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[0:16] Eva: Hello everyone. I am here today with a father-daughter pair that I am really excited about. They are already laughing, which means they are excited about. It is with great pleasure that I have with me today, Peter Gallagher and Kathryn Gallagher, recent Tony nominee from Broadway's JAGGED LITTLE PILL. And Peter, her biggest fan, who we also are big fans of from his glorious career on Broadway on the big screen on the small screen. Oh my God. I can't believe I'm here with Peter and Kathryn. Hello, YouTube.

[0:59] Kathryn Gallagher: Hello.

[1:00] Peter Gallagher: It's lovely to be here with you.

[1:02] Eva: Oh great to be here with you. Eva, I feel like now you're gonna just see where I get it from. You're gonna be like, oh, this explains her entire personality.

[1:16] Kathryn Gallagher: Which is helpful.

[1:18] Peter Gallagher: Well, not it's just half your personality.

[1:22] Kathryn Gallagher: Hope so. That half.

[1:25] Eva: And what's really funny or sort of interesting is like there's there was a portion of this pandemic where you were living under the same roof. So that father-daughter relationship had to sort of rediscover itself as full-on adults in a pandemic sharing a home. So I know you're apart now, but do you miss each other?

[1:47] Kathryn Gallagher: Yes, it and there was glorious. There's nothing adult about it. We don't have it.

[1:53] Peter Gallagher: And we don't have any expectations of achieving that status for years.

[1:58] Kathryn Gallagher: But it was great. It was it was great. I loved it. I could see it was torture for Kathryn and Mother.

[2:05] Peter Gallagher: But their mother and I didn't mind.

[2:08] Kathryn Gallagher: It wasn't torture. I think it was really nice. And and it was actually, it was it was definitely interesting being in this time of like, oh, the world feels like it's absolutely ending, but at the same time, I'm like back under the same roof as my parents and my brother, and I feel like I'm 16 in sort of the best way.

[2:28] Kathryn Gallagher: Because I I feel like when I'm with my parents, I'm like, oh well, nothing bad's gonna happen because my mom and dad are here. Like, you know, it's just this like nice sort of it was like a really, really special way to spend the summer. I don't think I ever expected to get to spend that much time with my parents as an adult ever.

[2:46] Kathryn Gallagher: I do think that when, you know, especially growing up, sort of living in both New York and LA and and always sort of and then you know, going into the same industry as as you, dad. It's like I our whole family has surprised.

[3:04] Peter Gallagher: What?

[3:05] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, dad joke. More more warning.

[3:13] Peter Gallagher: Just get warmed up.

[3:16] Kathryn Gallagher: But I do feel like I, you know, our whole family is so used to being in so many different places and in a state of like what a lot of people would sort of find like terrible.

[3:29] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[3:29] Kathryn Gallagher: So in a state of like what most people would find to be like, you know, unsettling, crazy, yeah, like unsettling. I think you learn, you grow up sort of learning how to find home in many different places.

[3:41] Peter Gallagher: Where you are, right?

[3:42] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, and so for a lot of this pandemic and these sort of like new circumstances, it's like I think you know, our family was sort of really good at adapting to it because our family's constantly adapting to new circumstances and new cities or places or you know combinations of cities at a time.

[4:02] Peter Gallagher: Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. Having a father in showbiz, I think forces adaptability.

[4:08] Kathryn Gallagher: That makes a lot of sense.

[4:10] Eva: So this is a show about firsts. Usually we have one guest. Today we have two, so we're gonna talk about both your firsts, and I'm gonna leave the unruliness up to each of you, not determining who gets to speak first. I think that'll be more entertaining. But having a Tony nominated daughter, in addition to a wonderful daughter, a talented daughter, a successful daughter, like the day that news came in, what did that feel like?

[4:41] Peter Gallagher: It was it was really powerful. I was I was so happy that the the right thing happened.

[4:50] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, and I was so concerned that look, it's a tough guy, it's a tough road, Broadway and the Tonys. The Tonys in particular, especially what they've become. They certainly weren't like that, you know, years ago. Now they're it's like a death match.

[5:11] Peter Gallagher: Um and uh and you know, I I know what it's like not to be nominated. I know what it's like to and how painful that and know what it's like to be nominated. And so I just and it's never really had anything to do with the quality of the experience I've had on stage. Or the the uh um so I was just really hoping that she wouldn't be hurt too much.

[5:43] Peter Gallagher: And then when it turned out well, I was just so deeply grateful to uh you know, the fates to the Tonys and um that it she had some good news. I was just really you know, little little bits of good news like that can keep you going for decades.

[6:04] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, for years.

[6:06] Peter Gallagher: And I also love the fact that she got her nomination in the theater that I got my nomination, my first nomination, in 1986. So we love the Broadhurst. I was actually working, I was doing an audible book uh with John Lithgow and a bunch of people, and the whole time thinking they're gonna announce, oh god, they're gonna announce. And then I rapped, walked down and got the news.

[6:34] Kathryn Gallagher: And she was on the phone, it was beautiful.

[6:36] Eva: That's amazing. So the n the the show you were in when you were nominated at the Broadhurst was which?

[6:41] Peter Gallagher: Is that Long Day's Journey Into Night?

[6:44] Eva: Oh, that's amazing.

[6:46] Peter Gallagher: That's well, that's a nugget if I've ever heard one.

[6:51] Eva: That's beautiful. Well, let's pretty cool. Let's dive in.

