(© David Gordon)
For the past seven years, Steven Pasquale has divided his time between the hit TV series Rescue Me, in which he played deputy firefighter Sean Garrity and which concluded its run on FX on September 7, and doing a wide variety of plays and musicals, including reasons to be pretty and The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. TheaterMania spoke to Pasquale at the gala screening of the Rescue Me finale about the show’s ending, (for those who missed it, Rescue Me: The Sixth Season and The Final season arrives on DVD on September 13), as well as his future career plans, his wife Laura Benanti’s controversial new NBC series, The Playboy Club, and why he loves New York so much.
THEATERMANIA: Which aspect of Sean Garrity do you think you’ll most remember?
STEVEN PASQUALE: I never played comedy before, so Rescue Me was sort of cutting my teeth on the comedy thing, and now, I will always be confident about doing that going forward. I will always be grateful to Sean for giving me that.
TM: Are you happy with the way Sean’s story ended?
SP: Yes. I thought it ended very funnily and sweetly.
TM: I hear you’re filming another TV pilot, USA’s Over/Under. What can you tell us about it?
SP: I play a fat-cat Wall Street trader who’s got a massive gambling problem. But New York is also the main character in the show. We’re filming it in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, so, hopefully, I will never have to live in L.A. at all!
TM: What is your favorite part of being in New York?
SP: I would put my love for New York up against anyone else’s love for New York. My love affair with this city goes crazy deep, probably to an unhealthy place. If I had my druthers, I would never, ever leave New York, ever. It’s the culture capital of everything.
TM: In 2009 you released your first album, Something Like Love. Are we going to be seeing another album from you anytime soon?
SP: I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve been talking to John Pizzarelli, and we’re going to kick around some ideas probably this coming year. It will be standards from writers like Frank Loesser and Richard Rodgers.
TM: There’s been a lot of talk about your wife’s new TV series, The Playboy Club. What do you really think of the bunny costume Laura wears in the show?
SP: I think what everyone else thinks…it’s amazing! And she’s going to be amazing on the show. It’s really exciting.
TM: Does Laura wear the costume at home?
SP: She doesn’t. But she doesn’t live at home right now; she lives in Chicago, because she’s doing her show there. We’re doing a long distance thing for a while.
TM: Do you have any plans to come back to the stage?
SP: My eyes are always peeled. I’ve got some free time this fall, so I’m hoping to find something to do then. But if not, I have to go to work on my new television show in the spring, so I may have to postpone my theater love until next summer. You know, I need to do TV to fund my theater habit!
