Despite different backgrounds, Scottish actor Alan Cumming and National Public Radio journalist Ari Shapiro had developed a good rapport.
“We decided we would do a show after doing several things together like interviews,” Cumming said. “I like the way we bounced off each other. I suggested to him we would make a good combo for a show. We’re very different people, but we have more in common than you might imagine. That’s the whole point of the show.”
Cumming and Shapiro will perform their “Och & Oy! A Considered Cabaret” at 8 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel.
“If you had told me when we started doing it that we would still be doing it in 2024, I don’t think I would have believed you,” Shapiro said. “This whole thing has been the most delightful natural evolution from a thing we created on a whim on a couple of weekends. It’s been a thrill to tour all over the country with it and watch it evolve and continue to find new moments of discovery and joy, humor and song together.”
The first performances were in Provincetown, Mass., and Fire Island, N.Y., in 2019. They didn’t perform in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They reunited for a tour in the summer of 2021.
“It’s an old-fashioned cabaret,” Cumming said. “We tell stories and sing songs.”
Shapiro is one of the co-hosts of “All Things Considered” on NPR, and also has sung and toured with the band Pink Martini since 2019. Cumming, who has acted in several TV shows and movies, won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for reprising his role as the Emcee on Broadway in “Cabaret” in 1998. He is now the host of “The Traitors,” a reality game show on Peacock.
“I like it when people think we are making it up as we go along, just shooting the breeze and we decide to sing these songs,” Cumming said. “It’s actually very tightly planned and structured. We want it to feel like you’re just having a nice time with us at the bar.”
Shapiro said they put tremendous effort into delivering the perfect punchlines at the perfect moments.
For more, visit thecenterpresents.org.
