Jagged Little Pill's Kathryn Gallagher on Growing Up with a Famous Father and Having Play Dates with Patti LuPone's Son
(Photo by Caitlin McNaney for Broadway.com; Graphic by Ryan Casey for Broadway.com)
Kathryn Gallagher, who was starring in Jagged Little Pill on Broadway before the COVID-19 shutdown, had a childhood few could imagine. Her father is film and television star (and '90s sex symbol) Peter Gallagher. ”I have a lot of older women who tell me that they had his photo on their wall,” she laughed. Her father's many times on the Broadway boards brought a young Kathryn intimately close to the Great White Way at a young age. “I grew up playing together with Josh [Johnson], Patti LuPone’s son,” said Gallagher in a #LiveAtFive: Home Edition interview with Broadway.com's Paul Wontorek. “We were both seven or eight when [LuPone and Peter] were doing Noises Off on Broadway [in 2001]. So we would run around the Brooks Atkinson like it was a playground. We got to know all of the crew and the doormen.”
Stuck inside, Gallagher, who’s been “baking cakes, recording music, doing puzzles and trying to stay sane” at her childhood home in Connecticut, said she’s been reminiscing about her extraordinary early memories—and how they prepared her for a life on stage. “I’ve never had an example of waking up in the morning and going into the office at nine, unless you’re going to rehearsal in your track pants,” she said. Growing up with the bustle of her father’s acting career helped normalize show business, which is necessary for keeping a level head, said Gallagher: “When you can think about what you're doing as just going to work and showing up, having respect and learning peoples’ names, it helps to ground you."
Gallagher made her Broadway debut in the 2015 revival of Spring Awakening, playing a young woman named Martha. In Jagged Little Pill, Gallagher plays another teenager: Bella, whose sexual assault is central to a story of healing and empowerment set to Alanis Morissette’s music. “My character goes through a lot, and so I have to live my life in a very specific, regimented way to stay stable,” said Gallagher. “I don’t go out. I eat really healthy food. I don’t have much sugar. Anything that could potentially put my emotions off balance, I avoid.”
In this way, the sudden postponement of Broadway, and its interruption of her daily disciplined life, has been equally disorienting and reinvigorating, she said. “I’ve been really taking advantage of this to process things that I didn't really have space for when we’re doing the show,” Gallagher explained. “I’m a songwriter, and so I’ve been going through my journals for all of these song ideas that I never had time to write. I’m really trying to do as many things that I don’t get to do while I’m doing the show, so that when we get back I’m just ready and excited and rejuvenated.”
Despite its challenges, playing Bella has been emotionally rewarding for Gallagher. “Bella has taught me everything about what it means to be brave, what it means to be honest,” she said. “She stands up, and she tells her story in the face of an entire community that doesn’t believe her, that calls her terrible names and entirely dishonors her and her family.” Bella is the only one who believes in herself, said Gallagher—and amid these frightening times, that's a character trait that's valuable. “I think being able to live in that space entirely proves how your vulnerability can be your biggest strength,” Gallagher said. “It’s really a powerful place to go every night.”
Watch the rest of Gallagher's #LiveAtFive: Home Edition interview below, where she talks about playing Mama Rose in Gypsy at the age of 13.
