Alan Cumming to bring cabaret show to Edinburgh Festival

HOLLYWOOD actor Alan Cumming is returning to the stage at the Edinburgh International Festival with a late-night cabaret show.

Alan Cumming. Picture: Getty

Good Wife star Cumming, who last appeared at the EIF in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of The Bacchae in 2007, will take up residence at The Hub for the festival with the show, which he originally staged in New York before taking it on tour around the US.

The 350-capacity Royal Mile venue will see Cumming telling stories of his life between intimate versions of songs by the likes of Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, with a series of special guests promised to join him during the run.

Speaking about the production, Cumming - who performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe while he was a drama student in Glasgow - said he would be singing material that he had “an emotional connection to.”

He added: “Some are well-known songs that people are surprised to hear me sing. It makes people listen to them differently.

“There’s a lot of laughs in the patter between songs, but I commit to the songs 100 percent. I believe in authenticity. I tell stories about my grandfather, my father, a former lover. Then the songs complement the stories. When it comes to the songs, though, it’s intense.”