By Denny Patterson

Whether he’s emceeing in the Broadway revival of Cabaret or starring in the CBS drama Instinct, one thing is for sure – we absolutely cannot get enough of Alan Cumming. The Scottish actor, singer, and writer will return to South Florida on April 1, 2022 with his brand-new cabaret show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age. A one night only engagement at the Parker Playhouse, audiences are invited to spend an evening of story and song celebrating and exploring his puckish, eclectic spirit and joie de vivre, in a mischievous exploration of that most communal of pastimes: aging.

OutClique caught up with the Tony and Oliver Award-winning star to talk more about the show and his other projects.

Denny Patterson: We cannot wait to see you at The Parker performing your new cabaret, Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age. What can audiences expect? Can you give us a tease as to what kind of stories you might tell?

Alan Cumming: It’s a show about something that we all share, getting older, and it’s me questioning people’s attitudes about what you’re supposed to do. Act your age, what does that mean and who gets to decide? It’s me trying to grapple with all that stuff, as well as showing that I’m someone who still feels very curious and excited about life. We’re all decaying; it’s a slow march towards death. There’s also a section about what aging does to your body and gravity, visits to the dermatologist office becoming more and more traumatic each time you go, and there’s also lots of fun songs and laughs. 

DP: You just turned 57 in January. What are some goals you would like to accomplish before hitting 60?

AC: [Laughs] Gosh, that’s a good question. I would probably like to split my time more between America and Scotland, and I want to try and work less. That’s been my thing for a while. There are other things that I would like to enjoy, and I would like to swim in lake me a little bit more.

DP: Why do you think aging can be such a touchy subject for some people? 

AC: We live in a culture where we worship at the altar of youth, especially women. In the show, I talk about how we have decided, as a Western culture, that aging is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you. Yet, it is something that happens to all of us, and it’s an interesting concept that we look at it so negatively because in other cultures, aging is a positive. People also just don’t look for the positive things in getting older, and I talk about that as well. You have wisdom, you see patterns in your life repeating and you are able to stand back from things and think, oh, I see this is happening again. Last time, I made that disastrous decision. Maybe I’ll make a positive choice this time. I also enjoy what’s happening to my body, but I think it’s easier for a man to say that, and it’s not true for everyone. For the most part, I am pretty okay with everything thus far. I think I’m in the sweet spot right now. 

DP: What do you look forward to the most when it comes to performing a cabaret?

AC: The connection with the audience. Obviously, when you’re an actor, you have a connection with an audience, but you’re dropping the fourth wall in terms of a cabaret. You don’t talk to people in a play. You feel them reacting to you, but in a cabaret, you can address everybody and sing as yourself. It can be a very vulnerable thing, and you’re really letting people in. You’re connecting with people in a much stronger way, and I truly enjoy that. It’s been 10-12 years since I did my first show like that, and it’s been a great thing for me. It’s improved my confidence in a lot of ways. If someone says, ‘Alan, say a few words,’ I used to want to die. Now, I don’t get so scared of things like that. 

DP: Last year, you released your memoir Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, which tackles high-profile highs, mental lows, and your life in Hollywood. This book stemmed from your previous memoir, Not My Father’s Son?

AC: Kind of. I started writing it, and then over the course of writing, I realized that one of the things I wanted to say was in reaction to Not My Father’s Son. That book had such a positive reaction. Really amazing. I wrote a lot about abuse in my childhood, and it struck a chord with thousands of people, who have contacted me saying they were helped and it sort of galvanized them to deal with things in their life. Someone like me, people often think, he’s got a great life. He’s happy chappy, but I revealed terrible things that happened in my past. However, I didn’t like the way that it was sort of giving off this narrative that everything was sorted out and I was recovered. That was the negative side to the reaction. You never really get over trauma, you just figure out how to deal with it. This idea that it’s all done and dusted is wrong. It’s very American to say, everything’s fine, it’s finished, but it’s not and we shouldn’t be ashamed of that. It’s always going to be a part of us, and it certainly is for me. 

