A lively, animated chat with actress Sally Struthers covers a wide range of current events, from royal babies to a reboot of her classic show.
Best known as Gloria from the groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” Struthers will be in Wilmington to perform in a play at the Delaware Theatre Company. She will star in “Middletown,” a comedic drama about two lifelong friend couples, a project she joined to work with her longtime friend Adrian Zmed. Zmed is perhaps best known for his roles as Romano in “T.J. Hooker” and Johnny Nogerelli in “Grease 2.” Their friendship spans 30 years, having toured the country together for three years in a production of “Grease.”
The new production, running from May 28 to June 2, operates like “Love Letters,” with actors reading from scripts on stage. The Delaware show also stars Anson Williams, who played Potsie in “Happy Days,” and Didi Conn, known as Frenchy from the “Grease” movies.
On the phone, Struthers is vibrant and engaging, her voice instantly recognizable as the character she portrayed in “All in the Family” from 1971-1979, and its spin-off “Gloria” from 1982-83.
Initially, Struthers didn’t think she could fit the show into her busy schedule, but an opening coincided with the Wilmington run. If successful, producers hope to take it to New York, or possibly tour for a few months before heading to the Big Apple.
On the royal baby’s name
When royals Harry and Meghan named their baby Archie Harrison, Struthers couldn’t help but think of Archie Bunker from “All in the Family.”
“I thought to myself, ‘Sally, do you know any other Archies that were famous? Anybody in the sports world? There has to be one,'” she said. “But being a woman of a certain age, I didn’t know anyone else named Archie except the character who played my father.”
In the show, her dad Archie Bunker was played by actor Carroll O’Connor. Struthers has since learned that Archie is a more common name in Britain than in the U.S.
“I think it’s just adorable,” she said. “It’s certainly not a royal sounding name, but it’s a fun name, and enough with this royal hoopla.”
On the live ‘All in the Family’
Struthers was surprised to hear about the recent live performance of an “All in the Family” script on ABC.
“Why? What is the point? It’s a classic,” she said. “‘All in the Family’ came at a moment in time that somehow turned out to be the perfect moment to put something that quote-unquote radical on TV, and it was the perfect cast. We had the perfect writers.”
You can’t recreate that 40 years later, she said. While today’s civil unrest mirrors the stress and turmoil of the 1970s, the original cast was irreplaceable.
“Nobody is going to be Carroll O’Connor,” Struthers said. “Nobody but nobody is going to be another Jean Stapleton (who played Archie’s wife, Edith). And I honestly don’t see the point.”
Her nephew suggested the networks might be gauging interest in a potential reboot with the live performances of “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” featuring stars like Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, and Jamie Foxx.
“Norman Lear is in his 90s,” Struthers said. “I think he should just have fun and travel, and stop trying to make another mark on TV. He’s made enough marks.”
Acting with Adrian Zmed
Struthers played English teacher Miss Lynch, the only adult role in the stage show of “Grease,” during her years on tour. Zmed played one of the lead roles, Danny Zuko.
“Believe me, after three years, you’re family,” Struthers said. “I missed everybody terribly when it was over.”
She’s also toured in “Hello, Dolly” as the lead character, as Miss Hannigan in “Annie,” and as a superfan in “Always Patsy Cline.”
Struthers and Zmed had been looking for a project to work on together. When Zmed called and asked her to play his wife in the Wilmington show, she initially thought her schedule wouldn’t allow it. Then she found an opening.
She admires Zmed’s twinkle in his eyes, his boyish enthusiasm, the way he raised his sons, and his multitasking abilities. He’s such a sports fan that he sometimes checked scores during performances, she said.
“I can’t do that,” she said. “I’d fall over myself or I’d forget to speak.”
This won’t be the first time Zmed and Struthers have been in Wilmington. They’ve been through with the “Grease” tour, and Zmed has been there at least two other times in shows, including “Falsettos” and “Chicago,” signing the infamous wall in the Playhouse on Rodney Square that sports hundreds of stars’ names.
Struthers has only three states she’s never visited during her numerous theatrical tours. Trained in theater, she loves returning to it as her “first love.”
“There’s no net,” she says. “You have to save yourself. There’s no cut. There’s no ‘let’s do another take.’ There’s no editors in the other room taking your several takes and choosing the best.”
Zmed finds it amusing that they play a couple married for 33 years in “Middletown,” despite knowing each other for 30 years.
The play, which started in Las Vegas where Zmed lives, follows two couples who meet every Friday night for dinner over 30-plus years of friendship.
“It’s one of those shows that grabs you and takes you on this road, and you don’t know where you’re going,” Zmed said. “It’s very emotional at the end. Even I, as an actor, have trouble finishing the show.”
Produced by the same group behind “Menopause The Musical,” which will run June 4 to June 16 at the Delaware Theatre Company, “Middletown” had a read-through in January, with Zmed helping shape it.
He’s been pleasantly surprised by the audience’s positive reaction to productions where actors read from scripts.
Struthers hopes for an engaged audience. She gets cranky when there’s no feedback during a comedic performance.
“The actors cannot hear you when you’re smiling,” she said. “It’s a reciprocal event in the theater. If you’re doing ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,’ you need the quiet. But if you’re doing a comedy, you need the laughs back.”
