Why Andy Karl Was Chomping at the Bit to Return to Off Broadway in ‘Teeth’

The three-time Tony nominee on playing two disturbed characters in the outrageous musical satire

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On top of being a clergyman, Karl’s character is Dawn’s abusive and controlling stepfather, favoring her over his own troubled biological son Brad (Will Connolly). Pastor Bill is gripped with a religious fervor that blinds him to reality and makes him dangerous to everyone around him—particularly Dawn.

Joey Sims: You’re new to Teeth. Did you have any trepidation about signing on?

Andy Karl: Joining the show, my first question was, “Where’s the tone?” Teeth is a horror cult classic/feminist examination/patriarchal identity exploration/humorous yet bloody insane thing—how do I ride the line of all that stuff? Everyone who was already involved with the show had the opportunity to explore that, and I’m coming into it like, what is going on?! But I’m along for the ride, just like everybody else.

Sims: I thought about the question of tone when Pastor Bill essentially tells his son Brad to burn in hell… and my audience laughed uproariously. When a line that’s so cruel and horrible gets that big a laugh, do you think, yes, we nailed it?

Karl: I always find the best humor comes out of the most tension. Certainly, with the Pastor, he is this zealot who speaks in this rhetoric of irrational, radical religious ideology. He’s completely gone off the deep end at that point in the show. And yes, he does say to his son, “To hell with you, demon spawn. Go join your mother in the lake of fire!”

That’s what is really fun about the show: the audiences are laughing at the most horrific things. It’s not because we’re playing it for laughs—it’s just a reaction of: Oh my God, I can’t help but laugh at this insanity that I’m seeing on stage! That’s what this show has in spades.

Sims: By the end, Pastor Bill has completely lost it, but he starts out as a complex figure. He’s deeply protective of Dawn, even loving in his way, but he is also domineering. How did you approach playing such a brutal character?

Karl: In trying to identify with this guy, I had to think about his background. You imagine that the Pastor has come from a family that has been abusive and controlling, and that he is caught up in the continuation of this patriarchy, beating down on the small and the weak to make them “strong.” Because the “strong will survive.” Once you find that, it’s easy to lock into because you realize there’s nothing the Pastor won’t do to protect the religious sanctity that he lives by.

Sims: You also play a second character, Dr. Godfrey, the out-of-town gynecologist Dawn seeks out for help. He’s got a very different vibe from Pastor Bill. How did you find it?

Karl: Playing Dr. Godfrey is trying to find the reality within his zany song, “Girls Like You.” He goes into a whole number about why he became a gynecologist, and he’s not afraid to describe the smells and the sights and the feelings of things. Because he is very into what he does, in a very twisted way.

Sims: There’s an intense physicality to both of your characters. As Pastor Bill, you put your whole body into his preaching.

Karl: With the Pastor, he’s sort of a showman, and he’s so impassioned by what he’s saying. So, he’s gonna do cartwheels across the stage, and he’s gonna get down on his knees, and he’s gonna raise his hands to Father God. I’ve seen Alyse actually copying some of my big performative moves because Dawn wants to emulate her father, which I thought was really smart. The whole show has a pace and a physicality about it that all of us really get into. I mean, the end of the show is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen in my life. And we have to live up to that.

Sims: I did wonder, was that cartwheel your idea? Because I don’t recall Steven Pasquale, who played the part at Playwrights Horizons, doing a cartwheel.

Karl: I have no idea, but they asked me, “Can you do a tumbling pass or a back handspring?” And I was like, “No man, I’m way too old for that—but I’ll give you a nice fancy cartwheel.”

Sims: The prosthetics and the blood have also been amped up for New World Stages. There’s a reason the theatregoers in the first two rows are given ponchos.

Karl: We’re getting to the how-much-blood-is-too-much-blood? conversation. What I thought was going to be maybe too much has turned out to be way not enough. I want to douse those two rows. I mean, they’re wearing ponchos! I wanna get them with all the blood. That should be the tagline for our show: “Teeth, now with more blood!”

Karl: Like walking back into a home! Altar Boyz was about religious boy bands and now I’m playing another religious character. Maybe Luke, my character from Altar Boyz, has grown into the Pastor. Maybe he found Father God in a very insane way. That’s a little Easter egg for people.

As for our show, there is horror, there is humor, there are some deeply disturbing moments around family and idealism and patriarchy. The songs are bangers. The staging is incredible. The choreography is amazing. It’s one of those shows where you have to see it to believe it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for Teeth. Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.

Teeth is also frequently available at our TKTS Discount Booths.