Alan Cumming’s cabaret-style show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, originated in his dressing room after performances as The Emcee in the musical Cabaret, but a two-week run at Manhattan’s Café Carlyle was so well received that taking it on the road was a natural next step. Part memoir and part homage to an eclectic group of pop songs (think Miley Cyrus, Billy Joel and Avril Lavigne), Sappy Songs, which Cumming brings to The Smith Center on July 23, enables the Scottish actor to make a more personal connection with audiences than roles on TV’s The Good Wife and in forthcoming film Battle of the Sexes can provide. He spoke recently with Las Vegas Magazine’s Matt Kelemen.
Do you get any time to be home in New York between the shows you just did in Texas and the upcoming dates in San Francisco and Washington?
No, actually my husband has a home in San Francisco, so I’m here for a couple of days.
I saw a photo of you both with your dogs Lala and Jerry and assumed you took them on the road, but I guess you have another home away from home.
Yeah, but I normally take Lala. I’m been traveling with her to shows, actually. She’s coming with me when I go to Edinburgh in the summer. … There was a lot of traveling in Texas, bags and planes and stuff, so they stayed at home.
I think you go to Edinburgh International Festival right after Las Vegas.
I do, yes. She’s coming for all that, but I’m not just going for a week. I decided to come and entertain then go on a little holiday.
Brexit happened after this interview was scheduled. It must have really torn you up being away from Scotland while there’s so much turmoil at home.
Oh, yeah. Brexit’s been … there seems to be such a lesson for us in America where the same sort of fearmongering and jingoistic … what’s the word? Not “racism.”
Xenophobia?
Yes, that as well, but that being used to tell the public what it wants to hear with actually no real plan, no real political framework behind it. It has us reeling. It’s a mess. Now people are coming forward saying what a stupid thing this was, but at the same time, the silver lining for Scotland is it’s going to prompt another referendum for independence because it’s such a huge constitutional crisis. … We, Scotland, weren’t allowed to leave England, but England was going to force us to leave Europe. That is clear, yes. I think in a way it’s a terrible, terrible stupid mess, but I think for Scotland it could be a good thing.
I realized you had a unique perspective considering you have dual citizenship for Scotland and the U.S., plus you received an Order of the British Empire but had an editorial published in The New York Times supporting Scottish independence. I thought that all might give you a very unique perspective on what’s going on.
Well, I mean … in what way? Why?
You get to see it from both sides of the Atlantic. You get to see it as a Scot and …
I think I’m kind of an outsider in both places. I realized after a couple of years that I have a good, healthy perspective on America because I’m not from here, and also I can stand back from my own country and see things. … It gives you a very good perspective but ultimately I’m an outsider in both.
Scotland is looking pretty sober and sane right now in relation to the rest of the U.K.
Scotland’s prime minister is absolutely amazing. She, Nicola Sturgeon, was the only person Monday morning who made a speech. Of any of the political parties who made a speech, she was the only one who spoke about what might actually happen. She was already having meetings with the E.U. about the possibility of Scotland staying. What I think is really shocking is you can’t just spout ignorant racist things and then not follow those up with policies and a plan. How are you going to handle the visas of millions of people (from the EU living in England)? Are you doing to dispense them from their homes? Who’s going to do that? Police? The army? It’s so awful, but you can’t just … you have to have some basis and some thought for one thing, and that what I think people really weren’t clear about from the outset. The most Googled thing the next day in Britain was, “What is the E.U?” All these people that voted to leave really didn’t know what that was.
You’ll be back over there soon so you’ll be able to see if from that side of the pond too and provide a healthy perspective. I hope you keep making time to express yourself about it.
Oh, I do. I’m not very good at keeping my mouth shut about anything.
Considering the arc of your career, it almost seems as if you’ve been heading toward Sings Sappy Songs since you chose an actor’s path. Like you came back to play yourself after finding refuge from the painful past you documented in your memoir by immersing yourself in other characters. Is that a fair assessment?
I definitely feel that this show, and my book, are … I feel like I’ve been on this journey of being more authentic and honest as a performer. To be able to talk about myself, about my real life, actually allows me to connect more with the material, with an audience. … This show is a big deal to me, it really is. I really laid myself on the line.
Do you think you’d be doing this if you hadn’t been cast as The Emcee in Cabaret in Sam Mendes’ 1998 revival, or would your path have led to a similar place?
No, probably not. Doing The Emcee took me to America and to living here, so in that way, no. But actually I was doing cabaret—not the show but the form—in Edinburgh. (In July) it will be 34 years since I first performed at a cabaret show there with a friend of mine (Forbes Masson). I started off when I was going to drama school. We had an act called Victor and Barry and performed it at the Festival. It became huge and had its own TV show and everything in Scotland. It was a character cabaret. It wasn’t just us talking. There were funny characters. It was just standing up, talking to the audience and singing songs. So that form I’m actually very familiar with. It’s a very Scottish thing, so in a way I’m coming back to my roots.
When you see Joel Grey in Cabaret you think it’s Joel Grey, the actor who originated the character. When you did it I felt like you demonstrated how crucial it was for an emcee to establish the mood for that kind of venue in that time, and I can see the path from that to Singing Sappy Songs. You talking about it as a Scottish thing kind of tightens that circle even more.
Yes, exactly. The thing about that role is that it’s not really a normal kind of … you don’t interact with other actors, but you really interact with the audience. When I did it everyone said, “Oh, you reinterpreted this role.” Actually in 10 years time when they do it again someone will come along and do it completely different. That’s how good of a role it is and how slender of a role it is, you know what I mean? There’s so much possibility to it, so I think in a way it’s actually not surprising that there’s been two iconic interpretations of it. I’ll bet there’ll be more.
What’s your history with your musical director, Lance Horne?
We go way back. … We actually shared a boyfriend. I wanted to sing one of his songs in my first show. We settled the songs and then I chose the one, annoyingly, that he had written about the ex-boyfriend, so we’ve got an intense back story. He’s great.
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 6 & 8:30 p.m. July 23, starting at $59 plus tax and fee. 702.749.2000
