Jane Lynch, the villainous co-star of TV’s Glee who appeared on Broadway as Miss Hannigan in the 2012 revival of Annie, will show her merrier side in holiday concert A Swingin’ Little Christmas. That concert tour will launch November 28 at the Newark Theatre in Portland, Oregon, before heading to the Ridgefield Theatre in Ridgefield, Connecticut, December 2, and a two-day stop at the City Winery in New York City on December 3 and 4.
The Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner told Playbill that her concert draws on Lynch family Christmas traditions when she was growing up in Dolton, Illinois. She said that one year her father came home with an LP compilation of Christmas songs that was being given out for free at the local Firestone tire store. “It had Jack Jones, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, all singing Christmas songs with a jazzy big band beat. Before the 1950s a lot of the Christmas music was very traditional. But the 1950s era brought in the Perry Comos and the Rosemary Clooneys. That, to me, is Christmas, musically. As it is for Tony.”
That’s Tony Guerrero, her music director, arranger and co-star, who will appear with Tim Davis in the concert, performing three-part harmonies on some of the songs. Most of them will be “songs everybody recognizes,” including “We Three Kings,” “Up on the Housetop,” a “Jingle Bells” medley, and a special arrangement of Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus, titled “Swingin’ Hallelujah.”
There will also be a less-known song, “Carol of the Russian Children,” which will be presented on the tour in a new arrangement by Davis.
Lynch, who hosts Hollywood Game Night on NBC, recently made a guest appearance with Andrew Rannells as a gay conversion therapist on the sitcom Will & Grace.
To order the $75 tickets for the 8 PM December 2 Ridgefield concert, click here.
