Actor Alan Cumming and NPR's Ari Shapiro perform an evening of songs and stories in Atlanta

“Alan’s the Scot, I’m the Jew. He’s the ‘och,’ I’m the ‘oy,’” said Shapiro. He later added, “Despite our seeming to be very different, we actually have a lot in common, and we are both storytellers. We do both enjoy sharing a laugh, sharing a song; and it’s that banter, that kind of unexpected pairing, I think, that makes this work so well.” 

“We’d met and we’d actually sang a song together; I sang a song with Ari when he did a show at Joe’s Pub in New York a few years ago,” recalled Cumming. “We just got on really well and had a really good banter. And, you know, I’m like the kooky, flighty Alan, and Ari’s the serious journalist. But of course, we’re not really either of those things wholly. So one time after we’d done an event … I said, ‘Gosh, you know, we have such a good rapport. We should do a show together.’ And then he went, ‘Don’t joke about a thing like that.’”

Nearly too much talent for their own good:

“Well, one of the things I learned from reading Alan’s new bestselling memoir ‘Baggage’ is that when he was in drama school, the Scottish dialect was frowned upon, and that was part of the reason you became so good at doing other dialects — was because you were told nobody wanted to see anybody perform with a Scottish dialect,” said Shapiro. “And so it was scandalous when you did, was it Macbeth or Hamlet with a Scottish [accent]?” Cumming responded, “Yeah, when I did Hamlet.”

“When I started singing with Pink Martini, some 12 or 13 years ago, I was really afraid that it would somehow harm my journalism career, that people would judge me or label me, or it would hold me back, because they would think, ‘Oh, somebody who does that can’t interview the president,’” said Shapiro. “I realized over the years that that voice was not coming from anyone but me. That that was my own chip on my shoulder … It’s been liberating, and now I’m able to really enjoy both of those things, and occupy this place that feels like a unique expression of who I am and what I love to do.”

Cabaret, a perfect vessel for Shapiro and Cumming’s sparkling banter:

“As you can see we’re avoiding naming specific songs because we want it to be a little bit surprising. But one of the things I love about the genre of cabaret — which this is — is that you can mix Broadway, and pop music, and American standard showtunes, and more formal things. And they all just kind of blend together as part of this evening of surprises,” said Shapiro.

“I think of cabaret as sort of a smorgasbord. The actual form of cabaret is like a smorgasbord. I love saying that word. And it’s sort of, you know, one moment you can be talking about something very serious, and the next moment you’re laughing like a drain,” said Cumming, invoking a previously-referenced Scottish idiom. “And then the next minute you’re singing a song. The next minute you’re crying. It’s just got this possibility of just turning everything on a sixpence. I really like that.”

Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro will star in their duo show, “Och and Oy: A Considered Cabaret” at Center Stage on March 29. Tickets and more information are available here.