DP: Were you surprised by the impact Not My Father’s Son made on readers? 

AC: I really was. I still receive messages on social media from people saying how this book helped them. For me, it was like, oh my God, I’m really taking this leap. I’m going public about something that I used to be very ashamed of. That’s the thing about abuse. The abuser relies on the abusee to be ashamed and to protect them, and I think that rang true with so many people. 

DP: Is there anything you specifically learned about yourself throughout the writing process?

AC: Yes. I learned that I learned as I got older I really saw myself, and that’s where this thing about patterns comes from. I really saw myself go, okay, no more of that. I realized why I’m doing that. I had a couple relationships that were completely about me trying to fix angry people, which obviously comes from dealing with my father. As an adult, it took a few relationships to realize that’s not a very good idea. Also, you’re never going to fix them. Those relationships didn’t last, but I saw that as a positive and went back into the gaming hoping I would find the right person. I also felt empathy for myself, which is a funny thing because most people don’t really research themselves. It was fascinating. I’d recommend it. It was quite illuminating, and then you’ve got a book you can give to your therapist. That’ll save you a lot of therapy sessions. 

DP: This summer, you will play Scotland’s national bard Robert Burns in a solo show at the 75th Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). What can you tell us about that?

AC: It’s a dance theatre piece that opens at EIF. It will then tour Scotland then go to the Joyce Theatre in New York. 

DP: For those who don’t know, who is Robert Burns?

AC: Robert Burns is the national poet of Scotland. He was alive in the late 18th century and he wrote in the Scots language. He’s famous for “Auld Lang Syne,” “A Red, Red Rose,” those are his greatest hits that everybody knows. Working on this, I sort of realized that he put the values of the Scottish people into his work and poems. He very much represents who I am as a Scot, and he speaks to and for us. There’s a lot of fascinating research that I’ve had to access. I see what his work is, I feel what his work does, and I’ve discovered some incredible things about him. I want to try and represent that in this dance theatre piece. 

DP: You also portray Brian MacKinnon, who famously duped staff and pupils at Bearsden Academy for two years after enrolling as a 16-year-old when he was 30, in the film My Old School. You say it was worth waiting 25 years to play an infamous Scottish schoolboy imposter. Why?

AC: Because 25 years ago, I was going to do this film about him. He’s this man who went back to school when he was 30 pretending to be 15 to get his exams so he could get into medical school. He went back to the exact same school that he’d been to before,and he got away with it until the very last minute. When all was revealed, it became a huge scandal in Scotland in the mid-90s. A couple years after that, I was going to play him and direct a film about him. It was supposed to happen after I got done with Cabaret in New York, but it all fell apart. So, years go by, and that’s another interesting thing about getting older, things come back to you. My friend Jono is a documentary maker and he told me he was doing this film, and he was actually in the class with Brian. So, he had first-hand knowledge of what went on. The film is fascinating because it throws up interesting things about trust and what you would have done in a situation like that. 

DP: What do you enjoy the most about playing real life people?

AC: Oh, gosh. I don’t know. I would say I’m actually less comfortable playing real life people because you don’t want to screw it up if they’re still alive [laughs]. You don’t want to incur their wrath. On The Good Wife, I played someone who was based on Rahm Emanuel, so I thought of qualities about him and did an impression or approximation of someone, not a direct copy. 

DP: What keeps you motivated?
AC: I’m just curious. I like having a lot of things on the go, I like to be busy, and I like to be active. Although, I do like slobbing around as well. I just have a curiosity and I’m open to life. If you’re like that, things come to you. 

DP: Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?

AC: I did a film with Liam Neeson at the end of last year called Marlowe, and I’m in a film that Katie Holmes directed called Rare Objects. They will both be coming out in the next year or so. Other than that, I’ve got lots of irons in the fire. Just keep an eye out because something is always happening. Always something crazy.