’s sister lives in Falmouth. So I’m kind of a semi-regular visitor there,” Cumming says. “I really enjoy being in Maine and I’m totally looking forward to working in that theatre in Portland. It’s just so beautiful.”
Taking note of the back-to-back concerts on Cumming’s to do list, I ask him how he manages to keep each gig feeling fresh. “You know, each night the audience is vastly different,” says Cumming. “I just feel like wherever I am, there’s new energy to work with. I do this show often but I don’t do it every night and by breaking the tour up over a long period of time, it’s still got this kind of fun and exciting quality to it.”
The Cumming repertoire is as eclectic and varied as his entire career has been. The sappy songs in question are by the likes of Annie Lennox, Billy Joel, Noel Coward and Miley Cyrus. While the selections may be familiar, Cumming says that he’s inviting audiences to take another listen: “I feel like my interpretation of a song might shed new light on it. I mean, people aren’t coming to hear the mellifluent qualities of my high baritone. They’re coming to hear me interpret. They’re coming to hear me act these songs … I’d like to think that performing a particular song is a way of honoring it and sharing why I love it so much.”
Cumming’s stage show has spawned a companion CD, “Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs – Live at the Café Carlyle” (Yellow Sound Label). The album has attracted considerable attention — as much for its eye-popping artwork as for its content. Ever the provocateur, Cumming posed nude for the cover photo. In the image, he’s saved from full frontal exposure by a strategically placed champagne bottle.
“I’ve been naked quite a bit in my career,” Cumming says. “I’m pretty cool with it. That whole idea, though, came from the photographer, Jordan Matter. He was working on this project, which involved photographing dancers nude and after dark in the streets of New York. I really love that image that we used on the record. It sort of represents my spirit and what I’m all about in a really fun way.”
Up next for Cumming is a supporting role in the Billy Jean King biopic, “Battle of the Sexes,” with Emma Stone as the trailblazing tennis pro. Cumming then takes the lead in director Vincent Gagliostro’s “After Louie,” a highly anticipated drama about an AIDS activist. Off screen, Cumming serves as an ambassador for several human rights organizations including the U.N. Refugee Agency and the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which provides support and services for LGBTQ youth. With the recent spike in hate crimes across the country, Cumming feels that more than ever, artists have a responsibility to raise their voices and keep watch.
“Whether or not you voted for Donald Trump, I think you’d have to admit that we’re in a time of political extremism,” says Cumming. “Any time when there are radical societal changes on the table, it’s been up to the artist to remind people of that. I think we have a moral duty as artists, really. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the story of what’s happening at the present because everyone is so wrapped up in the present. But that’s our job. That’s what an artist is supposed to do.”
Mark Griffin is the author of a forthcoming biography of Rock Hudson, to be published by HarperCollins. He recently appeared in the documentary “Gene Kelly: To Live and Dance.”
Go and Do:
Portland Ovations Presents… “Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs”
Merrill Auditorium, Portland
February 18, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $70, $60, $45
GO AND DO
Portland Ovations Presents… “Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs”
Merrill Auditorium, Portland
Feb. 18, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $70, $60, $45
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