You can work in exactly the same way, you just need to press a widget button instead of pressing play in the sequencer. ( I think, but am not sure ).
Do you use the sequencer in edit mode or play?
I did tinker with the sequencer a lot at one point. Much easier than rigging a mesh. But was very turned off by stuff like it’s inability to relocate the animation in the world.
At the time, it was supposed to work, but it didn’t.
UPDATE: I’ve had a rummage around and can’t find anything helpful. It might be possible to make an editor widget that selects the same actor again after the sequencer has run, but I can’t find enough info…