Alan Cumming won a Tony Award for his iconic performance as the MC in Cabaret. He’s earned a place in the hearts of cult movie lovers for his turn as the geek-turned-billionaire in Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, before casting everyone’s favorite indie actors in The Anniversary Party, the film he wrote and directed with Jennifer Jason Leigh. He’s even written a book, Tommy’s Tale. So it should come as no surprise that he’s completing his pop culture to-do list by releasing solo CD, I Bought a Blue Car Today.
A collection of 14 offbeat
songs—everything from Cyndi Lauper to Frank Sinatra—Cumming’s album manages to
nevertheless feel like a cohesive whole. Or, as he told me over the phone, “Sort of a collection of my
personality. If that makes sense.” His personality extends even to the album’s
title, which comes from the naturalization papers he had to sift through in
order to become a U.S. citizen.
“It asks questions on the test to prove that you can speak
English, and read English, and write English,” he explained. “And it says: ‘I
bought a blue car today.’ Which I thought was sweet initially. Then I realized it
was kind of awful! ‘I bought a car.’ It’s like saying, ‘I bought a blue Hummer
with my Goldman Sachs bonus,’” he said, with a laugh. “There’s a Hummer on my
street actually, and the alarm always goes off. And we used to throw things at
it and everything. Then earlier this year it disappeared. And we went, ‘Ha ha!’
But I saw it again! The Hummer’s back! That’s America for you. The deregulation
thing’s not working that well.”
A
record of the one-man show he performed at Lincoln Center earlier this year, I Bought a Blue Car Today also lets
Cumming slip in a few songs just because. “Over the years, I’ve done a few gala
things and there are a couple on the record I have sung before,” he said. “And [with]
‘I Dance and Dance and Smile and Smile,’ I’ve wanted to sing that for like 25
years. I really have. But also songs I feel that I can relate to, that I can
act and not just be singing a nice song.”
One of those songs is a sinister and sexy cover of “Mein
Herr,” a song Natasha Richardson sang in Cabaret
and which Cumming dedicates to his former co-star—and Walter Cronkite. “When I
sing the song, I tell the story of when I accidentally danced with Walter
Cronkite during the run of Cabaret,”
Cumming explained, laughing. “I thought the audience was going nuts because
they were showing support for the elderly!”
The CD also includes a brilliant medley of Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” and Mika’s “My Interpretation,” a combination that works surprisingly well. “I wanted to do a song by Mika and I wanted to do a song by Dolly,” Cumming explains. “And I love that it changes Dolly's song a little bit and makes it more, ‘Here you come again, and fuck you.’ Mika was very flattered, which was nice. But Dolly has yet to hear the album.”
Though Cumming has plans to continue performing his show
around the world, with upcoming dates in Los Angeles and Australia, he’s still
part of the cast for Julie Taymor’s troubled production of Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark set to start on Broadway in 2010.
“It’s all in the cards; it’s just been pushed,” he said.
“Late spring, I think. It’s very annoying. I think some investors fell out, but
it all seems to be back in the cards. I’m really looking forward to it.” Until
then, fans will have to satisfy their desire for a singing Cumming with I Bought a Blue Car Today. Just don’t
listen to it in your Hummer.
