Both are part of the LGBT community, though Grey is a more recent addition, having publicly come out last January.
Both own small dogs — Grey, a Chihauhua named Nicky and Cumming, a Chihuahua-Rat Terrier mix named Jerry.
Both have written memoirs. Cumming’s — Not My Father’s Son — was published in 2014 while Grey’s — Master of Ceremonies — reaches Amazon in a few weeks.
Both have found success on television. Grey has enjoyed almost 60 years of television appearances, including guest arcs on both Alias and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Cumming has brought to life, with brilliant, vivid nuance, the Emmy-nominated role of Eli Gold on CBS hit The Good Wife.
Both have had astonishing stage careers. Grey originated the role of The Wizard of Oz in Wicked and Amos Hart in Chicago, while Cumming has played in everything from Hamlet to Bent to The Threepenny Opera. But their Broadway link lies with Kander and Ebb’s classic Cabaret: Each won a Tony Award for playing The Emcee. Grey originated the showy — and show-stopping — part in the original Broadway production in the ’60s (and later in the 1972 film, for which he took home an Oscar). Years later, in 1998, Cumming won a Tony for darker, more sexualized take on the part.
And both are coming to our city: Cumming, 51, will be at Strathmore on Valentine’s Day — Sunday, Feb. 14 — with his critically heralded cabaret, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, while the 83-year-old Grey will settle into the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue on Feb. 23, for an in-depth conversation about his book, his life, and his remarkable career.
Jacob Dickey doesn't have a to-do list of musical roles. But if he did have a to-do list, he says, "I feel like Sky Masterson would definitely be on that to-do list."
Good thing, then, that he's currently starring as Sky Masterson in the Shakespeare Theatre's vibrant new production of Guys and Dolls, directed by the Washington National Opera's Francesca Zambello.
Romping through Runyonland alongside Rob Coletti as fellow gambler Nathan Detroit, Julie Benko as missionary Sarah Brown, and Hayley Podschun as saucy showgirl Miss Adelaide, Dickey cuts a dashing figure in a role he's practically been preparing for since before his voice changed.
Putting aside the curious question of why the Shakespeare Theatre Company has taken to staging musical theater -- this season it's Guys and Dolls -- the happy news is that director Francesca Zambello doesn't need to keep her day job (although let's hope she does).
She may be the artistic director of the Washington National Opera, but she's clearly got the eye, ear, and vision for a whole different kind of crowd. This is no-holds-barred Golden Age rom-com song-and-dance magic brought fully to life with some serious spectacle. From scenic designer Walt Spangler's mind-blowing industrial shop space, with all its peeling paint and careworn shop décor, to a live orchestra conducted with complete and utter flair by James Lowe, it's something to behold.
Tavis Kordell may not yet be a household name, but their performance career is off to an auspicious start. The young triple threat graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro last year and within six months landed a leading role in Some Like It Hot, the musical based on the hit 1959 film about two heterosexual musicians on the run from the mafia after witnessing a murder. To hide, they dress in drag and join an all-women's band.
Kordell steps into the shoes and heels of the role of Jerry/Daphne, which earned J. Harrison Ghee a Tony Award when the show premiered on Broadway in 2022. Both actors have much in common. They are non-binary, are preacher's children, and, even more coincidentally, share the same hometown.
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