[6:54] Kathryn Gallagher: Let's dive into our first.

[6:57] Eva: Kathryn, we're gonna hear more from you and on how and how that all felt as well, but we're we're gonna get there. Um first show you were ever in. Tell me about it.

[7:08] Kathryn Gallagher: Who are you talking to?

[7:11] Eva: Oh, either one dad.

[7:13] Peter Gallagher: This is where you took it out, kids.

[7:14] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[7:14] Peter Gallagher: Oh no, no, I'll be quiet now. I'll put it up.

[7:17] Peter Gallagher: The first show I was in, the first like well, were my dance recitals.

[7:22] Kathryn Gallagher: Broadway Dance Center.

[7:25] Peter Gallagher: OMG. Dad, would you like to explain what it was what how amazing I was in my first dance recital?

[7:33] Peter Gallagher: You were so awesome in hip hop. It was really, really how old were you like seven?

[7:39] Kathryn Gallagher: Four.

[7:40] Peter Gallagher: No, I was like really small. I started taking dance class when I was four. I didn't take hip hop till I was six, though.

[7:45] Peter Gallagher: You you wouldn't have known then that she would years later, she would be a Broadway dance captain.

[7:51] Kathryn Gallagher: Putting it really nicely. She was she was absolutely her choreography, she was absolutely precisely correct. Just one beat behind, which is actually the same thing I used to do.

[8:01] Kathryn Gallagher: As my mom said, she was like, you know, you were behind, but then you always hit the pose.

[8:08] Peter Gallagher: Oh, right.

[8:08] Kathryn Gallagher: You finished like a your final pose was killer.

[8:12] Kathryn Gallagher: It was like boom, whoa. You could say really bad for six minutes and then uh then a strong finish.

[8:20] Peter Gallagher: You could stick the landing.

[8:21] Kathryn Gallagher: That's I could stick the landing, yeah, definitely. And then my first musical though was Hairspray.

[8:27] Kathryn Gallagher: It was when we first moved to LA and I was Corney Collins.

[8:30] Peter Gallagher: Um, which was yeah, which was my first quarantine, but you also did Hairspray again, and you were phenomenal.

[8:38] Kathryn Gallagher: Thank you.

[8:39] Kathryn Gallagher: I did it again as Tracy turned out with you when I had my first kiss with her.

[8:42] Peter Gallagher: And can I say her mama rose at the age of 12?

[8:47] Kathryn Gallagher: I'm serious.

[8:48] Peter Gallagher: I'm serious. Ethel had nothing on her.

[8:50] Kathryn Gallagher: I'm serious. It was revelatory.

[8:52] Peter Gallagher: I'm serious. I know. I was looking at that show, and your mother was looking at that show, and it blew our minds how good you were.

[9:01] Kathryn Gallagher: And that performance that was like, oh shit.

[9:06] Peter Gallagher: Wow.

[9:06] Kathryn Gallagher: She's just signed up for a life of heartbreak and and mind-rending.

[9:14] Peter Gallagher: You knew it then.

[9:15] Kathryn Gallagher: You knew it then when you saw her.

[9:17] Eva: Peter, what was the first show you were in?

[9:21] Peter Gallagher: I I don't remember exactly how it happened. Uh the thing that I I the my first show could have been The Fantasticks.

[9:29] Peter Gallagher: I can't quite remember. Well, I I because it might have been The Fantasticks because they were asking for people who could do a Cockney accent.

[9:42] Peter Gallagher: And I had this suspicion that I could do a Cockney accent. And I also didn't know if I could sing.

[9:48] Peter Gallagher: But I had suspected I could sing. And so I I suspected I could do this Cockney accent, but I couldn't really prove it because I'd never done it in front of it.

[9:55] Peter Gallagher: And it took me the auditions were four hours long, and I paced outside in front of my French teacher's class for three hours and 45 minutes with trying to get up the nerve, and he kids, what are you doing? Just go in, just go in and try it.

[10:10] Peter Gallagher: So I went in just as Mr. Bissell was leaving, and I went in and auditioned, and sure enough, my Cockney accent wasn't bad, and he I got the part.

[10:27] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[10:28] Eva: That's amazing. What was the first show you ever saw, Kathryn?

[10:33] Kathryn Gallagher: Well, I think what we had a discussion about this. I it was Annie, but my first memory is Lion King.

[10:43] Kathryn Gallagher: And I think they were only months apart, but I just remember all of the actors like running by me in the aisle. I was like four or three and a half or something. I was a very young kid.

[10:53] Kathryn Gallagher: Um, but I just remember all the kids, like or the kids, all the actors, the professional Broadway actors, like running past me in the aisle, like full costume with the incredible like colors.

[11:05] Peter Gallagher: That's all I remember.

[11:06] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, that was Lion King.

[11:08] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, that was not Annie.

[11:09] Kathryn Gallagher: I remember that.

[11:10] Kathryn Gallagher: That was amazing. But when I did see Annie, I insisted on dressing up as Annie for every single day for my entire like first year of 10 years.

[11:21] Peter Gallagher: Not only that, but she was so invested. I mean, well, she was the cute. We have pictures. She was a cute, honestly. She had the little doily thing around her neck. My daughter is the cutest. Well, you were. And exactly. But the cutest little Annie. In her mind, she was Annie for like months. You know, and she had the doily thing around her neck and the little patent leather shoes and the ankle socks and the red dress. At no point were you and your wife concerned that our daughter is so obsessed with Annie that she's only wearing doilies and patent leathers? Like what does a parent do when that happens?

