{"id":2723,"date":"2026-04-03T01:11:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ticketmaster.com\/?p=65599"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:11:03","slug":"ana-gasteyer-on-her-schmigadoon-broadway-role-i-could-do-this-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myza.co.za\/events\/ana-gasteyer-on-her-schmigadoon-broadway-role-i-could-do-this-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Ana Gasteyer on Her Schmigadoon! Broadway Role: \u201cI Could Do This Forever\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ana Gasteyer knows a thing or two about being funny. But the comedian\u2019s love for Broadway<\/a> is anything but a joke.<\/p>\n

Known to generations of fans as, alternately, a key player in the late \u201890s\/early \u201800s zenith of Saturday Night Live<\/i> and Cady Heron\u2019s mom in Mean Girls<\/i> (\u201cThis is the fertility vase of the Ndebele tribe \u2014 does that mean anything <\/i>to you?\u201d), Gasteyer has quietly amassed an unparalleled resume on the Great White Way over the last 25 years and counting.<\/p>\n

Her credits across the many stages of New York City<\/a> include Usherette and Columbia in The Rocky Horror Show<\/i><\/a>, Elphaba in Wicked<\/i><\/a>, Queen Aggravain in the 2024 revival of Once Upon a Mattress<\/i> and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really lucky to be doing my sixth one,\u201d Gasteyer tells Ticketmaster of Schmigadoon!<\/i><\/a>, her next turn on the Broadway stage.<\/p>\n

In Schmigadoon!<\/i>, which begins previews this Saturday, April 4, Gasteyer plays Mildred Layton. Fans of the Apple TV series will recognize the town busybody who acts as not only the morally draconian antagonist for her fellow townspeople, but also for Josh and Melissa, the unwitting, bickering couple who find themselves trapped in the setting of a Golden Age musical \u2014 all the way down to the old-fashioned production numbers and hand-painted sets. And the only way out? Well, finding true love, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not necessarily a willing couple of protagonists, you know?\u201d Gasteyer concedes. \u201cJosh, the male protagonist played by Alex Brightman, is very unwilling to be there. So it kind of speaks to people who hate musicals and<\/i> who love musicals. Sara Chase [who plays Melissa] put it really, really well. She said, \u2018It’s like being in the musical that when you were a kid who dreamed of being on Broadway, you get to be in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the TV show of the same name, which ran for two seasons from 2021 to 2023, Schmigadoon! <\/i>on Broadway also stars McKenzie Kurtz, Ann Harada, Brad Oscar, Isabelle McCalla, Ivan Hernandez, Maulik Pancholy, Max Clayton and Ayaan Diop. Schmigadoon!<\/i> will officially have its opening night at the Nederlander Theatre on April 20, bringing the cult-loved musical\u2019s story full circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I’m really, really excited about, to be honest, is I don’t feel that it’s particularly tethered to the television experience,\u201d Gasteyer says, speaking from her Brooklyn home. \u201cI think if you liked the TV show, I think you’re gonna love the Broadway staging, because it’s living where it always wanted to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below, Gasteyer dishes with Ticketmaster about playing Schmigadoon!<\/i>\u2019s resident villain, the doppelg\u00e4nger diva she had to beat out for the role, why no one seems to remember she played Elphaba (twice!), which of her famous SNL<\/i> characters would make the best Broadway vocal coach, and more.<\/p>\n

C<\/b>ongratulations on <\/b>Schmigadoon!<\/i><\/b> How have rehearsals been going so far?<\/b><\/p>\n

So fun. We start tech tonight, so that’s why we had the day [off], we’re switching over to the theater. It’s the fun, inaugural, like, “Oh, this is my dressing room” day.<\/p>\n

\"ana
Ana Gasteyer, Maulik Pancholy, McKenzie Kurtz, Max Clayton and Company of Schmigadoon!, photo by Jenny Anderson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You\u2019re originating the role of Mildred Layton, who was played by Kristin Chenoweth in the TV series. How would you describe the Broadway version of Mildred?<\/b><\/p>\n

The character is rooted in [The Music Man<\/i>\u2019s] Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn, maybe a little bit of Margaret Hamilton for good measure. [Mildred is] the town busybody, that’s a really fun trope in musical theater and musical comedy. So I’m having a really good time just stepping into that.<\/p>\n

And \u201cbusybody\u201d can often equal \u201cvillain\u201d a little bit in the world of musical theater…<\/b><\/p>\n

I mean, more than a little, yeah! She’s definitely the villain in the way the story’s being told. Which is super fun, because it’s lived on several levels as a musical. It not only has fun with the tropes of musicals, but also within the world of a musical, people discover who they are and they change and they grow. And having a bad guy is critical to that process and that storytelling. She even gets a little bit of a redemptive arc at the end. It’s really, really, really fulfilling, both comedically and creatively.<\/p>\n

Does Mildred think that she’s the bad guy?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, of course not! She follows the Good Book. She’s the moral spine of Schmigadoon.<\/p>\n

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@schmigadooon<\/a> <\/p>\n

meet mildred layton and her smile that hides a thousand judgments. #schmigadoon<\/a> #trappedinamusical<\/a> #musicaltheatre<\/a> #anagasteyer<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u266c original sound – SCHMIGADOON!<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n