Ana Gasteyer’s show is all for the holiday vices
SNL ALUM’S CELEBRATES HER HOLIDAY VICES AT CABARET SHOW
Look, the holidays are supposed to be fun, right? But sometimes they can be a real drag, and someone has to step in and liven up the place.
Enter Ana Gasteyer.
The comic actress and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member has established a second career as a cabaretstyle chanteuse, mixing cheeky versions of American Songbook favorites with some offbeat originals. And now she’s bringing her unique style to the world of seasonal music, with the new holiday album “Sugar & Booze.”
The album is a mix of zippy holiday favorites, such as “The Man with the Bag” and “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” and some originals, written by Gasteyer, including the title track, an ode to desserts and drinking.
“I’m an oldtime throwback party gal,” Gasteyer says. “My true artistic goal was to create songs that felt oldfashioned, but were new.”
Gasteyer will perform Dec. 18 at the Ridgefield Playhouse as part of her promotion of the album. She says the loose style of her songs lends itself to some fun, onstage improvisation. “You can tell a funny story, crack a joke — it’s a real supper club vibe,” she says.
“Sugar & Booze” is the followup to Gasteyer’s critically acclaimed 2014 debut album “I’m Hip.” She’s also performed in multiple stage and televised musicals, including playing Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway and in Chicago.
Though most audiences probably know Gasteyer best through her work on “SNL,” she says music has always been part of her performing DNA. Indeed, some of her signature “SNL” characters included pop diva Celine Dion and middle school music teacher Bobbie Culp. Also, she’s at least partly responsible for one of the few Thanksgiving songs — “Basted in Blood,” a Lilith Fairstyle ode to vegetarianism that she sang with Sarah MacLachlan.
Likewise, her singing has a lot of humor in it. In addition to “Sugar & Booze,” the holiday album’s selections include a silly, sassy duet with fellow “SNL” alum Maya Rudolph called “Secret Santa” — perhaps the first song to combine the holidays, spiritual enlightenment and slipping on a banana peel.
Gasteyer says she meticulously planned out the song selection more than a year ago. “There are an exhausting number of novelty holiday songs out there,” she says. She wanted to include some classics, such as “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow,” and some zippier covers, like “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
One song that doesn’t pop up on the album is the controversial “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which has been criticized in some circles for being politically incorrect in the way it portrays malefemale relations. Gasteyer says she toyed with the idea of reworking the song to make it more modern but “I couldn’t quite get the lyrics right, so we walked away from it.”
As it turned out, pop stars John Legend and Kelly Clarkson came up with their own rewrite of the classic, which made a splash when it was released. That’s fine with Gasteyer.
“I can’t say I have a single regret about this album,” she says.
Meanwhile, Gasteyer says she hope the live shows capture the fun, retro spirit of “Sugar & Booze,” and that audience embrace the album’s “fun, festive” tone.
“I like a drunk audience,” she says. “I like a happy audience. This is quite literally the time of year to bring joy to the world.”