Off Center Series Presents West Coast Premiere of ALAN CUMMING: I BOUGHT A BLUE CAR TODAY on 9/26 in Samueli Theater

Tony® Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award winner for his acclaimed
portrayal of the Emcee in Broadway's revival of Cabaret at Studio 54, Alan Cumming will give the West Coast Premiere of his one-man show Alan Cumming: I Bought a Blue Car Today at the Orange County Performing Arts Center September 26 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. in Samueli Theater. Accompanied by his musical director, Lance Horne, Cumming will unleash his favorite tunes, belt out celebrated hits alongside little-known gems, whilst captivating his audience with poignant anecdotes from his colorful and fantastic past. It's a musical journey peppered with material by Frank Sinatra, Dory Previn, Kander & Ebb and Cyndi Lauper, to name only a few.

Alan Cumming: I Bought a Blue Car Today is being presented as part of the Off Center Series which
offers more eclectic and contemporary performances. Alan Cumming: I Bought a Blue Car Today marks Cumming's debut at the Center. The show premiered at Lincoln Center in New York City in February followed by a March run in Sydney, Australia, and will next be seen in London's West End in early September. It has garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The New York Times claimed Cumming "exudes the fabulousness of a brash showbiz kid," while Time Out called the show, "A little piece of Vaudevillian wonder packaged up in one hell of a sexy Scotsman."
Alan Cumming: I Bought a Blue Car Today is based on Cumming's experiences living in the United
States for the past 10 years. He writes, "The title comes from the naturalization test I took to become a citizen of the U. S. of A. In the test, there is a bit where the man says a sentence and you have to write it down to prove your prowess in English. My sentence was ‘I bought a blue car today,' which initially I thought was really sweet and child-like, but on closer examination I realized that it's all about consumerism and gas guzzling which rather brilliantly encapsulates America's financial and energy crises in one fell swoop."

Tickets to see Alan Cumming: I Bought a Blue Car Today are $58 and go on sale Monday, August 10. They will be available at OCPAC.org, at the Center's Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.

Mercedes-Benz USA is the Premier Sponsor of the Orange County Performing Arts Center's 2009-2010 Season. Cumming trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and quickly found fame in his homeland for both his television work and stand-up comedy. The theater gave him his biggest break when he appeared in Manfred Karge's Conquest of the South Pole in Edinburgh. The play transferred to the Royal Court in London's West End and Cumming was nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer Olivier Award.

A star of stage and screen, U.S. film audiences were first introduced to Cumming in Circle of Friends, and he went on to appear in many varied films including Bryan Singer's X2:X Men United, Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids trilogy, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Goldeneye, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Titus, Emma and Sweet Land (for which he received an Independent Spirit Award for producing).

With Jennifer Jason Leigh he wrote, produced, directed and starred in the acclaimed The Anniversary Party, which won a National Board of Review award and two Independent Spirit nominations. In 1998, Cabaret opened on Broadway and Cumming was heralded for his stunning performance as the Emcee. He won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, FANY, Theatre World and New York Public Advocate's awards for his work. He has continued to earn accolades on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera, Design for Living, and Off-Broadway in Elle (which he also adapted) and The Classic Stage Company's The Seagull opposite Dianne Wiest. He returned to the British stage in 2006 in Martin Sherman's Bent, and most recently appeared in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Euripides' The Bacchae, which opened the Edinburgh International Festival and toured Scotland, transferred to London and then to the Lincoln Center Festival. Cumming won the Herald Archangel award for his work as Dionysus.

On television he has appeared in Sex and the City, Frasier, Third Rock From the Sun, The L Word,
Reefer Madness and most recently in Sci-Fi Channel's record-breaking Tin Man. He is also the host of PBS' Masterpiece Mystery.

His second feature film as actor/director, Ghost Writer, was released in 2008. He has been selected to star as The Green Goblin in Julie Taymor's Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark on Broadway in Spring of 2010, and will also be seen in the upcoming films, Dare, Boogie Woogie, Riverworld and The Tempest opposite Helen Mirren. His debut album, I Bought a Blue Car Today will be released September 22nd of this year. Cumming's activism and charity work for civil rights and sex education causes have earned him several humanitarian awards including two Human Rights Campaigns awards, GLAAD's (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) prestigious Vito Russo Media award and The Trevor Project Hero Award. In 2005, he was awarded an Icon of Scotland and in 2006, received an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Abertay, Dundee. Most recently, he was appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list honored for services to film, theater and the arts and to activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community.

He is also the author of the book Tommy's Tale and has launched a successful fragrance and body line. For more information, please visit alancumming.com.

Orange County Performing Arts Center The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a wide variety of the most significant national and international productions of music, dance and theater to the people of Southern California. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages and offering unsurpassed experiences, engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and an array of inspiring programs.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, the Center owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, and the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. These state-of-the-art facilities are united by a community arts plaza. The Center's Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and community plaza, along with facilities of the adjacent Tony® Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the new home of the Orange County Museum of Art, are located at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a broad range of programming each season for
audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County, and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.
The Orange County Performing Arts Center is proud to serve as the artistic home to the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale.
For more information, visit OCPAC.org. The Center can also be found online at Blogger, YouTube,
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr.

Photo credit Linda Lenzi

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