Alan Cumming at the Café Carlyle
The Café Carlyle is one of the last intimate showrooms in New York, holding about a hundred patrons in close proximity to great talent. Bobby Short was its resident genius before his death, and we’ve seen incredible talent usually from a few feet away over the past 40 years or so. (One night a week, Woody Allen plays clarinet with a jazz band, and it’s sold out months ahead.)
Last evening we sat a yard away from Alan Cumming, whom we’ve seen in both he original and revival of Cabaret on Broadway, and who is currently playing Eli Gold on “The Good Wife,” arguably the finest show on broadcast television.
Cumming’s show is based on songs that reflect a tortured upbringing (his recent book is called Not My Father’s Son). He is openly and overtly gay, and his audience reflected that. He has amazing energy, told people to cover their ears because he was giving away the ending of “The Good Wife,” and dropped the F-bomb about 60 times during the almost two-hour show.
His musicality is fantastic, as is his acting range. He can move from his native Scottish to the Americanisms of his characters in a blink, and he imbues his music with tremendous pathos that never descends into bathos. A very sophisticated audience clearly loved his choices. I was stunned to hear him sing “The Ladies Who Lunch” (from Company) in the exact same place at the exact same distance I heard Elaine Stritch sing it on that stage a year before her death.
Alan Cumming is short and slight. He spills both water and vodka on himself, never pausing, as he charges through the evening. He belittled the “false endings” entertainers use before their planned “encore,” and then does a mock one. He was filming for a special, so he repeated anything that needed to be done differently, to our great glee. All he needed in backup was a piano, cello, and drums.
This was “one night only,” but he is performing this show on an ongoing basis and is headed to Australia with it. Don’t miss it. Trigger warning: He does a song called “Ecstasy” which he originally sung with Ricky Lake in a condom commercial. It was one he had to repeat for the camera. It’s a unique experience!
© Alan Weiss 2015
