For me, it was the red contacts. Gelli Haha – the synth-pop meets clown-art project of Angel Abaya – puts on a live show that dazzles in a chaotic, mime-y, play palace kind of way. During her performances, there’s choreography on mini-trampolines, matching boxer’s outfits, bubble machines, the impeccable use of a gym-class rainbow parachute, and soon, Hula Hoops.

But when I experienced the funhouse mirror delights of a Gelli Haha show, it was Abaya’s colored contacts – as crayon-red as the rest of her painted props – that shocked me the most. Even down to eye color, Abaya brings thought, care, and some serious ambition to the silliness of Gelli. 

Following last year’s release of her Gelli Haha debut Switcheroo, Abaya played a string of headlining shows and opened for Magdalena Bay and Marc Rebillet. This week, Gelli Haha kicks off her first major US headlining tour and released a new song, “Klouds Will Carry Me To Sleep”. 

I spoke with Abaya about the creation and process behind her live show.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It’s rare to see an artist build a live show of musical theater proportions – props-and-all – this early on in their career. But for Abaya, fun isn’t just the defining aesthetic of Gelli Haha. It’s also her modus operandi.

“Thinking about this show in a musical theater way, I just think it’s fun!" she tells me. "It’s obviously more expected at a later level in your career and artistry. And it’s totally genuine and valid at that stage too. I just think it’s cute and quirky when it works out early.”

Though, of course, it takes a lot of work too. The inception of Gelli Haha traces back to long before her first show. “I had a lot of conversations with my best friend Selby, who is mentioned a couple of times on the album. She lives in Belgium though, so we'd FaceTime all the time before we started actually building the show. She was someone who I was able to bounce ideas off of on what this project is, and then, when we got to the point of making a physical show, we had a really strong idea and vision.” 

The Gelli Haha moodboard spans decades and mentalities. There’s a dash of vaudeville and slapstick humor. Abaya pulled from the liberating image of flapper girls, and she cut her hair into Gelli's signature bob once the flapper girl aspect of the project crystallized. Also in the mix: the cool of downtown-scene New York – art parties, the Pyramid Club, ‘90s Club Kids. On top of that, there’s the playfulness and wonder. “The longer we worked… the kind of cabaret, childlike, and clowning atmosphere developed. But that was more of a secondary inspiration. It came out of the idea of playfulness and us just wanting to make sure we’re having fun. And a lot of fun things happen to be childlike things, too,” she says. 

Without a major label budget, building a show like Gelli’s requires craftiness. “The whole show is definitely inspired by living within means, our boundaries," Abaya says. "I knew that we were going to play small spaces, so we only rehearsed in small spaces. We had already tested the limits of that. Nightclub 101 was, honestly, kind of a nice-sized space. It’s fun to create in that kind of capacity and not overstretch the reality of the situation.”

On stage, the troupe of performers are equal parts cast and crew: they seamlessly assemble and disassemble set-piece building blocks, pull inflatable dolphins out from hidden crevices, and always seem to have just enough room for whatever trick is next. Despite all the multi-tasking, Abaya’s vocals never waiver either. It's a DIY feat.

She built the show – its choreography, costumes, instrumentation, and props – with a few close collaborators. Sienna Kresge, known on stage as “SiSi” Haha, was the next to enter the orbit of the Gelliverse. Kresge choreographed and created costumes, like the dancers’ bonnets and belts. “One of the first things I wanted to do was the mini trampoline,” Abaya says. “I think that was an anchor in the show for me. And that was the first thing [Kresge and I] choreographed, the trampolines in ‘Bounce House.’”

As different people have entered and exited the Gelli Haha project, they’ve added their own contributions. Camryn Eakes, a former “Haha” dancer, suggested adding the parachute; David Gutel, who directs Gelli Haha’s music videos, also designed the show’s introduction visuals. 

But at the core of the show is Abaya herself. Though she calls herself a “broad-strokes” kind of person, Abaya also happens to have the perfect set of skills to execute this project.

For one, she’s a theater kid. Growing up, she was involved in musical theater and a Sing/Dance/Act group in her native Idaho. But she also has a producer’s attentiveness to detail and director’s sense of vision. “I used to work at a contemporary dance company called LED in Boise. Not as a dancer – I’m not a dancer, I just pretend I am. [Working there] made me confident in my abilities to even put on a production like this… I got really used to managing productions, dancers, rehearsals, props, and aesthetics. I’ve always loved creating, but I also have that mindset of like, I can handle organizational things. I can handle scheduling, I can handle ordering the props and making sure everything’s going smoothly.” 

She credits her weirdo-pop forebears as guidance as well: early Kate Bush, Björk, and, of course, Lady Gaga. “I was so big on The Fame, The Fame Monster, Born This Way. That’s my favorite era of Gaga, a lot of that sticks in my head," Abaya says, later admitting she loves ARTPOP too. "Especially for where I’m at in my career, I think a lot about The Fame. Obviously, she had a lot of backing, but coming up, in her interviews, there was always this energy. I saw her early show for The Fame when she was doing clubs, and I definitely kept that in my head. Like, how do you get a pop scale at that level?” That's a question that’s central to the Gelli Haha project as well. “I guess my parachute is like Gaga’s disco stick,” Abaya jokes. 

In an era of perfectly-messy Instagram curation clip-it-for-Reels editing, it’s refreshing to see someone put in the effort to make a pop spectacle for the small stage in real life. Even now, Abaya continues to toy with new… well, toys.

“I literally just learned to Hula Hoop a few weeks ago. I just got good at it, and I say good as in passable. I think the Hula Hoop community might not hate me.” She’s already thinking about what future iterations of the Gelli Haha live show could be. Abaya is “intrigued” by formal clowning, and she’s “gotten connected with some puppet crews in LA.” She also mentioned a water-related theme.

Perhaps on the next tour, Gelli Haha will come equipped with a Metamorphoses-style stage pool. “I like details. And I think for me as an art creator, I love when you can tell someone meticulously worked through this idea.” Look at any detail in her audacious performances, and you can bet Gelli Haha thought it through. 

Gelli Haha's tour starts March 25th in Los Angeles. See the full list of dates and grab tickets below.

03/25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
03/26 San Francisco, CA @ Brick & Mortar
03/28 Boise, ID @ Treefort Festival
03/31 Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
04/01 Portland, OR @ Holocene
04/02 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
04/23 Minneapolis, MN @ Amsterdam Bar & Hall
04/25 Chicago, IL @ Schubas - Early
04/25 Chicago, IL @ Schubas - Late
04/27 Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
04/28 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
04/29 Boston, MA @ Sonia
05/01 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
05/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Philamoca
05/04 Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
05/05 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle Back Room
05/07 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Altar)
05/09 Houston, TX @ Meow Wolf Houston
05/10 Austin, TX @ Antone's
05/11 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
05/13 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
05/15 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
05/18 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
05/19 San Diego, CA @ Voodoo Room at Hob
05/20 Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
06/06 Barcelona, ES @ Primavera
06/11 Porto, PT @ Primavera
08/07-08/09 Seattle, WA @ Capital Hill Block Party

The Needle Drop may earn an affiliate commission via purchases on ticket links through this article.