April 6, 2024
Broward Center for the Performing Arts | www.BrowardCenter.org
By Megan Fitzgerald Dunn
If you know Alan Cumming, you know that where he goes, hilarity follows.
Dubbed by Time Magazine as one of the three most fun people in show business—alongside Cher and Stanley Tucci, of course—Cumming takes his new show, Uncut, to “the next level” at The Parker on Saturday, April 6. And, if you’re wondering, why yes, Uncut does explore all the unfiltered and unadulterated definitions of that term.
Although best known for his acting, Cumming is also a singer, writer, and director. Having won several awards for his performances on screen and stage, including an Emmy, two Tony Awards, an Oliver Award, and a BAFTA Award, Cumming describes the new show as a “caba-play”, combining the two things that he’s connected most with audiences on over the years.
“I’ve done these solo performances in the theater, these plays or concerts, and then there are these cabarets that I do. I’ve tried to combine the two and make a show that’s a bit more formed,” he said. “I’ve always loved the form of cabaret because it means you can talk about serious things one second and then be hilarious the next. And flitting around kind of fits my character quite well.”
In the show, Cumming explores what it means to be an outsider and to be uncut and unfiltered. He also teases that he tells some stories that he’s never told before.
“I talk honestly and openly about things that I think are important and things that I find hilarious, too,” he said. “So, in this, I’m actually doing that even more. I’m probably being more revealing about things and I’m talking about this theme of being an outsider and of what a good place it is to be an outsider ultimately.”
Another change is that Uncut will include more contemporary songs than his previous shows.
“I’m using songs that I’ve always wanted to sing,” he said. “And I think, you know, why can’t I sing a Rihanna song?”
The actor says that what he likes about his live shows is that people feel like he’s chatting with them.
“It seems like I’m just kind of telling stories and I am, but obviously that is quite structured. I like the fact that people think I’m just making it up as I go along. But, in this one, it’s a little more tightly scripted. I weave the stories in and out of songs a bit more. It’s not just songs, story, song, story. The songs kind of go underneath. I’m taking it to the next level in this form.”
For Cumming, the beauty of performing in a theater is that it is this shared experience.
“I love the connection I make with an audience. I think it’s almost a holy thing that you can only get when it is a live thing, and we are all there and we see the entirety of it and we see the flaws and the vulnerability of it. Any sort of theatrical experience is just one of the best things that you can do for your soul.”
And Cumming won’t be offended if you hold your applause until the end.
“I’m sort of hoping that it will be one of these things where the audience won’t clap until the end. I’m trying to not let them clap so that by the end of each song I’ll start speaking on something else. That’s my aim. I don’t know if it will happen, but I want it to be one whole piece, you know. It’s got one kind of overall point.”
Cumming promises that the show will run the gamut of things, saying that you get to laugh, you get to think, you get to cry, and you get to be provoked. He hopes that everyone comes away from it having changed a little or having seen a different viewpoint.
“You see other people. You engage with other people, and you feel yourself a part of something. That’s why I love walking on stage, and everybody is there for a good time and up for the ride that I’m going to take them on,” he said. “It’s very exciting.”
