SCOTTISH actor, artist, author, activist, photographer, raconteur and man about town Alan Cumming is coming to York for two engagements on Tuesday.

First, at 12.30pm at Waterstones in Coney Street, he will sign copies of his new memoir You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams, My Life In Stories And Pictures, published by Rizzoli Ex Libris.

Second, at 7.30pm, he will be joined by long-time collaborator and Emmy-winning musical director Lance Horne for Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs! at York Barbican.

Cumming, the 51-year-old star of The Good Wife, will be "parading the full range of this Renaissance man's talents" in York in one of only four performances of the award-winning show, which will play Brighton tomorrow, the London Palladium on Saturday and Gateshead on Wednesday.

Inspired by his post-show dressing-room parties during his Broadway run in Cabaret, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs! premiered at New York’s legendary Café Carlyle, sold out Carnegie Hall and played the Edinburgh International Festival in August.

York Press:

Alan Cumming in his Sappy Songs show

Expect intimate secrets and raucous anecdotes, delivered with disarming emotional honesty, as well as Cumming's very personal reinterpretations of the songs he loves to perform by Kurt Weill and Noël Coward, Stephen Sondheim and Rufus Wainwright, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

"There's a structure to the show, where I pretty much keep the same songs – and it's a very eclectic menu of songs," says Cumming. "Sometimes I do little rambles about wherever I am or what I've been doing, but mostly it's quite a tight structure, where I have a little band led by pianist Lance Horne, my musical director, who I always have with me, as well as a cellist and an Australian drummer who's coming over from Berlin."

Cumming may joke that "it's a little difficult to rock out with a cello when you're 51", but that is not the focus of his heartfelt cabaret. "I wanted to do a show where I could be very personal as a lot of things have happened in my life," he says, explaining the Sappy Songs title. "At the same time, there were some songs that I was burning to sing that were very emotional and personal, and I just wanted to do songs that I could sing, act and connect with.

"I also called it Sappy Songs to indicate that the show would be intense but also humorous. I'm quite a funny person, so it's like a true cabaret turn, changing the mood, changing the emotion. One of the songs is from a condom commercial I did a few years ago, so I put that in when I need a moment of levity."

Meanwhile, in his new book You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams, Cumming shares real-life stories of louche late-night parties, backstage anecdotes, life in Los Angeles and New York, cross-country road trips with his beloved dog, Honey, and poignant memories of his life, loves, family, fellow actors, and friends.

York Press:

Alan Cumming's new book cover

He relates encounters that "only Cumming could experience", from awkwardly entertaining Elizabeth Taylor at Carrie Fisher’s birthday party, to discussing love and sex with American writer Gore Vidal, to making a friend’s dream come true by snapping a photo of him with Oprah Winfrey: a story that reveals the source of the book’s title.

The book runs to 45 charming, naughty, thoughtful, and wickedly humorous stories, iIllustrated by Cumming’s own photographs. "A lot of the stories I tell were inspired by the pictures as I wanted to write my life story but not just say 'I was born in 1965' etcetera etcetera," says Cumming. "I wanted to give people snapshots of my life, so I use images to let them have more of a glimpse, and sometimes, as well, the pictures inspired thoughts about things."

Social media is having an accelerating impact on the relationship between performer and public, such is the relentless drive for stories on both sides of the relationship. "Twitter and Instagram have been a big turning point in having access to people and have changed the way that celebrities deal with the media, who will now quote them from what they say on Twitter," notes Cumming.

"I like writing as a way to share my life as an actor and writer, and for this book I could decide what images people would see and what I would say, as I had editorial control over it, and that's the difference from stories in the media."

Alan Cumming will hold a book-signing session for You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams at Waterstones, Coney Street, York, at 12.30pm on Tuesday. That night, he will present Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs at York Barbican at 7.30pm; box office, 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk or on the door from 7pm.

Did you know?

Alan Cumming has appeared on a postage stamp, guested on Sesame Street and been awarded the OBE by The Queen, whose portrait was taken down in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery when his was unveiled.