Ari Shapiro and Alan Cumming Join Forces in 'Och & Oy: A Considered Cabaret' at WHBPAC

At first glance, it would appear that Ari Shapiro, host of the NPR news show “All Things Considered,” and Alan Cumming, star of Broadway, film and TV, would have little in common.

But the fact is, they are kindred spirits in many ways — including on stage.

The duo first met following a performance of the 2014 Broadway production of the musical “Cabaret,” in which Cumming starred as the Emcee. Also in the cast was actor Benjamin Eakeley, a childhood friend of Shapiro, who invited him backstage to meet Cumming. A short time later, Shapiro and Cumming’s paths crossed again, and it occurred to Cumming that a collaboration might be in order.

“Ari interviewed me when one of my books came out,” Cumming recalled in a recent phone interview. “That’s when I realized we had a good rapport. He was funny, but he didn’t give me an easy ride. He challenges you on things. We did it again at the Newseum [in Washington, D.C.] when I curated something there on the 50th Stonewall anniversary. I said as I was walking off stage, ‘We should do this regularly.’”

“I said, ‘Don’t joke. I will take you up on that,’” added Shapiro as he recalled the conversation in his own recent phone interview.

But Cumming did mean it and called Shapiro shortly thereafter to further discussions on how they might collaborate and, as they say in the movies, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

“We got together and built a show around things we had in common and songs we love,” Shapiro explained. “It premiered over Labor Day in 2019 in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and then we took it on the road.”

Now Shapiro and Cumming meet up on the road regularly — when their respective schedules allow — making the rounds of theaters across the country, their musical director and pianist, Henry Koperski, in tow, to perform “Och & Oy!: A Considered Cabaret,” an evening of song and storytelling.

“It has taken on a life far greater than either of us expected,” Shapiro said. “It’s so much fun to every few weeks meet up with Alan, sing songs, catch up on our lives and go our separate ways.”

Cumming and Shapiro will meet up next to present “Och & Oy!” at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center this Sunday, July 7. For the uninitiated, “och” is an expression of surprise, annoyance or disagreement in Cumming’s native Scotland, while “oy” is a phrase that means pretty much the same thing in Yiddish and is a nod to Shapiro’s Jewish heritage; he was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up near Portland, Oregon.

Cumming, who comes to WHBPAC fresh from filming his latest TV project — season three of Peacock’s “The Traitors,” shot on location in a castle in Scotland — has learned quite a bit about Shapiro during their time together, including his considerable talents both on and off the stage.

“He’s so proficient in anything and everything, even growing vegetables,” Cumming said. “I knew he had been a performer as a boy. I knew from Ben, who had been in shows with him, that Ari thought about becoming an actor and went into journalism instead.

“It’s good for him to see things he loves coming together,” Cumming continued. “We laughed at how he’s sort of type A and brilliant at everything. I’m more messy as a person and as a performer.”

Ironically, though Cumming is the half of the duo with the more serious Broadway credentials, it is Shapiro who really knows the songs from the Great White Way.

“He’s much more of a show queen than me,” Cumming laughed. “The opening number we do, he wrote it. It’s a medley of show tunes, and we changed the lyrics. Our pianist, Henry, is an expert and a musical fan, and I’m not, though he thinks I should be because I’ve been in a couple musicals.”

But it makes sense, when you consider that growing up in rural Scotland, Broadway wasn’t exactly on Cumming’s radar.

“I had the double album of ‘Cats,’ and we did pantomimes in the U.K. at Christmas. I did one musical before drama school — ‘My Fair Lady’ — and that was the extent of my musical theater knowledge,” Cumming said.

But Cumming has upped his show tune game in recent years thanks to his turn on the Apple TV+ series “Schmigadoon!” which pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to musicals through the ages, including “Brigadoon,” “Chicago,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Carousel.”

“It’s expanded a bit,” said Cumming of his Broadway musical knowledge. “But I still wouldn’t say I’m an aficionado.”

Fortunately, “Och & Oy!” allows Cumming the freedom to bring his own favorite songs to the mix. When asked about the tunes that he particularly enjoys performing during the show, Cumming points to Ben Folds’s “The Luckiest,” which he first heard in a hotel gym in Madrid when the song was selected by mentalist, illusionist and author Derren Brown to be featured on the BBC radio show “Desert Island Discs.”

“For me, tossing a song in the show, especially in a solo show, there needs to be a reason,” Cumming explained. “The opening medley with Ari I wouldn’t do solo because it’s about bosom buddies. I feel the way I sing, I act songs, so there has to be something in the song that makes me have a reason to bring something to it.”

Of course, this show is not just limited to the songs — there is also a liberal dose of storytelling included in “Och & Oy!” as well.

“The great thing about cabaret is it has room for both,” said Shapiro. “All the cabaret performances I admire the most, which includes Alan’s, are as engaging when telling a delightful story as singing a song.

“We’re not merely introducing the next song. We wanted the show to have the deep, thoughtful conversations you’d have from NPR, along with slightly bawdy musical numbers you’d get from an Alan Cumming show,” Shapiro continued. “Part of the art is figuring out a way to increase the tension and then undercut it, have the audience hanging on every word and then dissolving into laughter.”

While it’s hard to pinpoint what makes for great chemistry for any duo, it may be that because they are so different in their professional lives that Cumming and Shapiro click so well on stage.

“We’ve got a good yin and yang as people and performers,” Cumming observed. “The whole show is about how we seem like an oddball disparate couple — he’s Mr. NPR and organized, and I’m a bit more scrappy, more mischievous, the bad boy image — what the show is about is how we’re much more alike than you’d thought.”

Cumming finds that meeting up with Shapiro on the road for “Och & Oy!” provides him with a different kind of relaxed energy than the sort that keeps him occupied with eight shows a week on Broadway, or tied to a grueling film schedule.

“It’s such fun, and we do it in spurts now and then,” Cumming said. “It’s always lovely because we haven’t seen each other in a while, and it’s only us with Henry and my assistant. I feel the pressure is less, someone has your back. It feels very old school and slightly Rat Pack-y, the two of us telling stories and making a point about friendship and having fun.

“It’s a fun night, and we tie it all up in a nice way with the audience taking part,” he added.

Like Cumming, Shapiro finds the show gives him an outlet that is totally unrelated to the real world issues that he frequently has to present on air in “All Things Considered.”

“This is not a show about the news,” Shapiro said. “It’s about what we have in common — it’s an autobiographical show about both of us. He and I have a lot of irons in the fire, and that’s one of the things that’s so delightful. It never feels like a slog. We don’t do it eight nights week. It’s something I love doing so much, it has that joy and hope. I think the audience enjoys it like we do.”

“The thing l love is, it feels like having a good time with my friend, he added.

Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro’s “Och & Oy!: A Considered Cabaret,” will be performed on July 7, at 8 p.m. at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach. Tickets are $200 to $250 at whbpac.org.