By Caroline Roosevelt
Contributing Writer

The amphitheater at Longwood Gardens was packed on August 28 for a two-person performance by the esteemed actor Alan Cumming and NPR host Ari Shapiro, whose show “Och & Oy: A Considered Cabaret” provided a breezy and lively blend of cabaret-like songs and witty banter.

The title presents the juxtaposition of Cumming’s Scottish heritage with the utterance, “Och,” and Shapiro’s Jewish heritage with “Oy.” Cumming, known for his activism in the LGBTQ sphere and his prolific acting career on Broadway, in the films Emma, Eyes Wide Shut, Spy Kids and the television series “The Good Wife” was a likely candidate for an al fresco cabaret performance. For Shapiro, however, I had known him only as the journalistic voice of the NPR segment “All Things Considered.” At the start of the show, he acknowledged the juxtaposition of his serious media career as it plays alongside his vocal talents by asking the audience, “What is a respected journalist like me doing singing and bopping around?”

Over the two-hour concert, Shapiro’s performance deemed the question irrelevant. Last Thursday, the stage was his home, and we were his family, gathered to watch an intimate, witty, and uplifting performer blossom. Accompanied by pianist and “vegan cheese in our meat sandwich” Henry Koperski, the salt-and-peppered Cumming and the tall, dark and handsome Shapiro began their performance out on stage in full suits. 

As the August sun dipped behind the canopy of the stage, the two playfully ribbed each other between musical numbers such as “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better” and touching and poignant renditions of Better Midler’s “Laughter Matters” and Ben Folds’ “The Luckiest.”

Shapiro, who will be departing from NPR in late September, announced that this performance at Longwood Gardens would end the six-year run of his and Cummings’ musical collaboration. Their friendship was palpable, and during the show, they shared their respective “coming out stories” that included Cumming’s tale of landing the cover of OUT magazine in 1999, which led to a phone call with his mother back in Scotland.

Shapiro shared a visual voyage of his fashion choices as he navigated the gay club scene in Portland, Oregon as a teenager. He described at length, thrifted outfits including velour pantaloons, a leather spiked dog collar bequeathed to him by “Julie the Junkie,” wide lapelled button-down shirts, and an ear cuff in the shape of a nude man hugging his ear. His velvety-smooth voice lends itself to cabaret. As a student at Yale University, Shapiro performed with Mixed Company of Yale, an undergraduate acapella and sketch comedy group, and has also performed with the band Pink Martini.

Cumming and Shapiro wrapped their evening at Longwood with “Celebrity Roulette,” where they both described their run-ins with LGBTQ icons that included Cumming’s story of bringing Liza Minnelli on stage after one of his performances in “Cabaret,” when she told him, “I want to be friends with you forever.” Other celebrity run-in stories of Cumming’s included Sir Ian McKellan (described as a 14-year-old girl stuck in an 80-year old man’s body), Kristen Chenoweth, and Chita Rivera.

By the end of the evening, both Cumming and Shapiro shed their tuxedo suits to reveal cut off white tuxedo shirts with the bowties. While playfully swatting away insects, they ended their performance with an upbeat performance of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” complete with an accompanying fountain performance in the background of the stage. 

“Och & Oy: A Considered Cabaret” provided an evening of levity, sweetness and optimism at a time when we all dearly need it. I left the performance feeling lighter, able to breathe and step back for a moment. The resilience of the LGBTQ community in the face of adversity should be an inspiration to all. The insistence of joy, of self-actualization, as well as the love of community, create a beautiful template for a future in which humanity grows together and celebrates each other. I left feeling a great debt of gratitude for two jaw-droppingly talented storytellers who let us share in their journeys of hope and song.