An Evening With Alan Cumming: A Cocktail Of Laughter, Realization, And Lovely Lyricism

By Carrie McGath in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 23, 2014 7:05PM

Dick Babcock (left) and Alan Cumming. (Photo credit: Carrie McGath/Chicagoist)

A very large crowd at the Music Box Theatre welcomed actor Alan Cumming to Chicago Monday night for a conversation with former Chicago magazine editor Dick Babcock about Cumming's new memoir Not My Father's Son. Despite the spitting skies, a line formed to enter the event and no one's spirits were dampened even if their bodies were.

The discussion organized by independent bookseller Unabridged Bookstore gave the appreciative audience a chance to hear Cumming read passages from the book. Babcock asked about other aspects of Cumming's difficult childhood outlined in the book, as well as Cumming's present state of contentment. The conversation illustrated Cumming has moved beyond the pain so often present earlier in his life.

Cumming discussed how the kindness of his mother (equally afraid of his oppressive father) provided a reprieve and a measure of safety. Beyond the more somber content of the evening, Cumming relayed a humorous anecdote about meeting Patti Smith who, referring to him hosting Masterpiece Mystery, told him she wants his job.

During the audience Q&A, guests asked a variety of questions to which Cumming gladly responded, including a question about his hairstyle that wound up being another humorous moment. When his hair had to be styled and permed for his role in Emma, he felt unattractive and even embarrassed with it in real life. The story was a nice moment of comic relief as well as a nice way to close the evening since it started with a discussion of his father cutting off his hair with sheep shears at the beginning of the event.

A few audience members expressed their affinity with Cumming's story and he met this sentiment by reiterating that hearing those things from readers makes him very glad he brought his own story to the world so there could be a discussion and support for those who have experienced similar times in their lives.

As I said in my preview post of this event, Not My Father's Son is a lyrical and engrossing memoir that tells a tale of pain that is punctuated with moments of humor, realization, and light. Alan Cumming is a prolific artist of our time and that is illustrated again with the moving prose with which he tells this textured and emotive genealogical tale tinged with pain, realization, and ultimately contentment.