BWW Reviews: Alan Cumming Brings His One-Man Show to the Broad Stage

When Alan Cumming performed his solo show I Bought A Blue Car Today @ the Geffen in October, 2009, here was my review:

I Bought A Blue Car Today
Few cabaret performers electrify an audience. Peter Allen was able to do it with sheer energy, talent and drive. You had to see him jump on top of the piano to understand just how much of that energy was used up. Hugh Jackman can do it. His personality and good looks alone drive both men and women crazy. His stamina is also phenomenal. Then there's Alan Cumming, whose extraordinary style and devilish sense of humor can keep a show in high gear. He's hard to describe-on the surface, a shy, retiring soul with a lot of the bad boy underneath that creeps out to shock us every now and again - but, wow, what a magnetic vocalist...and those bizarre, outlandish, outrageous anecdotes he tells...like you're getting familiar with someone famous for the very first time. I never knew Ann Miller wanted to see more ...well, bless her!
Whether he sings from John Cameron Mitchell and Hedwig, or a Dore Previn or William Finn ballad, his emotional range is incredible, he pulls you in and you are hooked!
Cumming has star quality, whatever that means; he has what it takes to be SUPER-GREAT!
I Bought a Blue Car Today, as it happens, was a sentence on his examination for US citizenship last year and he found it so appropo to the American energy and financial crises, that he decided to title his solo show after it. His new solo CD with the same title has the show pretty much in tact, with the addition of Cindy Lauper and John Bucchino songs. Good stuff! And Lance Horne, musical director, has some fab arrangements and original tunes.
Alan Cumming, I'm proud to announce early, is my choice for Best Male Solo Performance of 2009. _______________________________________________________ 

Now... it's Alan Cumming Uncut @ The Broad July 9:

Cumming's impish charm is undiminished. The show was 15 minutes shorter, with 12 songs instead of 15. The best anecdotes are still in, like Ann Miller's obscene comment about Eyes Wide Shut, and there are a few new ones, like about his 45th birthday tupperware party and the hilarious saga of his participation in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2009, but the banter is still fresh and spontaneous and typically Cumming-esque. 7 songs remain from the CD I Bought a Blue Car Today and a couple of new songs have been added. I especially loved the medley of Bacharach and Sondheim - "I Still Have That Other Girl"/"Losing My Mind" that do work beautifully together, the original song "I Want To See You" - take away all that plastic surgery! - written by Cumming and Lance Horne, and Horne's satirical tune about what it means to be "American". Cumming with a G, not Cummings with an S - is as precious as ever. I overheard someone say "I just want to take him home with me!" I can just imagine how his deliciously quick-witted brain would react to that comment! He's one unique individual that makes a show forever fascinating, always gutsy and real and totally entertaining!

To post a comment, you must register and login.