Cumming makes West End return in Blue Car

First Published 8 July 2009, Last Updated 8 July 2009

Scottish stage star and Hollywood regular Alan Cumming is to make a fleeting return to the West End this autumn, performing his solo show Alan Cumming: I Bought A Blue Car Today for one week only at the Vaudeville theatre in September.

The London engagement, the UK and European premiere of the show that has already entertained audiences at New York’s Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House, will run for just eight performances from 1 to 6 September.

Cumming, who received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for his last West End musical performance in the Donmar Warehouse production of Cabaret, brings together a collection of his favourite songs for this cabaret show, drawing from sources as varied as Frank Sinatra, Cyndi Lauper and Kander and Ebb, and linking them with anecdotes from his colourful past. He is joined on stage by his musical director, the Emmy Award-winning composer Lance Horne.

Cumming’s performance credits are many and varied, from cult hit TV comedy The High Life to appearances in multi-million dollar movies including X-Men sequel X2 and Bond film GoldenEye. His last London stage outing came in 2007, when he starred in the National Theatre of Scotland production of The Bacchae at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Among his many accolades, which also include Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Cumming has a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Accidental Death Of An Anarchist. He also received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and was recently confirmed to play the Green Goblin in upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, which opens in February 2010 and features a score by U2’s Bono and The Edge.

Alan Cumming: I Bought A Blue Car Today comes to the Vaudeville theatre following the transfer of the successful Almeida theatre drama Duet For One, which stars Juliet Stevenson as a concert violinist coming to terms with MS and and Henry Goodman as her psychiatrist. It is followed by a short season from Irish stand-up comedian Ed Byrne.

MA

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