Today we are talking to a two-time Emmy Award-winning stage and screen star who counts a modern-day TV icon among her most memorable roles, none other than nefarious and outrageous Sue Sylvester on FOX's hit musical dramedy series GLEE, the versatile and endearing Jane Lynch. Shedding light on her hosting duties for the upcoming major GLBT equality charity event UPRISING OF LOVE, set to star Sting, Billy Porter and Patti LuPone, among others, Lynch opens up about the importance of the cause and why she was drawn to participating in the show. Additionally, Lynch shares stories from her early theatre days - including performing in an amateur production of UPRISING OF LOVE co-producer Stephen Schwartz's own musical GODSPELL. Plus, Lynch recounts her experiences performing material from beloved family-friendly musical ANNIE on GLEE - with the world premiere of "Little Girls" having been hosted right here on BroadwayWorld - as well as her reflections on starring as Miss Hannigan in the most recent Broadway revival of the popular musical. Of course, Lynch shares a brief but tantalizing preview of what viewers and gleeks alike can expect from the final season of GLEE, now back where it all began at McKinley High in Lima, Ohio, as well. All of that, new information on her upcoming onscreen reunion with GLEE co-star Matthew Morrison, details on her ongoing cabaret appearances around the country and much, much more!
More information on UPRISING OF LOVE on September 15 at the Gershwin Theatre is available at the official site here.Turn Back O' Man PC: I spoke to Stephen Schwartz extensively about the UPRISING OF LOVE charity event this week (available here) and I was curious if you had ever performed his material before at any point?
JL: Yes, I have, actually. When I was a young person, when I was in high school, we did a very emotional and wonderful - for us, life-changing - production of GODSPELL. It really, really was the highlight of my high school time and it was for everybody else in the cast, too. We just put it on together - it wasn't even an official high school production. I remember that we all kind of met in the theatre arts class and thought, "Hey, let's put this up!" And, we did. It ended up being so good - you know, just for the class - that we ended up doing a public viewing of it - that sounds like a wake; a public production of it - in the auditorium of the school for our parents and friends so they could come and see it.
PC: What a wonderful memory.
JL: For me, it was one of those moments where I thought, "Oh, my God! I want to do this for a living! I just love this!"
PC: I would kill to hear you do "Turn Back O' Man".
JL: [Laughs.] That's what I did! That was my song.
PC: I called it!
JL: You did! You did!
PC: Now you have to do it on GLEE! Time is running out!
JL: [Laughs.]
PC: Your fellow 54 Below headliner Patti LuPone will also be appearing in UPRISING OF LOVE. Did you catch her there recently?
JL: Yes, I am thrilled about that! I definitely heard about it - and I heard she was amazing.
PC: Have you two met before? Although she was on GLEE once, it was not in a scene shared with you, unfortunately.
JL: We did. I met her once at the opening of
Bette Midler's I'LL EAT YOU LAST. That was a big deal for me to meet her. But, yeah - I can't wait to get to share some time with her next week.
PC: Dustin Lance Black will be writing UPRISING OF LOVE, as well.
JL: Yes, he is! We haven't gotten anything yet as far as a script, but I can't wait to read it.
PC: You previously starred in his stage production of 8 about Proposition of 8, of course, a few years ago.
JL: Oh, yeah! I had a lot of fun doing that.
PC: You played the villain of the piece, of course.
JL: Yes, I did.
PC: Would you be open to doing it again - perhaps onscreen?
JL: Oh, well, we'll see! If they came up with something like that I would certainly be open to doing it.
PC: We premiered your sensational cover of "Little Girls" as seen on GLEE right here on BroadwayWorld (available here). What a smashing cover!
JL: Oh, really?! That's great! I'm glad you liked it.
PC: Was it intended for Sue Sylvester before you had signed on to do the revival on Broadway?
JL: No. It was actually
Ryan Murphy having a brilliant moment - he knew I was doing ANNIE and he thought, "Well, why not cross-promote them?" So, those in the know who saw me in ANNIE knew that I had done a little bit of it already on GLEE. I thought that was nice cross-promotion.
PC: I've heard you were a big fan of Carol Burnett in the film - and, just in general.
JL: Oh, God, yes.
PC: And Dorothy Loudon in the original.
JL: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I thought Carol was absolutely amazing in that, though! Of course, she's now become a friend since she played my mother-in-law in a movie we did together a few years back - we see each other from time to time. And we did
GLEE together since then.
PC: Of course. "Ohio"!
JL: Exactly. You know, when I watch her work I feel so honored that I can call her a friend.
