Sally Struthers Brings Laughter to Gateway Playhouse in 'The Full Monty'

After the All in the Family days, Struthers went on to play Babette Dell in Gilmore Girls and now she plays Virginia Foldau, a sharp-tongued resident at the Pacific View Retirement Community in the Netflix sitcom A Man on the Inside starring Ted Danson.

Struthers’ career spans decades giving her fans of all ages. “I was hiking in North Carolina when a mother-daughter team approached. The daughter shouted oh, mom, it’s Babette! And the mother said no, that’s Gloria!”

In addition to television, Struthers has accrued major stage credits. She appeared on Broadway in the female version of The Odd Couple playing Florence Unger, the obsessive-compulsive female counterpart to Felix. She lives up to her mantra You rest, you rust and travels the country doing stage work at regional theatres which brings her back to Gateway Playhouse this time in one of her favorite musicals, The Full Monty, performing one of her favorite roles, Jeanette Burmeister, the veteran showbiz pianist who talks herself into being accompanist and mentor for this group of amateur male strippers.

Struthers is at her happiest doing comedies. “For me, laughter is my music and I love music! If you tell me to choose one thing ringing in my ears to the end it would be laughter because laughter tells me that people are having a good time and my aim in life is to give people a good time.”

She credits her mom for her acting career. “My mom always said ‘Sally was born with funny.’ She talked me into going to college to act instead of becoming a doctor like my dad, something I thought of doing so he would be proud of me. My dad left when we were little. She found a theatre college, had me apply and off I went. Before each show when I’m in the wings waiting to make my first entrance, I close my eyes and talk to my mom.”

It was a delight to speak with Sally Struthers prior to opening in The Full Monty at Gateway Playhouse in Bellport where she will be doing what she loves best, making people laugh.

The Full Monty will run from March 13 to April 12 at The Gateway Playhouse in Bellport (215 South Country Road). Visit thegateway.org for the full schedule and to purchase advance tickets.

A Conversation with Sally Struthers

What is it about The Full Monty that keeps you going back to this show?

This musical is full of heart and love and the audience leaves satiated from the story. You really care about these guys. I’ll be doing this show however without my friend Joe Coots who played one of the two leads every time I did it. He passed away a year ago so while the show is a joy for me to do, I still cry when I think about Joe.

Do you actually play piano?

I can rudimentarily play but I move my hands to look like I’m playing the same notes as the Gateway pianist. Apparently I’ve fooled some people because they say I had no idea you played the piano.

The Full Monty marks your fifth show at Gateway. What is it about Gateway and Bellport that keeps you coming back?

The charm, sweetness, beautiful surroundings, lovely townspeople who are so friendly, stalwart performers that show up and check into the big building on campus that’s been there forever. It’s like going to summer camp. Paul Allen who runs the playhouse is such a gem. There’s such a wonderful family history.

Are you more comfortable on the stage or in a sound studio?

Film is easiest. You only need to know maybe two or three pages for the next day’s shoot. Television sitcoms are a little harder. You have to know all the lines but it’s maybe twenty-three pages of material and everybody’s got lines so you don’t have many, but on stage you have to know maybe one hundred pages. There are no retakes, you have to keep going.

What do you do when you go up on a line?

I panic and look at everyone else. If you can’t help me, I start making up stuff until eventually one of us figures out how to get back on track. It’s so frightening.

Why did you decide to return to television with the Netflix sitcom A Man on the Inside?

I got cast! I’ve been doing theater for 35 years because I can’t get arrested in Hollywood. When you become a certain age, they don’t want you anymore. The theater will always take you. So, I was shocked when I got this TV show with Ted Danson who is a sweetheart and so are the writer producers. All of us that got to come along on this ride with Ted are grateful.

You said the best time you played Gloria in All in the Family was seasons six through eight. What made those seasons good as opposed to the prior seasons?

I finally had some lines to say! For the first few seasons I had three lines. They were I’ll help you set the table mom, Michael, where are you going and oh daddy stop it. Then the next week they’d be in a different order. Our wonderful writers were all older guys who knew how to write those crazy, political scenes between Mike and Archy, but they couldn’t think of a thing for Gloria. Finally in seasons 6 through 8 they had us move next door into the Jeffersons old house. They had Gloria be pregnant and have a baby. There were finally things for me to play.

Wasn’t that frustrating?

Yes! I was capable of getting laughs, but they never thought of featuring me more. I hired a lawyer and tried to leave the show in season five. I lost and had to go back, but maybe that’s why they figured it out. Who knows why, but it all happened for good.

You said that Rob Reiner inspired you. In what way?

He was like my mentor in the All in the Family years. We would do the table read of the script on the first day of rehearsal with the actors, the director, the writers, the script girl who timed it and Mr. Lear. The read, including the laughter that occurred, couldn’t be longer than 23 minutes for a half hour show and almost seven minutes is opening credits, closing credits and commercials. Reading around the table and pausing while people were laughing made the script 25 minutes long so we were told to cut two minutes.

Rob Reiner was so good at knowing what could go that we named him the Sultan of Slice. My little interjections would get cut so instead of having five lines, I had four and you could see steam coming out of my ears. He took me aside and said if you could not take it personally that you lost another line but realize that it’s helping the show be the best it can be when it hits the air then you won’t be upset when a line of yours got removed, you’d be offering to remove your own line if it makes the show better.

I made the switch that day, but if all they had for me to say in a show was the word daddy, I would add nine syllables to the word d-a-a-a-a-a-d-d-y, so I made a salad out of it.

Is there something you would like to share about Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle?

That life is so short you never know what’s coming. Just try to live every day because you don’t know how your life is going to end.