For 'Schmigadoon!' Tony nominee Ana Gasteyer, it's good to be bad

Playing the villain is no cause for tribulation for the SNL alum — in fact, she finds the role of prickly preacher's wife Mildred Layton “so fulfilling.”

Summary

• Ana Gasteyer is a first-time Tony Award nominee for playing Mildred Layton in Schmigadoon!
• Gasteyer discusses why she enjoys playing villains; her favorite memories of the Tonys; and being nominated alongside fellow Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch
• Gasteyer has previously starred on Broadway in shows like Wicked; Once Upon a Mattress; and The Rocky Horror Show

It's schmarvelous! Getting your first Tony Award nomination deserves a big, fat exclamation point. Ana Gasteyer — up for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her tartly hilarious turn as prickly preacher’s wife Mildred Layton in Schmigadoon! – knows that firsthand.

Gasteyer’s acclaimed career is a multi-platform affair, forged through crowd-pleasing roles on TV, film, and stage. She's most famous for her six-year run as a Saturday Night Live cast member and other screen roles in Mean Girls and A Christmas Story Live!, and she recently won an Emmy for her voice performance in Robogobo.

Gasteyer made her Broadway debut 25 years ago as a replacement for the Usherette and Columbia in The Rocky Horror Show. Since then, she’s notched key roles as Elphaba in Wicked, Mrs. Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, Kitty Dean in The Royal Family, and Queen Aggravain in Once Upon a Mattress. She adopts the role of Mildred, a self-appointed morality police, from fellow Wicked alum Kristin Chenoweth, who originated it on the Schmigadoon! TV series about a town where every day is a classic musical.

Before this year’s Tonys ceremony, hosted by P!nk at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, check out New York Theatre Guide’s chat with Gasteyer about being recognized for Broadway’s biggest honor among Schmigadoon!'s 12 total nominations.

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Congratulations! What does your Tony nomination mean to you?

My career for so long was considered an unusual, road-less-traveled path out of sketch comedy. It was also pre-social media, so the world in which you could be multiple things was very confusing to people. It’s a very fulfilling moment when your life synthesizes and is no longer confusing. I was so moved yesterday at the Tony nominees luncheon.

Such great company, right? Including the women in your category: Broadway favorites Shoshana Bean, Hannah Cruz, and Nichelle Lewis, and fellow SNL alum Rachel Dratch.

Everyone is doing something really remarkable in their show. I feel like it is a cliche, but it is true that the nomination is the thing that matters.

Do you have a favorite moment from past Tonys broadcasts?

Oh yeah, of course. Seeing Bea Arthur and Angela Lansbury is one.

When they sang “Bosom Buddies” from Mame in 1987?

Yes. I texted Dratch yesterday, and I was like, "I wish we could do ‘Bosom Buddies’ together."

You’ve played back-to-back Broadway villains: the Queen in Once Upon a Mattress and Mildred in Schmigadoon! What’s that like?

Villains are more fun than the princess in some ways because you get to misbehave. I’m such a people-pleaser, so it is so fulfilling to play someone who’s not. One of my favorite scenes, and it's such a minor one in Schmigadoon!, is when I’m shushing other people. I always feel like I connect with the audience. It’s so delightful to be an asshole who shushes people. It just makes me giggle.

The show’s creator, Cinco Paul, also leaves room for Mildred’s hard edges to soften a bit.

One of the things I love about Mildred is she has that tiny redemptive arc at the end. There’s a larger message to the show to adapt a little bit, change a little bit. That’s how we grow. What I also love about Mildred is that because the town is a character in the show, I get a lot of time on stage with everybody with the ensemble. It's very social. It's lovely.

Mildred’s big solo, “Tribulation,” is a tongue-twisting patter song about what’s wrong with the town. How do you prepare before a show?

I have a rigorous warmup. I stretch. I'm constantly hydrating. The song is melodically hard, and you have to be precise rhythmically. You have to be really locked in with the rhythm section and the conductor. You have to be mindful. It’s as mindful trying to navigate the very challenging moment in "Defying Gravity" [in Wicked] as it is to be singing "Tribulation."

Was it easy to say yes to the role of Mildred?

I was actually waffling about doing Schmigadoon! because my son was in his senior year. My eldest had been a Covid senior, so we'd missed a lot of the rituals and things. I was going back and forth during our family vacation. My children laughed in my face. They were, like, "You’re obviously going to do it." They both said, "Mom, you’re so happy when you’re in a musical." It was so moving to me that my children would understand that about me and see it from the outside.

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Images 1-2 credit: Ana Gasteyer (center in image 1) and the cast of Schmigadoon! on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Image 3 credit: Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch at the 79th Annual Tony Award Nominees Luncheon. (Photos courtesy of Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)