Alan Cumming Says He Learned Some Surprising Things About Liberace While Doing Research for a Play He's Directing (Exclusive)
- - Alan Cumming Says He Learned Some Surprising Things About Liberace While Doing Research for a Play He's Directing (Exclusive)
Erin Clack, Scott HuverJanuary 26, 2026 at 12:00 AM
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Alan Cumming; Liberace -
Alan Cumming told PEOPLE he learned some surprising things about Liberace while doing research ahead of directing a play about the legendary singer and pianist
His research included a visit to the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts in Las Vegas
The Traitors host will direct actor Sir Simon Russell Beale as Liberace in I'll Be Seeing You, set to run later this year at Scotland's Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Alan Cumming discovered a surprising side to Liberace while researching the legendary singer and pianist for a new project.
The Traitors host, 60, will direct actor Sir Simon Russell Beale as the music icon in the play I'll Be Seeing You, which is set to run later this year at Scotland's Pitlochry Festival Theatre. In preparation, Cumming has been spending time digging into Liberace's life, he told PEOPLE at the 2026 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Asked what he's learned about Liberace that has most surprised him, Cumming said, "How sort of homey he was. He loved cooking and he was such a big host."
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Liberace in 1983
"I always thought he'd be someone who would have lots of servants and blah, blah, blah," he explained. "And apparently that's why he had his restaurant — because he got so fed up with cooking such big meals. He'd send his friends to his restaurant. They would follow his recipes … with a cookbook [called Liberace Cooks! Recipes from His Seven Dining Rooms]."
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Cumming went on to tell PEOPLE that he "sort of missed the whole Liberace thing," referring to the entertainer — who died in 1987 at the age of 67 — famously suing the Daily Mirror for libel after the newspaper printed an article in 1956 implying that he was homosexual. A jury ultimately ruled in Liberace's favor in 1959.
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Liberace in 1985
"I was aware of him, but that's what this play I'm doing is about. It's about sort of what is truth because Liberace actually lied under oath, saying that he was not homosexual," he continued. "And so that kind of made a lot of people angry with him. And that also when he died, they tried to pretend it wasn't HIV/AIDS."
Cumming added: "What's really interesting is that you understand that truth is a very variable thing. It depends on context, depends on the time you lived in, depends on the circumstances you're in. So his truth right then was to do exactly what he did. And the best thing I find about him, and what's in the play, is that basically, and Liberace says this, 'because I did exactly the same thing that Oscar Wilde did, and I won.' Just like that."
The Anniversary Party star also shared how he feels a connection with Liberace when it comes to his bold outfits for the latest season of The Traitors. The "Beer Barrel Polka" singer was known for wearing increasingly extravagant and flashy stage costumes featuring capes, fur coats, ostrich feathers, glittery details and more.
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Alan Cumming at the 2026 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards in Los Angeles
"I was at the Liberace Foundation [of Performing and Creative Arts] in Las Vegas the other day, getting a tour of the Liberace collection. And they were talking about the way Liberace had to keep topping himself with what he wore, and I thought, 'Oh, I know what that looks like,' " Cumming told PEOPLE.
According to the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, where Cumming serves as artistic director, I'll Be Seeing You — which is written by Martin Sherman and also stars Fra Fee — "follows a young writer struggling to create a play about the flamboyant superstar Liberace — a man he believes lived in denial, hiding his true self behind sequins and spectacle. But when Liberace himself appears to him, the story takes a surreal turn."
"Through music, memory, and irresistible charm, Liberace challenges not only the writer but also the audience to question their own assumptions, prejudices, and truths," the synopsis adds.
I'll Be Seeing You is set to run from Sept. 12 to Oct. 11, 2026.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
