Interview: Katey Sagal Makes Her Off-Broadway Debut in The Gospel According to Heather

When you look at the résumé of Katey Sagal, you see hit after hit: 246 episodes of Married…With Children as the iconic Peggy Bundy, the voice of Leela on Futurama, Gemma in Sons of Anarchy, Louise in The Connors. But she started her career onstage as a singer and songwriter; in early days she backed the likes of Bob Dylan, Etta James, and Bette Midler.

Before all that, she did theater. At 18, she toured in the ensemble of John Guare, Mel Shapiro, and Galt MacDermot’s Tony-winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. Now, decades later, she makes her official New York stage debut in Paul Gordon’s new off-Broadway musical The Gospel According to Heather, running through July 16 at Theater 555. Sagal and Gordon are old pals — he gave her an early gig which she credits with leading to her whole career. So when he called her for this show, she couldn’t say no. And the rest is history.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

I know you and the composer Paul Gordon go way back.
I know Paul for, oh god, 40 years, since our 20s when we were both young singer-songwriters trying to make a buck, trying to get by. Paul wrote a musical called Backstreet when we were in our late 20s and I was in that. From that musical, which we did in a little non-Equity, nothing, garage theater, my now-manager found me, and I signed on with them, and within six months, I was on television. So, Paul really was very instrumental in everything that has happened to me. When he called and asked if I would consider coming in for a short run, it was perfect timing.

What interested you in this material?
I loved the music. A lot of the music I first heard was Paul singing it, and Paul is self-proclaimed not the best singer. But I could hear through it all and there was enough of it that sparked me. I also thought the book is very uplifting.

Is this your first time doing a New York theater production?
I’m gonna say yes. I did the touring company of Two Gentlemen of Verona when I was 19, and we rehearsed here for a minute before we went out. I was a chorus girl. I don’t know if that counts. And then I did something at the Public, a workshop thing in my early 20s. But yes, this is the first time. I did The Beautiful Lady with Elizabeth Swados in 1985 at the Mark Taper Forum, which was my first big job after Backstreet. Very soon after that, I was on CBS.

Was New York theater always a goal for you?
I don’t know. First of all, musical theater has got to be the hardest thing. I mean, I watch these kids in the show and they’re unbelievable. They’re all triple-threat singers, actors, dancers. I’m one of the seniors, but these kids are just amazingly talented. Was that on my bucket list to do? Probably at one point. Now I think I’d really like to do a play. Musicals are so physically grueling on your throat. I sing one big song and that’s about enough for me, in terms of stamina and what goes into it. Have I always wanted to do theater? Yes. But it doesn’t matter to me, really, where it is. Theater was a big swing from wanting to be a rock star. That’s really all I wanted to do.

I know all your TV work is on hiatus because of the strike.
Oh, my god, I’m on hiatus from everything except this.

But you’ve got Futurama coming back at the end of July.
Oh, yeah. We just did 20 more episodes. It’s the show that never goes away. This will be our fourth network. The fan base is so huge. It’s my only real animation gig, and I’m not somebody who watches a lot of animation, but this one is always so smart. It’s all, like, physicists and scientists who write it. They’re a great bunch and the new episodes are wonderful.

I read that there’s a Married…With Children animated show in the works too?
I don’t know how much that will actually happen. It’s all very kind of vague. I know Ed [O’Neill] and Christie [Applegate] and Dave [Faustino] and I have all signed on to do it, but I think it’s script dependent.

Is there a discernible difference you’ve noticed between doing your TV stuff versus live performance, in terms of style and tone?
Well, I think I come from live performance more than anything. I was in rock bands for years. And I was on a sitcom, which is basically in front of an audience. So I understand the difference of playing to a camera and playing to an audience. It’s not a huge stretch for me. There’s a fine line between being too broad and being appropriate to the character. But I love to perform. This is really fun for me, and in the show, Paul gave me a great song to sing.

Why should people come see it? What do you want audiences to take away?
Well, the message is fantastic. It’s simple, but it’s a message of love and connection. It’s a complicated, divided world right now and everything is shit, so just be decent. It definitely throws things in the face of the right-wing assholes right now, excuse me. The response has been amazing. People are standing up at the end every night with big smiles. People really seem to be having a sweet time. You walk out feeling happy, feeling good, and that’s what I’m picking up from the audience.