[12:02] Kathryn Gallagher: Well, you know what? It's sort of like potty training. You figure by the time they're 18, they'll have it figured out. You know, I mean, chances are if she's still wearing that dress by the time she's 18, we got other issues.

[12:17] Peter Gallagher: Yes, we have issues. And for me, it's like a friend of ours once said about raising kids, stand back and be surprised. And so what we were into was, you know, supporting the delight. You know, if she wasn't, you know, inflamed with setting the couch on fire, that wouldn't have been good. But she was into Annie, which ended up opening up so many, you know, avenues of interest and happiness and energy. And so you just wish, push when you saw her in that get-up, you just couldn't help but smile.

[12:59] Kathryn Gallagher: That's amazing. Peter, what was the first show you saw?

[13:02] Peter Gallagher: Oh, this is kind of cool. The first show I saw was Hello Dolly with Cab Callaway and Pearl Bailey. And it was the first Broadway show I'd ever seen. Again, it was on a field trip. Mr. Bissell, our high school teacher, took us, and it blew my mind. I had never, I mean, I had no idea. It was like watching, you know, I was like, wow, this is like a movie in real life. And then so years, a thousand years later, I'm doing a play on Broadway of The Country Girl in 2008 with Morgan Freeman, and Mike Nichols directed Franny McDormand. And Morgan and I, before every performance, we would sing and dance. In fact, we sang a lot of Sinatra together, or Al Green. It was either Frank or Al. And he loved Come Fly with Me because he's a pilot and he loves that.

And so we were singing and dancing every, it was our warm-up, and we'd talk about all this stuff and say, I'd say Hello Dolly. He says, Oh, I was in Hello Dolly. Morgan was Rodolfo, the head waiter in the production of Hello Dolly that I saw.

[14:17] Kathryn Gallagher: Of course.

[14:18] Peter Gallagher: So that was cool.

[14:20] Kathryn Gallagher: And though we don't usually get to ask our guests this, I am going to ask you both this. What was the first show you ever saw the other one in?

[14:32] Kathryn Gallagher: The first show I saw my dad in was at Lincoln Center, Annie Get Your Gun with him and Patti LuPone. It was like a one-night-only thing. And that was just, I have like one memory of being really high up, which I actually don't know if that's true.

[14:49] Peter Gallagher: It was true. You were in the cheap seats.

[14:51] Kathryn Gallagher: It was packed. I mean, but I just was it in the round or something?

[14:56] Peter Gallagher: Well, it was at the, it was kind of in the, it was like a three-quarter, I forget which, were we doing it with the Vivian Beaumont?

[15:01] Kathryn Gallagher: We must have been at the Vivian Beaumont, I think. Eli Wallach was in that production. And my, and yeah, and that was the first time I ever saw you do anything. And I feel like I also remember a girl from my school was like in the ensemble, like as one of the kids.

[15:09] Peter Gallagher: Oh, right.

[15:09] Kathryn Gallagher: I feel like I had that memory, but yeah, that was the first thing. And then the, but the first time I really like have memories of the performance was when my dad was doing Noises Off, and I was like seven or eight then, maybe.

[15:28] Peter Gallagher: Yeah.

[15:28] Kathryn Gallagher: And I just ended up, you know, like pretending like the theater was like a jungle gym. I feel like that was like the first time where I like knew all the places to go. And there was this one moment in the show when my dad entered from the back of the house and came down the aisle. And so he put me on Take Your Daughter to Work Day. He put me in, like, you know, the last row on the aisle, so he could sit next to me for, you know, right before he went on stage.

[15:57] Peter Gallagher: And that theater ended up being where I made my Broadway debut in Spring Awakening, the Brooks Atkinson. And I remember there was this one time once I was in the show in Spring Awakening, my dad had just gotten off a plane and he came in and like snuck in for, you know, just Purple Summer, like the last 10 minutes of the show or something as soon as he got off the flight and like snuck in. I remember seeing him standing right behind that chair that I sat in when I was a kid, and I was like, this is a cool thing that doesn't happen often. I was like, that's a really nice, it was a really beautiful moment for me to get to have.

[16:34] Peter Gallagher: That was a beautiful moment for me too. You know, that was kind of an amazing production because we started rehearsal on '91 and, you know, four weeks later when we were supposed to open our doors for previews, there was anthrax in the air and people were saying that Broadway might be dead. And we opened our doors for the first previews and people filled the theater night after night after night, and they made sounds of, they laughed like so explosively it sounded like surgery without anesthesia. And I felt so lucky to be doing that show for New York at that time and to be, if something happened again, I could run home.

[17:15] Kathryn Gallagher: And then when it was Take Your Daughter to Work Day, because I was friends with the ushers and the house staff and stuff, they saved her, Catherine, this beautiful little seat that I, when I come back in and out the house, in and out of the house, up from upstage because I was the director of the show and that of the show within the show. I'd be able to come back out and sit next to her and say, okay, this is gonna happen. Okay, I gotta go. I'll be back in a minute. And she sat, she was the first person that's ever sat with me through my whole procedure before I go on, which is meditation and makeup and that quiet time. I thought I'm gonna include her in every single millisecond of my experience that I can.

