Jane Lynch is best known for her Emmy Award–winning role as high school cheer coach Sue Sylvester in Glee. But the Evergreen Park native honed her comedy skills in Chicago with Second City and through The Real Live Brady Bunch at Annoyance Theatre, before making her name in a string of hit comedy films in the 2000s, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Role Models.
It wasn’t until 2016 that she became a recording artist, with the release of her collaborative Christmas album Swingin’ Little Christmas. That project brings her back to town next week — along with a few famous friends. From Dec. 12 to Dec. 15, she will return to the stage at Steppenwolf Theatre, where she spent a 15-year stint as a performer.
With Lynch and Flannery on stage together, audiences can expect cabaret with a side of comedy. Lynch spoke with WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis about her homecoming performance, the role McDonald’s played in her childhood holidays and transitioning from Glee. This interview was lightly edited for clarity and length.
If you go: Jane Lynch’s
“A Swingin’ Little Christmas,” featuring Kate Flannery, Tim Davis and the Tony Guerrero Quintet, will run Dec. 12–15 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. Performances are sold out.
How did the idea of recording a Christmas album come about? It looks like it happened right after Glee. Did that have anything to do with your idea to record a whole album?
Well, probably [laughs]. I mean, Kate Flannery is a good friend of mine, and she was Meredith, the drunk in The Office. We met in Chicago in the mid-‘80s, and we’ve been singing together ever since. When The Office was canceled, it was the same year that Glee was canceled. So, we decided to hit the road, and we did a cabaret show all over the country.
Then we became very close with the band, the Tony Guerrero Quintet, and we decided to do the Christmas album from that. We looked up public domain Christmas songs, you know, so we wouldn’t have to pay for them. And Tony, who’s amazing, arranged them in a real kind of jazzy late ‘50s, early ‘60s kind of Christmas music. And Tim Davis, who sings with us, was also the vocal arranger on Glee, and he arranged all of our vocals. So that’s how that all came together. We enjoyed making the album so much, we stopped doing the regular cabaret show and we started doing the Christmas show. Now we’re in our ninth year.
You and Kate [Flannery] are known for the funny characters you play onscreen. Coming to this show, what can audiences expect? Is it just going to be singing or will there also be some banter and a little comedy?
Well, of course, there will be a little banter. There will be all that stuff. I mean, it’s one of those things — I cannot control Kate, she’s always going to go off and do crazy things, and that’s what I love about her. So I comedically hold the line, and it’s just great when we let loose. A lot of it’s scripted, but a lot of it isn’t.
You mentioned that you and Kate are good friends. I’m curious how you met. Was it at Annoyance Theatre here in Chicago?
I think we initially met at Second City. But we started playing around together and singing and doing The Real Live Brady Bunch and other silly shows at the Annoyance Theatre. That would have been, oh gosh, that would have been the early ‘90s.
In the early days of your career, you were performing at Steppenwolf and Second City. What is it like for you coming back on stage live in Chicago?
I love it. It’s great, I still know a lot of people here. It’s a chance for me to see a lot of family who are still here. It’s great to walk around the city and go to all of our old haunts. Kate and I always end up going to Nookies for breakfast and taking a walk in Old Town, because that’s where we both lived and that’s usually where we perform. We’re going to be at Steppenwolf this time, which is on North Avenue and Halsted, so we’ll be looking around. It’s changed so much — North Avenue especially. It used to be the kind of place you didn’t walk alone at night. Now it’s full of stores and lots of retail, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great scene.
You’re here for a holiday show, during the holiday season. What are some of your favorite holiday memories in Chicago?
Going down on Michigan Avenue on Christmas Eve. Shopping at Marshall Field’s and seeing the lights on the windows at Field’s, which is now Macy’s, of course. But when I was growing up, it was Marshall Field’s. And having McDonald’s! We only had McDonald’s a couple of times of the year, because we lived in the suburbs and you had to drive 20 minutes to get to a McDonald’s. So, we always had McDonald’s at Christmas Eve, and that was a big deal.
Looking forward to 2025, do you have any projects next year that you’re excited about?
I’m excited about 2025, but I really have nothing. I’m looking at absolutely nothing, but something always pops up. I never know what I’m going to do.
Mike Davis is WBEZ’s theater reporter.
