Tony Nominee Ana Gasteyer Finally Feels Embraced by Broadway Through Schmigadoon!

Ana Gasteyer is finally allowing herself to embrace a dream she spent years afraid to name. Fresh off her first Tony nomination, the veteran performer sat down with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek to reflect on a Broadway journey that suddenly feels complete after decades of balancing comedy, television and musical theater.

“I haven't even been able to articulate the desire to want it,” Gasteyer admits of the nomination. “In fact, I was in therapy the day before talking to my therapist like, ‘All these people are saying this might happen. I don't know how to feel about it.’ And she was like, ‘You know you're allowed to want that.’”

The nomination for her performance as the rigid and domineering Mildred Layton in Schmigadoon! has given Gasteyer perspective on her career, which often felt like two distinct categories: sketch comedy and musical theater. With six Broadway shows under her belt, she's now seeing it all come together. “To take stock and say, ‘Oh, my God, I've been doing this for 25 years,’ is so validating,” she says.

Gasteyer has long felt the need to constantly reintroduce herself to the theater community, particularly after becoming widely known through Saturday Night Live. “I feel like I've been trying to prove to the camp that I was worth it for so long,” she explains. “It's so cool because this role and this nomination feels very cohesive all of a sudden. It's the best of both worlds.”

That realization comes after amassing an eclectic resume, with credits including Elphaba in Wicked, Fosca in Passion and Miss Hannigan in Annie. Gasteyer points to another, lesser-known favorite: “Aunt Deborah in the original stage version of Kimberly Akimbo,” she says. “I've gotten to do some cool things.”

What makes this all the more impressive is that she did not complete her formal musical training. While her talent prevailed, this fact left her feeling steps behind other musical theater performers. “I had so much lost time to make up for because I dropped out of music school,” she says. “I found comedy. I did The Groundlings. I did Saturday Night Live. I had this whole comedy career through the back door.” She describes spending years rigorously retraining her voice after entering the theater world professionally. “I had to actually study, study, study,” she recalls. “I really was afraid, ‘I'm coming to this too late.’ It was a steep learning curve at the beginning.”

Now, Gasteyer is earning acclaim for her work in Schmigadoon!—a role she intentionally avoided studying previous iterations of. (Kristin Chenoweth played the role on the original Apple TV series.) “When I got cast, I didn't want to go back and get influenced by the way Kristin played it,” Gasteyer explains. “I really just wanted to come from the character.”

Instead, she's leaning into what she jokingly calls her “villain era,” following her turn as Queen Aggravain in Once Upon a Mattress. She describes Mildred as “this kind of morally intractable, finger-wagging” authority figure whose emotional eruption arrives late in the show. “She explodes,” Gasteyer says. “It's an actual volcanic eruption in act two.”

One of the more unexpected revelations involved the emotional toll of playing Broadway villains. Gasteyer admits that getting booed nightly during Once Upon a Mattress eventually wore on her. Schmigadoon! however, offers her character a small redemption arc. “She does have a micro-moment at the very end of the show where she sort of learns something and softens in the finale,” Gasteyer says. “It's very powerful, actually.”

Another thing that's powerful? Two SNL alumnae nominated in the same Tony category. Gasteyer spoke warmly about Rachel Dratch, who received a nomination for playing the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show. “We were on the phone together when it happened,” Gasteyer shares. “She really wanted me to get nominated.”

Another SNL-to-Broadway connection: Gasteyer impersonated Céline Dion on the variety show, and now, Tony nominee Marla Mindelle does her own take in Titanique. When floated the possibility of making a guest appearance in Titanique, Gasteyer did not hesitate. “Of course I would.”

Beyond a possible turn on the Ship of Dreams, Gasteyer strives to complete the prestigious EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) quartet in the not-too-near future. With a Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice Performer in a Preschool Program in RoboGobo, Gasteyer has three to go. Schmigadoon! could potentially make her a Grammy winner for Best Musical Theater Album. But for now, Gasteyer’s Tony nomination represents more than a career milestone. It feels like acceptance into a group she has long admired. “I love theater,” she says. “I feel really excited to be a part of the community.”

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