Interview: Kyra Sedgwick on All of Me Off-Broadway and Whether She’ll Ever Do a Musical

Kyra Sedgwick says she is an actor because she values the way people see themselves reflected in characters. It is because of this firm belief that the award-winning director, producer, and star of acclaimed television series The Closer has returned to the New York stage in Laura Winters’s play All of Me.

Presented by the New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center, All of Me is a romantic comedy about a young couple from different worlds. The love story is unique in that Lucy (Madison Ferris) uses a scooter and Alfonso (Danny J. Gomez) a wheelchair, and they communicate through AAC (alternative and augmentative communication), typing on screens as audiences watch their meet-cute and ensuing relationship unfold.

Sedgwick plays Lucy’s mother, Connie, a woman who is reluctant to admit that she has disabilities of her own. Sedgwick spoke with TheaterMania about why All of Me resonated with her, why she’s not likely to ever take on a musical, and what it was like working on her new film with husband Kevin Bacon.

The following conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

It has been 20-plus years since you’ve done a play in New York. Why was this the right time to come back?

I am in love with All of Me. I’m very into plays that start in one place and end in another, that take you on a journey, that have an arc for all of the different characters, and really have something to say. It’s in a container that’s familiar, but everything else about it is unfamiliar. All of Me is a romantic-comedy and dysfunctional family story that deals with a lot of issues. In this family, the people that look like they are disabled are not the only people who are disabled. It has this message that we’re all disabled in one way or another, and some wear their disabilities on the outside. The truth of that statement is something that really resonates with me. It’s very funny, wildly entertaining, and moving. Plus, you learn something.

In which ways does it resonate with you, specifically, that we all have disabilities that we can’t necessarily see?

For alcoholics, workaholics, shopaholics, betters, gamblers… Everyone’s got their stuff. The truth is that every one of us who’s in a dysfunctional family system, which is probably 85 percent of the population, can relate to that. It’s fun to go, “Wow, that really reminds me of my sister who takes on too much responsibility and feels totally responsible for the whole family.” That’s a disability: not knowing that you’re not supposed to save everybody and that you can’t save everybody. On the face of it people might say, “I’m so different from these people.” As can only happen in art, we see ourselves reflected in the characters that are on the stage or the screen.

Connie inspires women to re-examine their roles as caretakers, mothers, and the many other hats they wear.

She’s complicated, she’s angry, she’s brokenhearted, and she’s in denial about the fact that her daughter is probably never going to get out of her wheelchair. I think she’s constantly fighting for a dream that’s never going to come true — that she’s going to get up and be normal again. I find her to be a real warrior for her kids in such a beautiful way. That’s something I can totally relate to. Conversely, she can be immature and selfish because she definitely doesn’t want them to grow up and leave her. I love Connie to pieces. She’s trying desperately to keep this family together, working 10 hours a day and not getting enough government assistance. The play explores the haves and the have-nots in a way that’s really unusual and important.

What was the most challenging aspect of working on All of Me?

Plays are the hardest thing ever! How do you find the time to work on something that could be examined for many months, then rehearsed, and then presented in four weeks? The eight-show a week schedule really separates the men from the boys, especially off-Broadway, because there is less money. The darker aspects of the piece are emotional for me. I can relate to being a mother who wants to do it right but feels she is failing miserably. Although, I think I did pretty good. My kids are pretty amazing, but you still give yourself a hard time. If you do your job right as a mom, they leave. The play brings up in me that feeling of when they first left. The journey of having children is an ongoing process of letting go of your child’s hand. There’s something about that that is inherently heartbreaking. That’s the arc of Connie’s story, among other things.

You have built quite a following for your singing and dancing on social media. Might we see you doing the same in a musical one day?

I don’t think so. I have such respect for real musical-theater people, but that’s a whole other animal. Never say never, but I don’t see it in the cards. I am friends with Allison Janney, and when she did 9 to 5, she said, “If someone told me I was going to do a musical, I would have told them they were out of their minds.” It sure looks like fun, but I tend to agree with that thought.

You bring such joy, compassion, and humor to every role you take on. Is there a type of project that you prefer?

My vibe is funny, sad, and hopeful. The last movie I directed [Space Oddity], is [all of those sentiments]. That’s where I want to live in the world, because that’s life to me. It’s very much like Alexander Payne’s work. I really admire him as a director and writer. I want to leave people with hope at the end of stories because otherwise life is just too hard. I love it when we embrace the futility of life, but we also wrap our arms around our ability to change and grow.

What can you tell us about your upcoming film, Connescence, in which you act opposite Kevin?

The title will likely change! We had a great time making it. It’s very much funny, sad, and hopeful. It’s a romantic comedy but also deals with some hard stuff. [Kevin and I] get to play strangers who meet and grow together. I play a urologist and he has prostate problems, so the laughs come tumbling down. It was fun to work together as actors because we hadn’t done that in 20 years. He’s done a little acting, that one. He’s OK.