PC: You see it as a honor.
JL: I do. It is.
PC: Another Miss Hannigan of great renown is KATHY Bates, who just won an Emmy for another Ryan Murphy show, AMERICAN HORROR STORY. Are you two friendly, as well?
JL: I know she did! And, yes, she just did
AMERICAN HORROR STORY with Ryan, too. I would love to work with her someday - and I would love to get to know her better, too. I think she is just an amazing actress.
PC: Would you be open to appearing with her on GLEE, perhaps with Carol - a Hannigan trio?
JL: Oh, yeah! That would be really, really cool.
PC: Do you have a dream song you want to do on GLEE, especially with it being the final season?
JL: Not really. No. Every time I get a new song to do here it is like a dream come true for me, honestly. So, I never ask for anything specific - I take what they give me and do it. I've never really had specific goals and stuff like that - I think I sort of learned early on that if you kind of let life roll in at your feet you will get a lot of great stuff if you are just aware and open to it.
PC: Open to all the possibilities.
JL: Yeah, I don't really sit there and think, "What would I like my life to be?"
PC: The Youtube fan Q&A you and Darren Criss did for GLEE earlier this year was so entertaining - I hope you do more of those.
JL: Why, thank you! Yeah, that was a lot of fun to do.
PC: You have been expanding your repertoire recently with your series of cabaret appearances. What do you sing in those?
JL: Well, I kind of do obscure standards, if there is such a thing...
PC: What a way to put it!
JL: Well, let me give you an example: I do a Gershwin song - "Mr. Monotony". We did it on
GLEE once and it turned out pretty good.
PC: You're a Judy Garland fan, then, I take it?
JL: Oh,
YES - definitely.
PC: What else do you do?
JL: I also do a
Dave Frishberg song called "Slappin' The Cakes" - a very funny, jazzy song. Then, I do a very upbeat, sort of borscht belt version of a song with my friend
Kate Flannery, who I do a lot of my shows with. We also do a rendition of "Go Ask Alice" about Alice the maid from THE BRADY BUNCH, too -
Ann B. Davis.
PC: Paying homage to your time in THE BRADY BUNCH LIVE!
JL: Right. Exactly. And, also,
Ann B. Davis had just passed away when we were first doing the show at 54 Below.
PC: Speaking of passing away, I saw your sweet remembrance of Joan Rivers on Twitter.
JL: [Sighs.] Oh, you saw that? Thank you.
PC: Did you know her well? She once spoke to me about having dinner with you and Lily Tomlin and what a great night it was.
JL: Oh, she did? How wonderful. We got along great - she was so great.
PC: Do you have any memories of her that stick out in particular?
JL: I do. One night I was sitting in for
Piers Morgan and they asked me, "Who do you want to interview?" and, I said, "Joan." So, they got her and I remember her and Melissa showed up and she had a handful of index cards with jokes on them that she was trying to fit into the interview. She was like, "I'm gonna try to get these in and that in," and I said, "I'm happy to set you up for them!"
PC: That's Joan!
JL: So, we had a conversation, but when I felt she was going towards a joke, I would just let her go - let her say it. [Laughs.] It was great. She loved entertaining and she loved having a joke ready all the time. She could be very honest and real and in the moment, but you always knew that seconds later a joke would come that she had rehearsed and perfected and was ready to go.
PC: Of course she famously appeared in several episodes of NIP/TUCK, as well, also in the Ryan Murphy universe.
JL: Oh, that's right! She sure did!
PC: It seems that since then we've seen more comedians in serious, dramatic roles.
JL: I think you're right. I think it's the smartest thing in the world to do! DAMAGES with
Glenn Close did it to great effect. They did it really well, I think.
PC: You can say that again!
JL:
Lily Tomlin and
Martin Short and
Ted Danson - I mean, really, really funny people and they gave them really, really serious roles - and, of course, they were amazing! The funniest people are usually the best actors, I believe.
PC: Would you be open to a pitch-black role, perhaps on AMERICAN HORROR STORY?
JL: Oh, absolutely! I would love to do that - AMERICAN HORROR STORY. I'd love to do something written really well like that. But, you know, it takes somebody like
Ryan Murphy or the producers of DAMAGES to be smart enough to know, "Oh, we should look in this pool for the actor for this role."
PC: Will you be returning to New York to film GLEE at all this season as far as you know?
JL: No, I don't think so. I think we're all going to be back on the
Paramount lot all year this year.
PC: Was "NYC" filmed in LA?