[18:00] Peter Gallagher: And what I loved is she got to know, and you know, it was the same house staff to Terry. I think Terry was on the city. Yeah, they all remembered me. And Mike, you know, was one of the carpenters. And oh my god, when I first started working there, it was literally like I had 18 big brothers. And I just remember I was going through a breakup while I was doing the Brooks, and they saw me like crying one day, and Mike came up to me and he was like, who do we need to hurt? And I was like, no one for the record. But I just remember it was like, you know, the same doorman, this everyone, and I was like, this is like, this is the family business in the most real way.

[18:44] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[18:45] Peter Gallagher: Well, it's cool. It's also what you know. If you've, I’ve done, I think 10 shows on Broadway now, and it's like that's the stuff that, you know, when you see the same crew guys on different shows, and if you work in the same house and you get to know the ushers, you know that this usher's daughter is working in that theater over there.

[18:47] Kathryn Gallagher: And, um, you know, when I was doing the original company of Grease on Broadway, we were at the, what was then called the Royale. And you know, there were Al Van Prague was a head carpenter, and his sons Jimmy and Mike were on the rail. We were all about the same age. Jimmy went on to be a seer, you know, like a medium, and Mike stayed on the rail. And I went back to do that show with Morgan.

[19:40] Peter Gallagher: I just need you to know that you said a seer and a medium, and I was like, oh my god, he talks to dead people.

[19:46] Kathryn Gallagher: Yes, yes, he does.

[19:48] Peter Gallagher: Yes, he does.

[19:48] Kathryn Gallagher: Jimmy Van Prague.

[19:49] Peter Gallagher: That's what you meant.

[19:50] Kathryn Gallagher: Yes, he's a famous one.

[19:51] Peter Gallagher: Wait, that's actually what you meant.

[19:53] Kathryn Gallagher: Yes, he's famous.

[20:00] Peter Gallagher: Anyway, but his brother, when I went back years later, this was 1977. I, or 78, I was in Broadway in that in 2008. Oh boy, that's a lot of years later, 30 years later. I walk in again, Mike. I hear this voice. Pete, what the fuck are you doing here? I look over, hey Mike, what the fuck are you doing here? And it was Mike from 30 years before, and you know, some of the same folks, and so it's a kind of, the continuity was nice.

[20:33] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, yeah.

[20:34] Peter Gallagher: I mean, it is the smallest big business there is at the end of the day. Broadway.

[20:41] Kathryn Gallagher: Oh, they miss it.

[20:44] Peter Gallagher: Oh god, don't we all? Isn't that insane that it's been so long?

[20:50] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, it is insane, which is why we're here to talk about it, because it's the only way we can feel connected to it, I think.

[20:57] Peter Gallagher: TBT.

[20:58] Kathryn Gallagher: It's crazy to see what's been going on the last few years. When I first came into the theater in '77, there was a revival of Hair, and New York was like a no man's land. We thought it was the greatest, most fun place to be in the world, but tourists didn't think so. And the theater was in trouble. People weren't going to the theater because the Times Square area was just so dangerous. And then I was in the cast of Grease, and they started the I Love New York campaign, and of course they sent us around to be dip ambassadors to Europe to promote tourism and stuff, which was pretty funny sending the Greaser cast to do that.

[21:43] Peter Gallagher: Um, it worked.

[21:45] Kathryn Gallagher: Well, it did, and it helped, and then just as you know, the tourism was starting to return, AIDS happened. And for me, when I did Long Day's Journey in '86, and then the next show I did was '92, it was Guys and Dolls. The whole world changed within those six years for me. It was like all the people, almost all the people that I'd come up with or had discovered me or had supported me, or I'd worked or choreographed me or directed me or written or were gone. And in the middle of it, you know, you'd see a kid who was sick on Tuesday and gone by Thursday, and so you just didn't really see how any way how it could survive.

[22:37] Peter Gallagher: You know, I remember talking to Michael Bennett about a show, and he was gone, and these bright shining lights that came up from the same influences that we all had the same influences and the same desire to sort of serve the theater, and that's really what united us, and then this terrible, terrible thing happened. And you just didn't see how the theater could possibly survive it. And sure enough it did.

[23:07] Peter Gallagher: Yeah. You know, but when I came back in '92, it was like a stranger. I felt like a stranger, you know. And uh but you know, the fabulous invalid. It'll be back better than ever, because it's the stories it shares, and the fact that you could do them with everybody being in the room together is something very powerful for a moment. You know, nobody feels alone, and for a moment everybody feels like we're all members of the same human family. So that'll be a good thing to remember how to do again.

[23:40] Kathryn Gallagher: Amen to that.

[23:41] Peter Gallagher: Amen to that.

[23:43] Peter Gallagher: Kathryn, your first professional show was that Hair, or was there something before that?

[23:48] Kathryn Gallagher: Okay. No, no. My well, my first, I mean, I did work professionally in the Boston Shakespeare Company.

[23:54] Peter Gallagher: But it wasn't, I don't think it was union.

[23:56] Kathryn Gallagher: That's okay.

[23:57] Peter Gallagher: Did you get a paycheck?

[23:59] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[23:59] Peter Gallagher: That's it. I mean, well, I mean, yeah, I got a theater pay.

[24:04] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, I got that isn't that where we went like a few months ago?

