Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age at Edinburgh International Festival.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
As a finale for the Edinburgh International Festival, the audience welcomed one of Scotland’s favourite sons ‘back home’. While clearly proud of his Scottish roots, this cabaret centres almost entirely around Alan Cumming’s life in New York (and, of course, “I’ve filmed all over the world”). His cabaret club in New York, Club Cumming, is fuel for a few of his anecdotes and an intimate cabaret club may have been a more appropriate venue for this show.
Set in another impressive massive tent inside The Old Quad of Edinburgh’s College, Cumming notes its resemblance to a ‘posh shopping centre’. The stage is simply set with a quartet of cello, trumpet, drums and the musical director, Henry Koperski, at a grand piano. The sound of this quartet is impressive – clever arrangements conjuring the perfect cabaret-style backing for Cumming’s vocals.
It has to be noted that Cumming is far more a ‘performer’ than strictly a vocalist, but he does achieve some golden moments in his set. At home with Kander and Ebb, Weill and even the “Disney Princess Songbook”, the musical numbers bounce along comfortably. Cumming possesses a surprisingly rich lower register – it would have been a real treat to hear this feature more prominently.
His anecdotes tend to feature a rather large number of celebrities – the name dropping would produce impressive biceps on anyone beating a gong each time one was mentioned. But where he ‘lands’ with his audience is in his stories of family, his dog and even Sean Connery. His motorbike-riding granny sounds a genuine character and his warmth in remembering his friendship with Sir Sean is very well received.
His performance register is a bit of an issue in such a large performance space: with one standing mic centre-stage, he seems rooted to the spot which is a handicap for many given the poor sightlines in the makeshift auditorium. Screens to the sides would help overcome this as many of the nuances of his performance would not reach beyond the sixth row. At one point, he takes to the piano for one of his own songs. The deft handover in mid-song to Koperski is skilfully done – more moments such as these would help to enrich the show.
There is no doubt the ‘laddie’ has done very well for himself and it is perhaps telling that his stories relating to age begin with other people’s perceptions of him. Notable casting directors now see him as perfect for a middle-aged man in a suit, as seen in The Good Wife, and Cumming is warming to this new performance niche both on screen and in life.
It definitely sounds like Club Cumming would be worth a visit in New York – particularly if there are celebrities to be spotted in town!
Fiona Orr
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