Ana Gasteyer
Café Carlyle, NYC, October 25, 2016
Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahlfors for Cabaret Scenes
If you were a fan of Saturday Night Live‘s glory days, or if you’ve seen Netflix’s comedy series, Lady Dynamite, or Wicked on Broadway once or twice, you’ll know the name of Ana Gasteyer. You may not know, however, that she began as a classical violinist, belts some killer R&B, and sees the world through her own prism of many colors. Gasteyer brings all that, and more, to her debut performance at Café Carlyle.
In a gold-sequined dress (“It’s by Millie. She’s in the audience,” Gasteyer quipped), she bopped up the aisle swingin’ the irony of “One Mint Julep” by Rudy Toombs, julep glass in hand. That tune was hep when it was recorded in 1951, but Gasteyer proves she’s now leading-edge, (“I tweet from my bike”), and sings an updated rendition of “I’m Hip” by Bob Dorough and Dave Frishberg.
Julian Fleischer directs a fancy-free show that shows Gasteyer’s robust vocals in a range from “Satan’s Little Lamb” (Johnny Mercer/E.Y. Harburg/Harold Arlen) to Mel Tormé and Robert Wells’ “Tacos, Enchiladas and Beans.” She has a free-wheeling line-up of songs and stories juiced up with unfettered supersonic wisecracks and a wacky mix of musical comedy. She delivers a dizzying sequence of anecdotes, often self-deprecating, about growing up in Washington D.C. (“A girl with an eye patch who played the violin”), problems in school, and working through her feelings when her mother told her she had grown into a “handsome woman.” At any point, she does not hesitate to stop short and address someone stepping out of the room. “So soon? You didn’t even finish your drink.”
A voice major at Northwestern University, Gasteyer was drawn to theater, comedy and, always, singing. She admits she likes working in cabaret. “This is therapy for me where you pay,” and you won’t mind paying for an eccentric show and a well-trained singing voice. Edgar Leslie and James V. Monaco wrote “Crazy People” in 1932 for The Boswell Sisters, but who needs a trio when you have Ana Gasteyer to vocally slam through the tune and its harmonies, and even “bop-bada-bop” with Musical Director/pianist Tedd Firth. She likes to call her music “moxie jazz,” the kind of numbers preferred by a chanteuse in a side street 1940s nightclub. The wry humor may be as ink-black as Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear’s “Before He Cheats” and its ice-cold warning, “I dug my key into the side/Of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive.” Maybe next time he’ll think twice before crossing this chick.
With a more intimate take than you may be used to, she sang Elpheba’s Wicked anthem, “Defying Gravity,” closing the show with poignant sentiment and laser focus on the lyrics. Gasteyer was accompanied by Firth on piano, Jeremy Chatsky on bass, Richard Feridun on guitar, Greg Thymius on saxophone and reeds, and David Berger on the drums. All traded turns on the kazoo.