[24:08] Peter Gallagher: No, that was the Priscilla Beach Theater. That was a straw hat theater, a summer stock, where actually Paul Newman worked there and uh Carl uh Rob Reiner. It was old straw hat which had been renovated, and we did uh some people from where I went to school, Tufts uh took it over and started a summer theater there while we were there, and I did a couple seasons there, and I did get paid there. I extracted five dollars a week out of the producing uh director.

[24:35] Kathryn Gallagher: Then that is a professional gig, Peter Gallagher.

[24:37] Peter Gallagher: That's a professional gig. Yes, so yes, I made five dollars a week.

[24:42] Peter Gallagher: And and Kathryn, what was your first professional show?

[24:45] Kathryn Gallagher: My first professional show was actually a oh, I didn't get paid.

[24:50] Kathryn Gallagher: Well, but it still counts. I probably should have, which counts makes me feel like it counts as professional.

[24:56] Peter Gallagher: That must be theater.

[24:57] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, exactly. It was the first workshop of Alice by Heart.

[25:02] Kathryn Gallagher: Oh, because the story that I was told, which I think is pretty true, um, was that Steven Sater came to see my high school group of best friends.

[25:15] Peter Gallagher: Amazing.

[25:15] Kathryn Gallagher: Um, put to yeah, like which we we got very lucky with with the talent in that group. Can you tell us who they are?

[25:21] Kathryn Gallagher: Just so Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, Molly Gordon, um Natalie Margolin, who's a brilliant playwright. Um and there's I mean, one of my best friends, Gracie Warwick, has like does all the graphic design for like Ben and me, and like it just it's we have a really yeah absolutely absurdly talented group of friends.

[25:40] Kathryn Gallagher: Um and we all did this concert together when we were 14, I believe we started this theater group called the Theater Geeks of America, um, which is really embarrassing.

[25:50] Kathryn Gallagher: Um, but I still have the t-shirt and I wear it every day. Um, and we started this theater group to sing um, you know, for charity and raise money, and we did this concert at the Roxy when we were all 14, 15.

[26:02] Kathryn Gallagher: And um, and we Steven Sater ended up coming to see it, and he had been wanting to, you know, Spring Awakening was the biggest thing in the world, and it was my favorite show.

[26:13] Kathryn Gallagher: It was all of our favorite shows. It was like the most uh revolutionary thing I'd ever experienced in my life. Total super fan.

[26:21] Kathryn Gallagher: And so when Steven Sater walked through the door, it was like as if Mick Jagger had entered the building, um, which is how you know we were the theater geeks of America.

[26:31] Kathryn Gallagher: And he, and for anyone listening, Steven Sater wrote the book. Um, lovely, lovely amazing man.

[26:37] Kathryn Gallagher: And so he had been wanting to write us a new show that was for a slightly younger group. Um, and so he had this idea for Alice by for Alice in Wonderland called Alice by Heart, and um, he decided to let us be the kids who did it.

[26:54] Kathryn Gallagher: So it was all of us got to workshop in our high school theater room, um, got to workshop the first two productions or versions of Alice by Heart.

[27:08] Kathryn Gallagher: Well that was my and that was our like sophomore year of high school, I think.

[27:12] Peter Gallagher: So this workshop, just to be abundantly clear, turns out starred a Tony Winner, a Tony, a Hollywood star.

[27:24] Kathryn Gallagher: Okay, okay.

[27:25] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, it ended up being quite good.

[27:27] Peter Gallagher: I would call that a professional gig.

[27:29] Kathryn Gallagher: Wow. I think so, but I don't believe, I don't believe, and you know what? Skylar Astin was in it, Darren Criss was in it, um Noah Galvin ended up being in it.

[27:39] Kathryn Gallagher: Um it was, I mean, truly an insane cast.

[27:43] Peter Gallagher: Wow.

[27:43] Kathryn Gallagher: I mean, I gotta say, talk about rock stars when Skylar Astin walked in the room and we were like original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening, and tears were falling from eyes.

[27:53] Peter Gallagher: I mean, that's why you were theater geeks of America.

[27:56] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, it's true.

[27:57] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, it's true.

[27:58] Kathryn Gallagher: Okay, so this is dream time. If you could be in any show anywhere at any time, what would it be?

[28:07] Kathryn Gallagher: And if you'd like, you could be in it together.

[28:12] Peter Gallagher: Whoa.

[28:14] Kathryn Gallagher: You go.

[28:17] Peter Gallagher: I don't think it's been written yet.

[28:19] Kathryn Gallagher: I've loved, especially working on JAGGED LITTLE PILL, being able to originate a role was like the coolest thing I've ever done in my life.

[28:28] Kathryn Gallagher: And so I think that I just want to get to be part of more, you know, processes like that.

[28:35] Kathryn Gallagher: I mean, I think JAGGED LITTLE PILL was just sort of an extraordinary experience, just because in what universe do you have like a Pulitzer Prize winner, Oscar winner, Tony winner, like Grammy winner, like every every award winner sitting in a room.

[28:49] Kathryn Gallagher: Olivier winner, like literally every single award possible winner sitting in a room listening to each other to create a show and then being invited into that process.

[29:00] Kathryn Gallagher: Like I mean, that's pretty insane that every time I think that about how that happened, I I kind of pinch myself.

[29:08] Peter Gallagher: But I mean especially since you sent us an email years earlier.

[29:13] Kathryn Gallagher: I know the first announcement that the show might possibly an a show might be made from the album JAGGED LITTLE PILL. You wrote to a supposed I have to be in this show.

[29:24] Kathryn Gallagher: I literally was.

