What a phenomenal few years it has been for Sutton Foster. The two-time Tony winning actress is currently starring as Marian Paroo, the librarian in Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man on Broadway.
Sutton Foster in 'The Music Man'
The hit revival with Foster, Hugh Jackman as Professor Harold Hill and 45 other cast members has shattered the Winter Garden Theatre’s previous weekly box office record 48 times. And it has played to more than 487,000 audience members from around the globe. Jackman has said that Foster “is the best in the world at seemingly everything.”
Foster had not performed on stage in New York since 2017 when she played Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity off Broadway. And the last time she was on Broadway she starred in Violet in 2014, which she received another Tony nomination.
Playing seven seasons as Liza, in the hit TV series Younger, as far back as 17 she was in the national tour of The Will Rogers Follies directed by Tommy Tune. And before that, in 1990, she was a runner up on the show Star Search.
Since then Foster originated roles in the Broadway productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Young Frankenstein, Shrek The Musical. And there’s her Tony Award-winning performances in Anything Goes and Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Foster also plays concert dates throughout the country. If that’s not enough she also wrote the bestselling book, Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life. Foster offers illuminating and inspiring essays about how her crafting has kept her going throughout her life and all its travails, joys, pain and successes.
For Foster, it’s particularly meaningful to do the Music Man which had not been on Broadway since the revival in 2000 with Craig Bierko and Rebecca Luker. “One of the things that I like to do, especially with revivals, is approach them as if they've never been done before,” says Foster who was nominated for a Tony award playing Marion Paroo. “I try to find my way into the Music Man my way,” she says. “I keep a very open mind about it all.”
The cast of 'the Music Man,' now playing at the Winter Garden Theatre
Jeryl Brunner: Many actors have said that the first Broadway show they ever saw was Thoroughly Modern Millie and how transforming that was for them. What was one of the first shows that you saw that had a great impact on you?
Sutton Foster: The show that really changed me was the Broadway national tour of Me and My Girl at a theater in Detroit, Michigan. I went with my high school theater group. We saw there was an understudy on for the lead. And I remember being disappointed. But he was incredible. At the end of the show, the curtain fell down and I heard the cast and everyone behind the curtain applauding and screaming for the guy who had gone on.
I remember being around 15-years-old, thinking, I want to do that. I want to be behind the curtain. What's the magic that is going on with the cast behind the curtain? It made it real as opposed to just watching the thing. I thought, they are real people back there.
Brunner: Can you put into words how motherhood has changed you? [Foster’s daughter is now five-years-old.]
Foster: It’s like little rooms in my heart, that I didn’t even know were there, have opened up. I smile bigger and wider than I ever thought. I am more exhausted in ways I never thought possible. I notice every playground, every party store, every kid friendly restaurant, every kids clothing or bookstore. I am completely in awe of my daughter. I am so honored to be her mother.
Brunner: You have played so many eclectic roles, is there a role you are aching to play?
Foster: I’m going to say it’s a role that hasn’t been written yet. I’m aching to play something new.
Brunner: What was the first show you saw on Broadway?
Foster: I saw Miss Saigon. I was actually in New York on a callback for the first National Touring company of the Will Rogers Follies. I was 17 years-old and it was my first time in New York City. This was back in 1992. So it was before the Internet. All I knew of Broadway was from the Tony Awards. I was completely and utterly blown away.
I'm still constantly inspired by the shows that I see in New York. That is one of the coolest things about living here. And now I'll get to raise my daughter in New York and bring her to shows. And she will be able to experience the magic of live theater.
Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster
