You can catch Alan Cumming performing alongside NPR’s Ari Shapiro in “Och and Oy! A Considered Cabaret,” at the Zeiterion in New Bedford on Saturday, June 24. Click here for tickets and more information.
TRANSCRIPT:
Luis Hernandez: How did this show come about? Who did it start with?
Alan Cumming: It was me, really. I have to take credit where credit is due. Ari and I had done a few, we’d met. Then he interviewed me a couple of times, you know, sort of these evenings, one for my book, a book that I had out. And another time for the Newseum in Washington, a thing about Stonewall and everything, and Pride. And I always thought that he was really good and sort of, we were a good combo. And he was like, you know, one of these people that was interviewing you, but it wasn’t sort of a fluff piece, he was quite challenging. He kind of didn’t let me get away with anything. And I really appreciated that. But so, as we’re walking off from the thing in Washington, I said to him, “gosh, we’ve got really good chemistry, Ari. We should do a show together, we should do a cabaret show together.” And he sort of went, “Don’t tease me, don’t tease me if you, don’t say things like that if you don’t mean it.” And so we went out that night, and we kind of had a laugh and talked about it. And then the next day, I called them up and said, “You know, I still mean it, I still respect you in the morning.” And that was, that was it. I just thought we were a good combo. And we’re very, very different. But that’s what makes it, you know, that’s what makes it funny and kind of makes it work. Because we are very different, but also we are very similar and we have a lot of things in common. We’re a good combo.
Hernandez: The two of you together, yes, you seem like two very different people. But for anybody who’s ever seen the show, how do you explain it to them? How do you describe the very strange relationship the two of you have?
Cumming: Well, it’s called “Och and Oy” because I’m Scottish and he’s Jewish. And it’s called “A Considered Cabaret” because of, you know, All Things Considered, and me being associated with cabaret. And it’s sort of an old fashioned cabaret. I think cabaret, the form is really interesting. And, you know, it has the possibility to have so many, many different strands and genres to it. It’s sort of like, I always say it’s like a smorgasbord of emotions and genres and things. And I feel like we just, we talk very openly about our lives, we sing songs, and you laugh, you cry, maybe you’ll learn something, maybe be provoked about something. And I think we, and then we all at the end get everyone together and singing. And it’s just, it’s such a fun sort of communion, I think, with our audience. And also this idea that, you know, there’s more to people than you think. And the fact that we are these oddballs, actually, we are much more similar and we have more in common than you might imagine.
Hernandez: What’s your relationship to cabaret as an art form? How did you get started in it?
Cumming: I went to drama school in 1982. And in the first term of drama school, we did a college cabaret, me and my friend Forbes Masson. And very quickly, within a few years, became huge stars in Scotland. We had our own TV show and radio shows, and we did big tours, and we were both so young. But in a way, I think it set us up so well as performers, because we were fearless. You know, we were so young, we just would walk onto a stage with thousands of people … and we would, I would start playing the piano, you know, to do a song that we were singing and not be entirely sure of the chords because we’d only just written it the night before. So it gave us great confidence and great sort of fearlessness about it, because I think that’s the great thing about cabaret, is that you are dealing directly with the audience. … When you do cabaret, you look in each, look at each person’s eyes in the audience. You don’t pretend they’re not there, like you would in a play. And you have this real sort of shortcut to intimacy with an audience, that I find it’s easier for me to do as an actor in plays and musicals, and to a certain extent on film, because I had that start in the form of cabaret.
Hernandez: You know, I mean, I could go through your resume. It’s amazing. You were in X-Men, you were in a James Bond movie, you were on Broadway, television, so many things. I wonder, do you have a favorite role? Or how do you view this? How do you view roles and opportunities?
Cumming: I feel like everybody wants you to have a favorite role. And I just always stop people in their tracks when they say it, because I don’t and I actually don’t think about it. I see it as a forward moving thing. You know, I have, there’s things obviously that I’ve really enjoyed or things that I’m really proud of. And there’s things I’ve hated. I have pretty strong opinions about most things in my life, but I don’t…I feel it’s kind of a bit audacious and sort of self-congratulatory to sort of talk about your favorite things and things that you – I actually just see it as an onward thing. And I, what I like to do is to continually be inspired and excited about work, and that to me it’s more important, and about the eclecticism of my work. I think that’s what’s – like right now, I’m in a hotel room in the Edinbugh Airport. Today, I woke up on the Sound of Mull, this beautiful, beautiful place in the west coast of Scotland. Tomorrow, I’m flying to Florence, and on Sunday night I’m deejaying a party in Florence. And I’ve been shooting a travel show for the Discovery Channel. And I’m, that’s what I’m doing for the rest of this month. So you know, that to me is exciting – just having that crazy, diverse thing, that’s what keeps me excited. And that’s what I think makes you a good artist.
Hernandez: So there’s no role that you are most attached to, but I wonder at this stage of your career, everything you’ve done, what challenges you? Or is there something that you’re still looking for?
Cumming: Well, I suppose the things that, when I look back the things that stand out for me are, you know, are the things that were most challenging. Like last year, I did a solo dance theater piece about the life of Robert Burns. I toured Scotland and went to the Joyce Theater in New York, you know, the home of contemporary dance. That was stupid. I was 57 years old, I should not be doing a solo dance theater piece, let alone kind of asking my country to reassess a national hero in the course of it. But I did, because I just sort of, I felt I still had some sort of dancey movement-y thing in me. … So I’ve just done a film in Canada actually which I’m really excited about, called “Drive Back Home.” That was, I was way out of my comfort zone. … But the story of that is something that really means a lot to me, about a queer man in the 60s and, you know, having to deal with just being a queer man in the 60s, you know, stuff like that. Those sorts of things are really important to me, as well as being really challenging.
Hernandez: You know what, it’s been such a pleasure. And I think the show again, it is, to me it’s hilarious because I know you obviously from so many things I’ve seen you in, and I know Ari from hearing him. And then the two of you together, and I just think, oh my gosh, that is – I’m definitely looking forward to the opportunity to see the two of you on stage.
Cumming: We’re a kooky combo.
Hernandez: Mr. Cumming, it is such a pleasure. I really do appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Cumming: Thank you very much, lovely to talk to you.