[29:25] Peter Gallagher: And you were like eight or whatever.

[29:27] Kathryn Gallagher: No, I was like, it was 2013.

[29:28] Peter Gallagher: Right.

[29:29] Kathryn Gallagher: Okay, so you were nine.

[29:31] Peter Gallagher: Yes.

[29:32] Kathryn Gallagher: Thank you, Dad. That's really nice.

[29:35] Peter Gallagher: I'm perfectly happy for the answer to Dream show Dream Roll to be JAGGED LITTLE PILL.

[29:42] Kathryn Gallagher: So let's actually talk about that for just a moment.

[29:45] Peter Gallagher: Yes.

[29:46] Peter Gallagher: What Kathryn, talk about that day.

[29:48] Peter Gallagher: So your daughter, who you're excited about because she's talented and has had some success, but still is about to enter the world of theater, which is heartbreaking and can be demoralizing and incredibly tough.

[30:01] Peter Gallagher: And says, I want to be in the show. I want a role. I want, I want to do this. Like, how do you then feel? What do you say?

[30:11] Peter Gallagher: Well, again, regardless of what I was feeling, I would just try to shut up and not sit not you know spill my terrors.

[30:20] Kathryn Gallagher: You would try.

[30:21] Peter Gallagher: I know, I know I can.

[30:23] Peter Gallagher: But um I can't shut up. She knows, we all know.

[30:27] Peter Gallagher: She had started performing uh at the whiskey as a you know rock singer, uh singing her own compositions.

[30:38] Peter Gallagher: Um when did you start that?

[30:40] Kathryn Gallagher: When you were a 15.

[30:42] Kathryn Gallagher: I started recording my own songs and I was 13, and then I started sending them to people at 14.

[30:47] Peter Gallagher: They didn't let me do it until I was 15.

[30:49] Kathryn Gallagher: Right.

[30:49] Peter Gallagher: But then, you know, we get a call from the whiskey a go-go.

[30:54] Peter Gallagher: Say, yes, um, we just wanted to check with you. Uh we have a women in rock lineup in May, and your daughter, we've invited your daughter to perform in the 8:30 slot.

[31:05] Kathryn Gallagher: And it was like, what? Hello? Hello?

[31:08] Peter Gallagher: And and how old is she? Because why why are they calling the parents?

[31:13] Kathryn Gallagher: Because Catherine sent her, sent them her music that she'd been writing and working on, and they loved it.

[31:19] Peter Gallagher: And they said, Yeah, do you have a band?

[31:21] Kathryn Gallagher: I said, and anyway, she's gonna be.

[31:23] Peter Gallagher: Well, because I needed parental consent.

[31:25] Kathryn Gallagher: Right, that's what it was.

[31:27] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, I was um it was uh the only venue in Los Angeles that would that was all ages, but I had to sign a contract guaranteeing I would sell a certain amount of tickets.

[31:38] Kathryn Gallagher: Um, and in order to sign that contract, actually, my mom needed to sign that contract.

[31:43] Peter Gallagher: So this is right.

[31:46] Peter Gallagher: But this is the same girl who, when she was a little girl when we were living in New York, started a band with her friends called The Tuffies.

[31:54] Kathryn Gallagher: I mean, when you were how old were you then?

[31:56] Peter Gallagher: Seven?

[31:57] Kathryn Gallagher: Something like that?

[31:58] Peter Gallagher: And and and she said, that listen, so um, me and the rest of the Tuffies are getting picked up today by Mandy Moore, and we're gonna be going down to Madison Square Garden, and we are performing tonight.

[32:13] Kathryn Gallagher: Uh uh, I said, really? I said, wow, that's really exciting.

[32:17] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, that's gonna be so cool to be playing Madison Square Garden, and and I said, I'm so happy for you, Kathryn.

[32:26] Peter Gallagher: Listen, you know what? You know, just in case something happens, you know, and that doesn't happen tonight, you know, because things happen, that's not the end of the world either.

[32:39] Kathryn Gallagher: And so then that passed at the yeah, they couldn't get the limo.

[32:45] Peter Gallagher: Anyway, can we get pizza tonight? Or whatever it was.

[32:49] Peter Gallagher: And so years later, it's now she's eight years later, so she's 15, 14, let's 14, 15, 15, 15, and she says, Dad, listen, I was just on the phone with the whiskey go-go, and they would like me to perform on the uh women uh who rock show uh March 3rd at on the 8:30 p.m. slot.

[33:13] Peter Gallagher: Is that okay? Can I do that? I need a band.

[33:14] Kathryn Gallagher: By the way, I need a band.

[33:16] Peter Gallagher: What?

[33:20] Peter Gallagher: And I and I was saying, and I was saying, well, you know what, Kathryn, that sounds great. You know, and if it doesn't happen, that's that's okay too.

[33:29] Peter Gallagher: Because, you know, it's great to be in the ring.

[33:32] Kathryn Gallagher: Hi, this is the whiskey of go-go.

[33:34] Peter Gallagher: Can we speak to, uh, the pi one of the parents from, uh, Kathryn Gallagher?

[33:39] Kathryn Gallagher: And I said, oh my god.

[33:41] Peter Gallagher: And so all of a sudden, you know, to med the point I'm making is I had a number of years going through that felt like terrifying.

[33:53] Peter Gallagher: Like I remember the first time, Kathryn, you sang that song. Uh, it wasn't at the whiskey, it was at the Roxy, I think. Oh yeah, when I said it was like in front of all these people.

