INTERVIEW: Katey Sagal on the welcome challenges of musical theater
Photo: From left, Katey Sagal and Brittany Nicole Willams star in The Gospel According to Heather. Photo courtesy of Russ Rowland / Provided by Richard Hillman PR with permission.
The Gospel According to Heather, the new musical with book, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, is now playing an extended run at off-Broadway’s Theater 555 in Midtown Manhattan. One of the featured actors in the new show is none other than Katey Sagal, the successful performer known for Married … With Children, Sons of Anarchy, Futurama and The Conners, among many other projects. In the musical, Sagal plays the character of Agatha, a pivotal role in the narrative.
“It’s so good,” Sagal said in a recent phone interview about the show. “Great message and amazing singers and amazing music.”
The show, produced in New York by Amas Musical Theatre, follows the title character of Heather Krebs (Brittany Nicole Williams) as she navigates the ups and downs of a high school in Ohio, but she also has a secret that will disrupt her teenage life: Heather may, in fact, be the new messiah.
“I’ve known Paul since we were in our 20s, which is a while ago now, and we were singer-songwriters struggling in Los Angeles, making demos and writing songs,” Sagal said about how she connected to the project. “I’ve known Paul for the longest time, and he wrote a musical years ago when I was in my late-20s that I did. And from that musical, I got an agent, I got a TV show. All kinds of amazing things happened from this show that I did when I was a struggling singer-songwriter, and so we’ve kept in touch over the years. And when he called and he presented the project, he said, ‘It’s not huge. It’s more like the big pop at the end.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, I would love to do that.’ So the run was in my time frame, and the music was amazing. It’s Paul, and I love Paul. I said, ‘Yes, absolutely. I’m in.’ I’ve always toyed with the thought of coming to New York and working here, but I also only wanted to do a musical if it was an original musical. This community is not really familiar with me in those ways, as I’m not necessarily familiar with myself in those ways, so this was a good opportunity to put my toe in and see how it feels.”
Sagal, a Golden Globe winner, finds the message of The Gospel According to Heather lovely and wonderful, with a strong political stance against the far right. Some of the topics brought up in the show have been on the actor’s mind, much like the rest of the United States, and this high school setting speaks to the larger divisions plaguing the country.
“It also has a spiritual message, very simple: If we would all just love each other, the world would be in a much better place,” she said. “It just has a lovely message, and it’s spoken through young people. I think that’s really good to be doing, to pass that on through young people. … I’m sort of in awe of the discipline of the talent that’s around me. As an actor, there’s a lot of discipline, but as a musician, when these kids do eight shows a week and singing full voice, it’s a definite skill set that is different than when you’re singing with a band. When I sing with my band, there are three singers. We kind of split everything up, and we don’t play eight shows a week. There definitely was a learning curve for me because vocally I hadn’t sung that much during the whole pandemic. I couldn’t play anywhere. It was actually a great opportunity to sing, to work that muscle, so that’s been great for me.”
Sagal’s band, called the Forest Rangers, is currently on hiatus, but the fact that she’s on TV, she’s written a book, she’s a member of a band and now she’s appearing off-Broadway speaks to her willingness to be diverse and take risks. She likes to surround herself with creative artists who bring tons of energy and enthusiasm. She’s getting that tenfold in The Gospel According to Heather, which is directed by Rachel Klein.
“They’re amazing,” she said of the company. “They’re all amazing to me, but the young girl who plays Heather who has the heavy load, she is so special and so incredible. They all are. They’re just so talented, and so it’s been very inspiring to see that.”
Sagal added: “In my early career, I was in comedy. I was on Married … With Children. I was on that show for 11 years, and it became really kind of the blessing and the curse of being on television, that everybody relates to you in that one way. It took a minute to find other opportunities, and then I was able to finally to get into a more dramatic groove. I want to do things that I’m challenged by, and so coming here was a challenge to me. I’ll do that. I haven’t done that in years and years, and I would love to do that again. … Yes, it’s much better to stretch out and be a little bit scared of what you’re going to do next.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Gospel According to Heather, featuring Kate Sagal, plays through July 16 at Theater 555 on 42nd Street in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets to the Amas Musical Theatre production.
