BWW Interviews: Jane Lynch on Her New Year's Eve Show in Park City

Jane Lynch, who recently starred as Miss Hannigan in ANNIE on Broadway and is best known as Sue Sylvester on the hit television show GLEE, will be presenting a special cabaret show in Park City this New Year's Eve.

Lynch graciously took the time to speak with BroadwayWorld about her upcoming Utah appearance.

Why should we spend our New Year's Eve with Lynch? "Well, it's a free country," she said. "You can do whatever you want. But it's going to be a lot of fun. There's a lot of laughs and a lot of obscure standards, if you can call any standards obscure."

She said the show will be very similar to her recent stint at 54 Below in New York City, but she's added two more band members and four or five new songs, including "a love song medley about the ridiculousness of romance." In addition to her long-time collaborator Kate Flannery (Meredith on THE OFFICE), GLEE vocal arranger Tim Davis will be joining her for the performance. "I love working off people," she said. "I do stand up on my own for a few songs."

Park City is only the third place after New York and San Diego that Lynch will have performed the show, but she is looking forward to taking it on tour to more than 16 cities after filming wraps soon on GLEE's final season. What made her decide to follow up her Emmy and Golden Globe winning role with a cabaret tour?

"I love doing it so much!" she said. "The four nights we spent at 54 Below were really, truly heaven for me and Kate Flannery. It had been 25 years since I'd sung on the stage, and then I did ANNIE. Now I have the bug, and I will never leave it."

When asked how doing this show is different from ANNIE or GLEE, Lynch said, "It's all on me. I'm the person that's putting it all together and setting the tone. It's a very lonely thing. If it goes well, it's something I've done, and if not, it's all on me."

With the final season of GLEE soon to premiere, Lynch said her favorite memory from the last five years of the show was in season two. "It think it was shooting the Madonna video with Ryan Murphy directing," she said. "Everyone stepped up with hair, makeup, cinematography... It was such a joy. The most fun day and a half of shooting I've ever had."

What is she most looking forward to people seeing in the last season? "All the kids are back. It's just seeing all the kids singing together again and then leaving them with hope they'll be successful, even though they're back in Lima."

When asked how GLEE has affected her personally, Lynch said, "I've got a whole new kind of fame. At the same time, I go about my life the same as I always did. I've played Sue for five and a half years now, and I still love playing her. I just finished doing a scene two hours ago, and I had a blast. It's the longest I've ever played the same role, and I love it."

Park City Institute presents Jane Lynch in a New Year's Eve performance on Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for the Performing Arts (1750 Kearns Blvd., Park City). Show starts at 8 pm. Tickets range from $40 to $165. Tickets and information are available at The Eccles Center box office, 435-655-3114 or www.ecclescenter.org.

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