[34:06] Kathryn Gallagher: 13.

[34:07] Peter Gallagher: Oh, that's it. And all these people, a big, I forget the what there's a song you sang. It was not an easy one.

[34:11] Kathryn Gallagher: Out here on my own for Fame.

[34:13] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, right. And I'm thinking, all these people are there, and she, yes, I want to do this. It was for this. And I was like, oh my God, please, God, please let her be okay. Do not hurt my little girl. You hurt me. I can take it. You hurt me.

[34:24] Kathryn Gallagher: Oh no, but seriously, that's listen.

[34:28] Peter Gallagher: Listen, I know, I know. I have no idea. I know that, I know. And then she got up there and killed it.

[34:34] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[34:34] Peter Gallagher: I thought, oh my God. And my Bob Turtheels says, uh oh. I guess you're gonna have your hands full. But anyway, for the next few years, it was like that for a while, as she pulled off one amazing thing after another. And then finally, I just started to really love going to hear her new music and hear her sing. It was like I was going to hear a music.

[34:57] Kathryn Gallagher: So you just got used to my crazy ideas.

[35:00] Peter Gallagher: No, I got used to the fact that you, first of all, I got used to how to be a parent in that, and know what I could do and what I couldn't do. And also, I just, it was able to, you know, it's like anything. It's like the thing we talked about all the time is you gotta put in the hours. You gotta put in your hours, you gotta put in your hours. And then things start to become more clear. Things, and then things start to grow from the ground up.

[35:28] Kathryn Gallagher: I think, yeah, I mean, one thing I think my dad has always made really, um, that has always been really helpful to me is this idea that, you know, the achievement is never what you're going for. And it's, it what it's about is showing up and doing the work and being prepared and learning people's names and being kind and hanging up your clothes at the end of the show. And if you do all of those things and, and you know, the accolade happens or the, you know, big flashy job happens, that's great, but it's about what happens in between. That's the real work.

[36:07] Peter Gallagher: And I think that message has been the reason why I, you know, have sort of in doing a lot of sort of various things, and um, to me there was no difference in terms of like the work ethic that I put behind when I was six years old, assuming I was going to be playing Madison Square Garden, which again was just like a scheduling issue with Mandy, but um, but I think that the work ethic behind and the drive behind like, you know, doing a show at the whiskey or like having all of these sort of ideas, the idea never changed. It was always like here's a gig, and I'm gonna work this hard because this gig is a gig, and you never know what's gonna happen from it, and then you know, it's just every opportunity is another opportunity to get up and do the thing no matter how big or small. And that's something I'm really grateful I got to learn.

[37:01] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah, I mean, I think that's pretty accurate. I mean for me, the reward is in the doing and the reward is in the preparing for the doing and all the classes you take and all the studying you do. And so the best, it's like stand back and be surprised. The best thing in the world is to be surprised. And for me, the surprise is not that she, she's one that, uh, gotten a Tony nomination or been on Broadway or this, but this little girl who was doing Annie with such passion and delight and commitment is this beautiful grown woman still doing things with delight and passion and commitment. It's just such a grand adventure and I'm, I'm so glad to be a part of it and witnessing it and celebrating it.

[37:49] Kathryn Gallagher: Thanks Dad.

[37:50] Peter Gallagher: You're welcome.

[37:53] Eva: Guys, it's time for our lightning round which you don't mind unless you are a fan and you've I, I am a fan.

[37:59] Peter Gallagher: What of what of what of what this podcast?

[38:01] Eva: Oh, oh okay yeah I love, I love the podcast you too my god Jesus Christ nothing like nothing nothing like an Ed Sullivan impression in 2020 right here. I mean, we wanted to do many things on today's podcast celebrate your daughter's Tony nomination but also embarrass her to no end.

[38:27] Peter Gallagher: Yeah, I think we are successful.

[38:28] Eva: This has been humbling and I thank you.

[38:31] Peter Gallagher: Oh, is this the embarrassing section? Okay I know we can ask that one don't worry yeah.

[38:40] Eva: This is, this is the fun section. This is, this is because the show is a love letter to Broadway and to musical theater. This is the lightning round, which we switched up, so it's not always the same. Today's lightning round is for the advanced class.

[38:55] Peter Gallagher: Okay.

[38:55] Eva: 30 seconds are on the clock.

[38:58] Peter Gallagher: And here we go.

[39:01] Peter Gallagher: Before the parade passes by.

[39:06] Kathryn Gallagher: I've got to get some life back in the house.

[39:09] Peter Gallagher: I know that. Come on, Kathryn, you know it.

[39:12] Kathryn Gallagher: Dad, you know it.

[39:13] Peter Gallagher: Well, I know it's one of two.

[39:15] Kathryn Gallagher: I almost never sing, guys.

[39:16] Peter Gallagher: So for you, you've really got to be a good thing. It's gotta be Hello, Dolly, or, or, or correct.

[39:24] Kathryn Gallagher: Everybody loves a winner.

[39:26] Peter Gallagher: So nobody loves me.

[39:27] Kathryn Gallagher: Lady, oh, um, um, um, Cabaret.

[39:31] Peter Gallagher: Yes.

[39:32] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[39:33] Peter Gallagher: You guys.

[39:34] Kathryn Gallagher: Hell yeah.

[39:36] Peter Gallagher: Hell yeah.

