Karen David – Galavant

By starrymag | January 17, 2016

By: Nicole Smith

 

 

Q) Before we talk about Galavant, I was hoping you could speak to your extensive background in music.

 

A) When I was a little girl, I wanted to sing and act and I didn’t know anything about musical theatre at the time. It was just about wanting to sing like Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu. [laughs] And I thought that meant just pop music, recording and that kind of stuff. When I was in school as a young girl, I was singing a lot in the choir and I would do all the school plays. I did Annie when I was 8 years old and it was cemented in my heart that I had to do this for a living.

 

It was my 6th grade teacher that told me, “Karen, you need to take singing lessons because there’s something there.” And I looked at her, thinking why on earth would anyone need to take singing lessons. She laughed and she said, “Oh, Karen, you’ve got to learn technique, good technique so that as your voice develops. You’ll be able to take care of your voice and not run into vocal problems down the road.” And I’m just like “oh God”, but she made me do that. She was checking in every day to make sure I was researching and looking for the top vocal teachers in Toronto at the time (because I was in Toronto). So that’s what I did.

 

I was taking acting lessons anyway and my parents said as long as I got good grades in school, straight A’s, that they would pay for my acting and singing lessons. So that’s what I did. I started taking singing lessons and classical music. A lot of people don’t know about that, but classical music is like when a dancer starts taking dance lessons, you go and take ballet. And at first, I’m not going to lie, I bloody well hated it. I was like this is boring, but I started getting into the music and singing songs, Mozart, Bach, or whatever, just these beautiful songs. I started to love it and I would do competitions and these music festivals and all the while I was training, training, training, and then I went to Berklee College of Music because I got a scholarship. I went there for a short spin and I did jazz music and gospel music and I loved it.

 

The music has always been something that’s very important to me and I am always asked if I would give one up for the other and I couldn’t possibly because both acting and music speak to me creatively. But my background is my music training and the exams and the theory. … That brought me to England because I got accepted to a really fantastic drama college at Guildford and I went there to study straight acting. So, thereafter, I kind of was doing my music recording career in the pop music area in Europe, as well as my acting. So, it was very much a bit of juggling both of them.

 

Q) I know you’ve done several televisions series, but I’m sure when “Galavant” came along that had to be really special, especially considering all of your musical experience.

 

A) You know, my dad put it distinctly when I landed the role. He said, “Oh my gosh, Karen. This role, you get to fight with swords, you get to do horse rides, you get to sing, you get to dance and you get to act.” He said, ”This is a dream role.” And I said, ‘Yes, dad, it is.” None of us have ever been in a medieval comedy musical and to be working with TV legends Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Dan Fogelman and the incredible writing team we have. It’s a doozy. I feel so lucky every day. I wake up with this permanent grin on my face because you know when you’re on something so special and as an actor, I’ve worked on so many great TV shows and I’ve had the time of my life, but this has got that extra mileage patch – that extra “X factor” and you just know it’s special.

 

Q) Your character this year is under a bit of a spell and as an actress, how has it been for you to be able to explore her altered personality?

 

A.) When John and Kat [writers] first told me the storyline, I was so excited. I mean, first of all, coming back to do a Season Two, we were so thrilled beyond belief and so excited that we got to do this again, but it was also a bit nerve-racking to me. When you go into a second season, usually you shoot the second season shortly after the first. There’s not much of a gap, but this was a year later and so I was a bit nervous because I was thinking, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to get back into Izzy mode a year after filming Season One.” On top of that, this is a whole new side of Isabella that we’re seeing. That, as an actor, excites me to no end and scares me half to death in a good way. It’s like going on a roller coaster and that drop, you’re like, “Oh I don’t know how this drop is going to make me feel,” but it’s exciting and thrilling and exhilarating. That’s how I felt about Isabella’s storyline because I knew it was going to be a bit of a roller coaster and so different.

 

In Season One, you see a very strong, independent young lady, who’s faced with a lot of pressure on her shoulders because her parents lives and her kingdom’s well-being are at stake and she is being blackmailed by the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson). In Season Two, we open up with a very frustrated, angry Isabella who feels like the world has just been pulled away from her because she’s separated from her one true love, Galavant (Joshua Sasse), and all she wants to do is be reunited with him. And then, in the following episodes we see the naivety, the vulnerability in Isabella, but it’s so refreshing and humanizing and I love to see that for Izzy. Yes, she’s a princess and yes, she is very much a people’s princess. However, she’s got the biggest heart and cares so much for others, but at the same time it’s nice to see her just as a young woman who is in love and is heartbroken, which is something we can all relate to. To see her, how she deals with it, we see her go into a bit of a funk. She’s depressed, and it’s funny seeing on social media people’s reactions. They’re not used to this kind of Isabella. They want to shake her, ‘Wake up Izzy, wake up!’ And then she falls under this evil spell under her evil wedding planner and that couldn’t be more frustrating for the fans. They’re like, “Get that tiara off, get that tiara off,’ and I totally understand. But as an actor, you’re just so excited to be able to play these different tones and to play different sides of Isabella and what she’s going through. It’s so much fun because, as an actor, you want these dynamics in your storyline and trust me, there’s more to come with Isabella. She feels like now that she’s on her own (post breakup with Galavant). She thinks that Galavant’s dumped her and she’s very much on her own so this is the next challenge that we see. She’s under this spell and how does she get out of it and then come into her own being? It’s a wonderful story arc that I’m so grateful and so excited about.