JL: Yes, it was. Almost all of last season was. We have this New York City street on our set where we film all of our New York exteriors. They flew Lea [Michele], Chris [Colfer] and Darren [Criss] and a few of the other ones out to New York to shoot some exteriors at the beginning of last season, but they won't do that this year, of course.
PC: I was curious: given your background at Cornell, I was curious if you ever met Arthur Laurents?
JL: Well, I know who he is, absolutely, but I didn't know he was a Cornellian! That's interesting.
PC: What were some of your favorite productions that you participated in there?
JL: Well, at Cornell, I remember that I was Lady Bountiful in THE BEAUX STRATAGEM and I was
Mary Warren in THE CRUCIBLE. Then, I played the daughter in a
Sam Shepard play, CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS. I also played Rosa in THE EARLY DARK by Reynolds Price. Gosh, let's see what else... [Sighs.]
PC: Did you do any Shakespeare?
JL: I did! Let's see. I did Adriana in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. I did Helena in MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. I did Olivia in TWELFTH NIGHT...
PC: You would be such a fabulous Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT.
JL: Ah, unfortunately I never did AS YOU LIKE IT.
PC: Do you find very formalized dialogue easier than colloquial?
JL: Oh, no - I like it all. I like
THE CHALLENGE of all different genres, honestly - I like 'em all.
PC: Shakespeare to HEDWIG, I see you recently saw HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH with Neil Patrick Harris and Tweeted your approval!
JL: [Gasps] Yes, I did! He was just amazing!
PC: Would you be open to playing Yitzhak someday? Would you be cool with that?
JL: Oh, I never even thought of that, but yeah - that would be.
PC: You and your GLEE co-star Matthew Morrison will be teaming up for a new movie coming up soon, AFTER THE REALITY, yes?
JL: Yes, we are. I play a very small part in it, but Matt is the lead. He was really great to throw me a little bone and I guess I am really great to do it. [Laughs.]
PC: You have such great rapport.
JL: Oh, I just love him.
PC: Did you enjoy your "Cheek To Cheek" routine with him last season - partially inspired by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers?
JL: Oh, I guess you're right - it was. Yeah, that was a lot of fun to do - it certainly was.
PC: What were some of the most influential entertainment experiences you had growing up that made you want to perform in the first place?
JL: We listened to musicals a lot in my family - a lot of musicals. MAN OF LA MANCHA, FUNNY GIRL, THE SOUND OF MUSIC. We loved THE SOUND OF MUSIC movie. We were very into musical theatre as a family - not so much doing it, but going to see it and watching them and listening to the soundtracks. We were big
Barry Manilow fans, too - and
Carole King and
James Taylor. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young continues to be my favorite to this very day.
PC: Speaking of which, your duet with Lea Michele on "Who Are You Now?" from FUNNY GIRL this season was sensational. What an arrangement!
JL: Wasn't that beautiful?! Yeah, I loved doing that, too.
PC: You recorded it separately but could at least work off of her vocals, correct?
JL: Yes. That's right.
PC: Who did the arrangement?
JL: I believe it was Adam Anders, and Tim David did the vocal arrangement - he does all of our vocal arrangements - one or the other.
PC: Would you be open to appearing in FUNNY GIRL someday, perhaps as Fanny's mother, Mrs. Brice? Since Ryan Murphy owns the rights and Lea Michele is set to star, it certainly fits.
JL: I don't know if I have any interest in it, but if it came my way I would certain look at it. As I said, I don't have goals.
PC: Is it true you filmed scenes for THE AVIATOR that were ultimately cut out of the final finished film?
JL: Yes, it's true. I played Amelia Earhart and I had a few lines in it, but they cut it.
PC: Your "You're A Mean One, Sue Sylvester" GLEE episode was so superb. There won't be a holiday episode this year, correct?
JL: Yeah - probably not.
PC: Can you give us an amuse bouche of Sue Sylvester in the final season of GLEE?
JL: Yes, I can give you one of Sue's lines: "You have just entered Sue Sylvester's thunder dome." [Laughs.]
PC: Lastly, will you be back on the final season of TWO AND A HALF MEN?
JL: Not that I know of. They haven't contacted me yet if I am.
PC: By the way, congratulations on your second Emmy win, this time for HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT.
JL: Thank you!
PC: It seems that genre is getting revitalized, doesn't it?
JL: I love doing the show. And, I am personally thrilled with getting recognized - it's really good for the show, too.
PC: This was a total blast, Jane. Thank you so much for this today.
JL: Thank you, too, Pat. Anytime. This was a lot of fun. Bye..
Photo Credits: FOX, Walter McBride, etc.
