Singer/actor Alan Cumming released a CD called I Bought a Blue Car Today in 2009. One selection on the disc stood head-and-shoulders above the rest: Cumming's sultry, seductive cover of "Mein Herr," one of Sally Bowles' numbers from the classic musical Cabaret. Cumming performed the song as if he were playing to an audience in early 1930s Berlin. He undressed the audience with his voice. He sang a song long associated with female singers, about a woman's love and desire for another man. Cumming sang "Mein Herr" as a man, treating the lyrics with the respect they deserved.
"When you camp it up, it's a code that you don't want people to know," Cumming, who is openly bisexual, told the B.A.R., speaking by phone from the East Coast. "I don't need to do that. I sing songs from the heart. I don't need to camp it up."
On Thursday, June 30, at 8 p.m., Cumming brings his act to the stage of the Castro Theatre. He'll be appearing to promote and sing songs from his new CD, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs. The disc features a diverse array of tunes, everything from Billy Joel's "Goodnight Saigon" to Miley Cyrus' "The Climb." Openly gay songwriters such as Rufus Wainwright and Stephen Sondheim are also represented.
"These are songs I've wanted to sing for a long time," Cumming said. "They're songs I connect to in an emotional way. I hope I can bring something new to them."
This is not the first time Cumming has been to the Castro. "It's a beautiful theater," he said. "It's intimate and full of ghosts �" the stage squeaks. I love the organ rising out of the pit at night."
As a bisexual man, Cumming is well aware that people can be marginalized, even within the LGBT sphere. "I do feel that the B has been underrepresented," he said. "Just as the T part has sometimes been thrown under the bus. My mind is a very active thing �" I've always thought of myself as bisexual. A lot of people shut part of themselves down �" they shouldn't. That's very unhealthy."
But he also noted the accepting nature of the younger generation, many of whom have stated their openness to the concept of sexual fluidity. "I'm very optimistic about the younger generation," Cumming said.
He cautioned people not to be complacent if they want to keep the freedoms they've gained. "Donald Trump could become President and lunge this country into a dictatorship," Cumming warned, noting that the dangers of a Trump Presidency play into the themes of Cabaret, a show he's done twice. Set in Berlin in 1931, Cabaret follows a group of Berliners as the Weimar Era, a time of unprecedented sexual and artistic freedoms in Germany, was drawing to a close just as the horrors of the Third Reich were looming on the horizon.
"It's an amazing part," Cumming said of the Master of Ceremonies, his role in Cabaret. "There are very few really great musicals, and Cabaret is one of them. The message it gives is to embrace yourself and your friends, and to not be complacent about dangerous trends in society."
When Cumming takes to the Castro stage, he'll be joined by Lance Horne on piano, Eleanor Norton on cello, and Chris Jago on drums.
Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, Thurs., June 30, 8 p.m. Castro Theatre. Tickets ($35-$150): brownpapertickets.com/event/2538399