 

Q) What do you think people would be surprised to know about what goes into the process of filming “Galavant?”

 

A) Oh gosh, we rarely have days off because if we’re not filming, we’re in the studio recording. If we’re not in the studio recording, we’re learning choreography or we’re learning the songs. There’s always something that we’re doing. We could be in horse riding lessons or we could be in sword fighting choreography rehearsals. You’re constantly busy, which I love. It’s a thrill. We’re always kept on our toes and this season, because our storylines are all broken up, we’re all split up as a group – the six of us. So there’s three groups and it was so nice because we’ve only just seen what we’ve all been up to when you guys are watching it. When we see it on TV, we’re like, “Oh my God, that’s what you were up to? That’s so great.” It’s just so nice because it’s the first time we’re discovering what everyone else has been up to as well.

 

The musical numbers take a full day. Sometimes it takes a day and a half to film a musical number. It’s very intricate. There’s a lot that goes in it. We have a lot of extras so it’s kind of a big extravaganza, which makes the show so special. To film one episode takes us seven days and that’s a lot to cram in to seven days.

 

Q) “Galavant” is very much in the vein of Monty Python. Are you a fan of the film?

 

A.) Oh my gosh, I love Monty Python. I think all of us that are on the show, we love Life of Brian, which is probably one of my favorites and Spamalot. Michael Palin, we were actually trying to see if we could get him onto the show and he is a big fan because Robert Lindsay who plays Chester is very good friends with Michael. Michael was hoping that maybe he could try and come on and do a cameo and we’re still hoping for it if we get a Season Three with any of the Monty Python members. Unfortunately, Michael’s schedule was really busy so he couldn’t work this season, but who knows. Maybe in this next season, if we get one, that would be great.

 

Q) You shoot in some beautiful locations. Has there been one that is a favorite of yours?

 

A) So last season, very much so. It was Josh Sasse and I on location, all the time. That was such an adventure in itself. This season, as you know, Izzy is very much in a pink room, that Pepto-Bismol pink room in Valencia. So, we didn’t have as many locations this season; however, the end as we all know (it leaks out in the premiere episode) we all end up in Morocco and Valencia. And oh my gosh, filming in Morocco was legendary. We were filming in the exact same spot where Lawrence of Arabia, Kingdom of Heaven and “Game of Thrones” had filmed. I mean, we were filming at the original gates of Lawrence of Arabia. If the sand could talk, I mean, they would have amazing stories. It’s just legendary film land over there. Then, you have the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains, which looks like a painting and when the sun begins to set, it’s one of the most beautiful backdrops. You just couldn’t ask for anything better and we just felt so lucky to be there. It was filming in the desert and dealing with all the elements, but what an adventure it was. We had the time of our lives. We were there for three weeks and now that we’ve done that, we’ve kind of got the itch that, okay, if we go to another season, we feel like we’ve got to go somewhere after filming in England.

 

Q) What can people learn from the character of Isabella?

 

A) I think with Isabella, and I’m proud of this and it has a lot to do with what our creators for the show have always envisioned for Isabella, is it doesn’t matter what cloth you’re cut from because at the end of the day, we’re all equals. One thing I’m really proud about with Isabella is that she’s so giving, she’s so caring and she’s got this huge heart and this capacity to love so much with Galavant, her family and her kingdom. She brings the best out of people. You see that out of her friendship with Sid (Luke Youngblood). With Galavant, they bicker so much. It’s like they were an old married couple right from the get-go. She learned a lot from Galavant as well. She learned courage from him, she learned bravery and at the same time, she called him out on his bravado and she balanced him. I think having songs like “Love is Strange” and “World’s Best Kiss,” what’s so wonderful is that their relationship and their love for each other is realistic. That is what love is and that’s a fairytale in itself. It’s not supposed to be perfect, there is no perfect relationship. It’s perfectly imperfect, but that’s okay. And she’s not perfect and Galavant’s not perfect. None of the characters on our show are perfect. They’re flawed in their own way, but those flaws are so charming and enduring and make all of them human and relatable as characters. That’s something I’m just so proud of with the writing team to have created such amazing characters for each of us to play. I think that’s why a lot of fans love the show so much, because it pokes fun at the whole fairytale genre in the most loving and enduring way. Certainly with Isabella’s character, yes she is this princess and yes she has her obligations and she has to have decorum to some degree, but at the end of the day, she’s just a young woman who’s in love and has a big heart and cares for those around her.

 

 

Galavant airs Sunday nights on ABC at 8 p.m. EST. To follow Karen David on Twitter, search @KarenDavid. She can also be found on Instagram @KarenDavidOfficial.