Q&A with Broadway’s Sutton Foster Posted in Theater by Kris Vire on April 7th, 2010 at 2:07 pm It was announced yesterday that Thoroughly Modern Millie Tony winner Sutton Foster will inaugurate the newly remodeled and rechristened Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. Broadway in Chicago will kick off programming its newest space September 23–26 with An Evening with Sutton Foster, the solo concert she’s been taking on the road since February. Foster called me last night to talk about her previous Chicago experiences, rogue understudies and what she thinks of her actor brother Hunter’s latest show, Million Dollar Quartet. You’re starting your solo tour next week in East Lansing, right? You know, I’ve actually been doing shows since, um—my first one was in St. Louis in February. Oh, okay. I was going by the press release at Playbill. Yeah, I did St. Louis, and then Cleveland, San Francisco, and…gosh, I can’t even keep up…oh, Naples and Charlotte, and now I’m going to [husky whisper] East Lansing. So tell me what we can expect to hear. About a year ago, February 2009, I did a concert at Lincoln Center, part of their American Songbook series. At that same time I had released a solo album, which is sort of folky, jazzy, Broadway. So that concert at Lincoln Center was a lot about the album, and I did highlights from stuff that I’ve done on Broadway. Mike Isaacson with Fox Theatricals approached—he’s a friend because he produced Millie—he approached me about doing it around the country, and I thought that would be amazing. And so the concert is very much based off of that concert I did in New York: It’s a lot of the album, and then peppered throughout are songs that I’ve done [on stage] and then some new material as well. It’s an interesting, intimate evening of, uh, me. [laughing] So it’s quirky and weird and fun, and hopefully entertaining. When you get here in September, is this going to be your first time performing in Chicago? I’ve been to Chicago, oh my goodness, several times. I played there with The Will Rogers Follies when I was—I think I turned 18 when I was there, so it was in ’94, ’93? Um…I cannot remember the theater I played for my life. If only there were an IBDB for tours. I know! I know. I can’t remember the theater. I was there with Grease as well, the revival of Grease, the one that Rosie O’Donnell starred in on Broadway, that revival. What else played Chicago…I think Les Miz; I think I played Annie, the 20th-anniversary Annie with Nell Carter, but we played the, the Rose…? The Rosemont? Yes! The big one. That one. But I grew up in Michigan, outside of Detroit, and so Chicago was the place to go. I saw a lot of tours through Detroit as well, but I remember flying to Chicago for an audition—I think it was for Star Search, so, [laughing] long time ago! Yeah, I totally flew to Chicago to audition for Star Search, I actually was on Star Search when I was 15. So Chicago, I’ve been there quite a bit. But not in a while, so I’m excited to come back. You pretty famously stepped up from understudy to lead all 42nd Street style for Millie and won a Tony for it. So I have to ask: Do you find yourself watching for any Eve Harrington types among your own understudies? [big laugh] No, not so much. I just, [laughing] I look for the marbles as they throw them down the stairs. Luckily, I have to say, I literally did climb—I guess I “climbed the ladder”?—I was ensemble, understudy, I’ve been an understudy, and I would happily be an understudy again. But I’ve had incredible, talented, generous, wonderful women who have covered me, and I would turn around and cover them in a heartbeat. Haven’t had any Eve Harringtons yet. I’m sure they’re out there. Something kind of funny I noticed about your resume in the years since Millie: You’ve created all these roles on Broadway, more than probably anybody else of our generation, I think. But so many of them are characters who are already known from other media. Yeah. You’ve got Millie from the Julie Andrews film, Jo from Little Women, Inga from Young Frankenstein. And your one totally original character… From Drowsy Chaperone, yeah. …is kind of this meta role of an Old-Broadway actress playing a character. I know! So, do you think that producers or audiences see something classic or period about you, as opposed to modern? I don’t know! It’s so interesting. It’s funny, because the roles that keep coming, it’s like ’20s, ’30s, these kind of iconic broads or dames—I have no idea. And when people ask me, like, “What do you long to do next?” I’m like, I long to wear jeans and use my own hair, and maybe sing a pop song, you know? I long to do something more contemporary and modern. I hope producers will see me that way. Probably just because the things I’ve done have been from the ’20s or of a classic era, maybe that is the way people see me now. But I hope to break free and show people I can do all sorts of different stuff. [laughing] I hope I can! We’ll see. Along those lines, let’s talk about your album. Wish is your first solo album? Yeah, first solo album. And that came out last year, seven years after you broke out in Millie. Why so long? People are always like, You’ve gotta do an album, you’ve gotta do an album. But it never felt like the right time. My music director, Michael Rafter, who actually will be with me in September—we’ve been working on material for basically four, five years. He was the musical director on Millie, and we became friends. But it never felt like the right time, and I didn’t want it to feel forced. We just took our time with it. I don’t know. I have no other answer but we were just waiting for the right opportunity—or, not the right opportunity…when I look at the album, I wouldn’t change a thing. It really encapsulates exactly where I was at that time in my life, I’m so proud of every song on there, I wouldn’t change one note. So I’m glad we waited. If we’d tried to produce something back in 2004, I might’ve not been ready to do such a thing. I’m proud of what we ended up expressing, when we did. You’re set to announce the Outer Critics Circle nominations in a few weeks with your brother, who’s now in Million Dollar Quartet— Which I saw on Sunday, and it’s brilliant, and I know it’s from Chicago, and I just have to say: Those four guys are unbelievable. My brother’s amazing too, but those four dudes are, like, mindblowing. They blew my mind. I was sitting there in awe of them. I keep telling everybody, I’m like, “Yeah, my brother’s really great…”—and he’s phenomenal, he does a really great job. But those guys are like—the talent is like my brain doesn’t know what to do with it. It’s exceptional. They’re exceptional. They capture the essence of those iconic characters—well, not characters, human beings—without making a caricature of them. They just are. You feel like you’re watching Elvis, you’re watching these people as opposed to being, Oh, he’s trying to be Elvis. No, actually, he just is. Or he is Jerry Lee Lewis, or he is Carl Perkins, or he is Johnny Cash. It was just awesome. I had no idea what to expect. I just sat there with my jaw open the whole time, it was so exciting to see so much talent, and they’re playing, and ach! My god. It was amazing. Yeah. So, where I was going with that… Ha! Sorry for the tangent. No, I totally enjoyed that whole aside. Have you and Hunter ever worked together professionally? I see you both have Les Miz and Grease on your resumes. Yeah, we crossed over. We did Les Miz together for three days, because he was leaving the company as I came in. And then Grease, we overlapped for three weeks on Broadway. Hunter made his Broadway debut in Grease, I made my Broadway debut in Grease, but mine was a couple years later. But he was still in the show, so—I’ll never forget it—when I took my first bow on a Broadway stage, my brother was right next to me in the line. So we were holding hands, like what’s up! It was so cool, such a moment. Is there some show you’d love to do with him? Oh! I would love to work with him. We’d have to think of either a brother-sister or a…I don’t know, I don’t have a specific show—Oh. You know what I would love to do with him? Here’s the show. I would love to do Cabaret.