[39:36] Kathryn Gallagher: Because I, yeah.

[39:41] Peter Gallagher: Well, someone tell me when is it my turn?

[39:43] Kathryn Gallagher: Don't I get a dream for myself?

[39:44] Peter Gallagher: Start the name of the musical.

[39:49] Kathryn Gallagher: Gypsy.

[39:50] Peter Gallagher: Gypsy.

[39:50] Kathryn Gallagher: There you go.

[39:52] Peter Gallagher: There you go.

[39:52] Kathryn Gallagher: Somebody crowd me with love.

[39:54] Peter Gallagher: Somebody forced me to company.

[39:57] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[39:58] Peter Gallagher: Someone love that.

[40:01] Kathryn Gallagher: There you go.

[40:03] Peter Gallagher: Guys, you did well. I swear. I know it felt stressful. In fact, you know what? Paula's, uh, Kathryn's mom, Paula, and I did the first production of Follies after the Broadway production closed at co in college. And we got a letter from Shon Time saying we lost four million dollars on this show. Hope you do better than we did. And I, I played Roscoe, the tenor, and Paula, Kathryn's mom, was one of the showgirls. And I would sing my opening number, hat's off. Here they come. Oh, those beautiful girls. And then race up to the balcony to watch her float across the stage.

[40:43] Eva: You two are a delight.

[40:44] Peter Gallagher: I, we are at the end of our show. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being, seriously.

[40:52] Kathryn Gallagher: I'm gonna get a little emotional.

[40:54] Peter Gallagher: For being such a beautiful sign of optimism and love and family and inspiration to the rest of us. What you both have done with your careers, but more importantly, as father and daughter, I am a daughter to a father. And it is, it is completely, um, it is breathtakingly, um, inspiring and beautiful to have you in our lives. I don't just mean me because I know you both, but and to the public that gets to watch you separately and together.

[41:31] Kathryn Gallagher: So that's so nice.

[41:33] Peter Gallagher: Thank you for those kind words.

[41:33] Kathryn Gallagher: And thank you.

[41:36] Peter Gallagher: Producing Jagged Little Pill and making such a great show there for that we could all enjoy and for, but thank you for those kind words. It was really kind of fun to, it's the first interview Kathryn and I have ever done. And we've never done press together.

[41:49] Kathryn Gallagher: Now I know why.

[42:02] Peter Gallagher: I think we have persevered.

[42:05] Kathryn Gallagher: I think so.

[42:06] Peter Gallagher: I can't wait to, Kathryn.

[42:09] Kathryn Gallagher: I can't wait to be in the audience with you watching Kathryn back on stage.

[42:12] Peter Gallagher: Oh my goodness. One of these days.

[42:15] Kathryn Gallagher: I can't wait to do that.

[42:16] Peter Gallagher: Wear a raincoat.

[42:18] Kathryn Gallagher: Yeah.

[42:19] Peter Gallagher: Why?

[42:19] Kathryn Gallagher: Because I'll be sobbing.

[42:21] Peter Gallagher: Oh, I get it.

[42:22] Kathryn Gallagher: Sorry.

[42:24] Peter Gallagher: Sorry.

[42:27] Kathryn Gallagher: Turns out.

[42:32] Peter Gallagher: Woo!

[42:33] Kathryn Gallagher: That was the slow one for me.

[42:34] Peter Gallagher: Lots of love. Fingers crossed for your nomination, Kathryn.

[42:38] Kathryn Gallagher: You're amazing.

[42:40] Peter Gallagher: I love you.

[42:41] Kathryn Gallagher: Love you are the best.

[42:45] Peter Gallagher: Together at last.

[42:47] Kathryn Gallagher: Together forever.

[42:50] Peter Gallagher: We're tying a knot.

[42:51] Eva: My First Show is produced by Josh Altman, MEP, Dory Berenstein, and Alan Seales, and is part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Special thanks to Leslie Papa and Whitney Holden Gore at Vivacity Media Group.

[43:04] Eva: For more info about the podcast, visit bpn.fm backslash my first show. Follow me on Instagram at Eva R. Price.

[43:14] Kathryn Gallagher: You've made me the singer.

[43:16] Peter Gallagher: And what's that Math of Junior?

[43:22] Kathryn Gallagher: Bubba, anything but you.

[43:27] Peter Gallagher: Yesterday was plain awful.

[43:29] Kathryn Gallagher: You can say that again.

[43:32] Peter Gallagher: Yesterday was plain awful.

[43:35] Kathryn Gallagher: But that's not now.

[43:37] Peter Gallagher: That's then a more in the mouth.

[43:41] Kathryn Gallagher: I'm richer than Midas.

[43:43] Peter Gallagher: But nothing on her could ever divide us.

[43:49] Kathryn Gallagher: And if tomorrow I'm an apple seller, too.

[43:54] Peter Gallagher: I don't need anything but you.

[43:59] Kathryn Gallagher: Hamlet needed his mother.

[44:02] Peter Gallagher: Woolworth needed his shop.

[44:04] Kathryn Gallagher: Orville needed his brother.

[44:07] Peter Gallagher: Or else he'd go kerflop.

[44:10] Kathryn Gallagher: You used to need for one to fill every hour.

[44:16] Peter Gallagher: I needed to feel that feeling of power.

[44:21] Kathryn Gallagher: Now every other need has disappeared from you.

[44:51] Peter Gallagher: Anything.