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Alan Cumming on stage in I Bought a Blue Car Today |
Cumming’s party is one for his fan club
ALAN CUMMING:
I BOUGHT A BLUE CAR TODAY
Vaudeville Theatre
WITH his sweet dimples, toothy grin, sparkly eyes and all round chipmunk-like cuteness, it is not hard to see why some people just want to give Alan Cumming a great big hug.
His cult following – a niche circle composed almost entirely of a particular breed of camp gay man and a particular type of swooning middle aged woman – evidently adore him.
“He’s so attractive!” gushed a flushed female as the final curtain fell. But is he?
Cumming is cute, yes, but isn’t this just professional cuteness? After all, isn’t that what he’s being paid to be? As he says himself before launching into a rendition of Thinking of You, a song written by the comedienne Victoria Wood: “I always play this one at parties, and what is tonight if not a party you have to pay to come to?”
In I Bought a Blue Car Today, our hero sings a song, breezily tells a few anecdotes, sings another song, and so on. That is literally all there is to it.
It’s pleasant enough – an affable, cabaret, “audience with…” kind of event. As the star of the show is keen to emphasise. On the night this reviewer attended, Cumming informed the audience that he and his excellent pianist Lance Horne once had dalliances with the same gentleman. “At the same time?” a cheeky heckler responded. “No,” replied Cumming. “Did you compare notes?” the heckler yelped, to which our idol answered (in jest, and yet was there also a whiff of sincerity about the put down?) “This is my show. Ok?”
If you’re a member of the Alan Cumming Fan Club, you will surely feel the ticket price a bargain. Others might find themselves asking this fundamental question: Is Alan Cumming’s life really interesting enough to justify this frenzy of narcissism, this level of idol status?
He’s had big parts in stage shows and small parts in films. He’s hung out with middle-of-the-alphabet-list American celebrities (about whom his anecdotes are not, frankly, all that wow-inducing) and he sings well, with passion and energy. As for his impressive orchestra, they ensure the musical side of things – which includes numbers by Cole Porter and Abba’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus – goes off without a hitch.
Cumming is clearly more than merely eye candy – but that’s not say he doesn’t try to get a long way on cuteness alone.
Until September 6
0844 412 4663 |
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