Interview: GALAVANT's Knight in Shining Armor, Joshua Sasse Chats Alan Freakin' Menken, Poetry, and MAMMA MIA
By: Gabrielle Gervais Jan. 14, 2015
ABC's new out-of-the-box musical comedy GALAVANT follows a well-known and beloved by all hero Galavant as he travels across many lands on a mission to save his true love. Galavant is played by small screen newcomer Joshua Sasse. I recently sat down with Sasse and chatted about the show, his musical theatre background, and his love of poetry.Our conversation started with GALAVANT, and how excited I was about the show personally, because of my love of Alan Menken. Sasse did not argue.
BWW: I'm a huge Alan Menken fan, so when I saw the commercial said "Alan Freakin' Menken" I was like, "I call him that all the time! That's a show I should probably watch."
Joshua Sasse: Well, he swears more than anyone I know, so-
Does he really?
Yes, yes! So that's probably very accurate.
Knowing that now...just turns my whole world upside down.
He soundtracked an entire generation. The guy's been nominated nineteen times for an Oscar and has won nine of them. That kind of credential doesn't come lightly. He's incredibly talented. It's unbelievable to watch him work and when we're recording things he'll suddenly decide what he's got he doesn't like anymore. He'll just flip it up and he'll say "Okay let's just scrap it and write something new" and you're like "What? You can't throw that away, it's genius." He'll say it doesn't matter. Then he'll write something new, write something new, write something new and it'll be hit after hit after hit and he'll just throw it away and won't use it. He's a genius.
I agree. I want to talk about you because I don't know much about you. I know that you were fifteen I believe when you started? What did you do musical theatre-wise? I learned you did MAMMA MIA [on the West End], what else did you do?
Yeah, I started, well, in England it works a little bit differently. You have to do Fringe theatre, which is basically free theatre. You do it in pubs and small theaters and village halls across the country and you work for a theatre company. You're part of a troop. So I did that for basically six years and I just worked my way up the ranks.
Wow. That's dedication.
Yeah it is, and you just sort of slowly but surely work your way up. I think what's lost on most people these days is that people don't see acting as a profession in which apprenticeship is necessary. People want stardom or fame or whatever, instant gratification as opposed to learning one's craft, which when I was starting out was the most important thing, that you are as fully equipped for your job or your art as possible. It's like a painter or a sculptor, y'know, you don't start out suddenly jump in an start carving marble, you know, you work your way up, which is how It was for me and that's why I find it strange when people just want fame or 'oh I want to be in a magazine!' or whatever; it doesn't mean anything. You don't get any gratification.
Do you have a favorite show you were in?
I don't. My memories from them are not from being on the stage themselves; they're of people that I've met. [Referring to a friend he met on the MAMMA MIA tour whose wedding he was unfortunately missing at the time this interview took place] He's one of the loveliest men I've ever met. It's those relationships that you build with people because as an actor a lot of people collide and you have a lot of these intense relationships over a short period of time and chances are you won't see them again because you're all going off and doing different things. So I don't think of it so much as the shows I did or the film sets, I mean, sometimes you'll get a nice location, but it's more who am I meeting on a day-to-day basis? Often the rehearsals are a lot more fun than the show itself.
Have you ever thought about coming to Broadway?
Yeah, I've thought about it. We've talked about it. Certainly. It's something I've really wanted to do for a while, and I would definitely not say no. I mean, in terms of musicals, I am very well aware of after doing it the amount of work that goes into it and it's something I did a lot of and taking a break then now coming back and doing this...it's definitely up for grabs. We'll see if anybody makes me an offer.
Is there a show on Broadway right now that you'd like to be a part of?
Um...there are a few shows. I just don't know if I'm allowed to name any names, but you know it is a really good question because it's not just a musical, it is as an actor, because if I really like a show, it doesn't mean that I would be good in it, or if I like war films it doesn't necessarily mean that I would make a good soldier or doctor or whatever. I have to make it less about me because I might really want to do an action film, but I might not be right for it. An acting teacher once told me, if you're going out there and you're doing it for yourself, then what's the point? Just stay home and look at yourself in the mirror because it sounds good to you. You're doing it for the audience, so do it for the audience. They're paying one hundred dollars to sit in an uncomfy seat to watch you.
Before the interview started, we talked about Galavant's quirky characteristics, so I thought I'd ask Sasse what his quirks were.
Well, I read, mostly poetry.
I do too! I write poetry too. I got my first poem published in fifth grade.
Oh, really? That's brilliant. A. Houseman wrote a really interesting book called "The Name and Nature of Poetry"-
I've read that!
You're on the right track. You know what you're doing.
Well, I love words more than anything in the world.
Okay. I like trees and boats.
Noted! I have one last question for you, and it's my favorite question to ask people. If you were to pick the question you're asked, what is the question and what is the answer?
(After giving it some thought) Why don't you know what you want?
And what's your answer to that question?
Because you don't know yourself.
That's deep.
After this interview, Sasse and I talked a little about Shakespeare and his ability to recite parts of Shakespeare's works as if it was nothing. Impressively intelligent and wonderfully charming, I hope for nothing but the greatest successes for Joshua Sasse in his future endeavors.
You can catch him as the knight in not-so-shining armor, Galavant in ABC's four-week comedy extravaganza, GALAVANT airing on Sundays at 8/7c. You can follow Joshua on Twitter @JoshuaSasse.
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