By Molly Given<\/p>\n
Ana Gasteyer<\/a> is bringing the charm of her ‘Sugar & Booze’ album once again to Philly. The experience brings the energy of a live band and a holiday cocktail party the the stage\u2014 with equal parts jazz, tradition, and wry humor.\u00a0<\/p>\n To chat more about her holiday spectacular of a show and what audiences can expect, Gasteyer sat down with Metro<\/a> to delve into all things ‘Sugar & Booze.’\u00a0<\/p>\n What keeps you coming back to ‘Sugar & Booze’, and equally, what do you think keeps audiences coming back?<\/p>\n I think the holidays are such a nice moment to reset and connect in a traditional way, and a way to take a moment out of an incredibly busy time of year to celebrate and feel joy, frankly. The origin story of me and my relationship to music is that I\u2019m both a comedian and a singer, and this kind of entertainer era of the late 50s, early 60s really centered on American songbook music and jazz. It lends itself in such a fun and upbeat way to the holidays, and it’s a great time to let it rip and celebrate musically. I think there’s one ballad in the whole show. Overall, it’s a very uptempo album, it\u2019s very uptempo energy, and it’s got some ridiculousness to it, and it’s uplifting.<\/p>\n So I think people return to things they love at the holidays. Our goal when we made the album was to create a seasonal record that you could play with Ella Fitzgerald<\/a> and Frank Sinatra<\/a> while you made cocktails and wrapped presents in front of your tree. It’s very much in that style, and it’s just a good time, which is really what it comes down to at the end of the day. I’m guessing that that’s why people like to come…it’s certainly why it never gets old. For me, it’s my favorite holiday tradition of going out and letting it rip in a traditional but kind of cheeky way.<\/p>\n Are there any new additions to 2025\u2019s ‘Sugar & Booze’ tour? For anyone who hasn\u2019t seen the show yet, how would you describe it?<\/p>\n We always tell new stories and we always add a couple of new numbers for fun, but one thing about the holidays is, you don’t really want them to be that different. Nobody wants something too weird in the mashed potatoes, if you know what I’m saying. Overall, it’s holiday jazz and we have a horn section, and it’s a swing album. It features real classic holiday songs from the songbook, as well as originals that we felt fit into that celebratory feeling. There’s a wink to tradition, is I guess what I would say. But it’s by no means stuffy\u2014 this is not about singing \u2018O Come All Ye Faithful.\u2019<\/p>\n What are some of the songs that stand out to you from the tour? Do you have audience reactions that come to mind when certain songs start playing?<\/p>\n I think everybody has different favorites for sure. Obviously, something like the \u2018Grinch\u2019 that I tend to do towards the end of the show is a favorite that you don’t get to hear all that often and you don’t get to hear reinvented very often. But people love standards, like \u2018Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas\u2019, and I personally love performing \u2018Sleigh Ride.\u2019 I love the arrangement that we have to it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The other thing is, frankly, it’s live music, so where there are live musicians, there is more excitement. My band is incredible. They know the charts well, and it’s got a lot of energy to it. It’s getting cold out and it’s a stressful time of year. \u00a0I want to give people a really pleasant escape from their cares and their worries and take a moment to feel connected with other human beings while having a cocktail or two, laughing at some of the challenges of the season and really enjoying the uplifting spirit of the season together.<\/p>\n Is there anything exciting about being in Philly this time of year for you, and overall, what do you hope Philadelphians get out of experiencing ‘Sugar & Booze?’<\/p>\n I really feel that live music is about connection and\u00a0 that live events serve that for many people… and really allowing yourself to be there with others, celebrating. I think that’s what the impact of live performance is: To me, it’s the greatest privilege to be connected to my audience in that way. Sometimes it can be a huge room, it can be a thousand people. But my biggest goal is to feel like [everyone is] in my living room for the evening, or for my audience to feel that we are all at a holiday party together, more or less.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And it’s the day of the marathon in Philly, which is so cool. I have runners in my family and marathoning is very much in that same vein. It’s about an accomplishment and a larger community, a sense of other runners and supporting people who run and supporting people who are overcoming a personal obstacle. My show is not about overcoming a personal obstacle, but I am excited that it’s the same weekend as the marathon. My fantasy is that someone’s going to finish the marathon and want to come out and have a big old cocktail and here’s some music and tap their toes\u2014 because it’s a celebration of a show, and people deserve to be celebrated for that kind of connection and community.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Catch Ana Gasteyer with her Sugar & Booze Holiday Spectacular at the Kimmel Center (300 S Broad St.) on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m., presented by Ensemble Arts Philly. For more information and tickets ($59+), visit ensembleartsphilly.org<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Molly Given Ana Gasteyer is bringing the charm of her ‘Sugar & Booze’ album once again to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[23596,23597,15425,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-38807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-ana-gasteyer","tag-holiday-jazz","tag-live-music","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}