Singer and actress Sutton Foster returns to downtown Traverse City for a performance at the City Opera House. MyNorth Media entertainment writer Ross Boissoneau gives us a preview of the Northern Michigan event.


Artist

Singer/actress Sutton Foster

How she got her start

Born in Georgia, Foster moved to Michigan at 13, leaving school before she graduated from Troy High School. Perhaps understandably so: at the age of 15, she was a contestant on Star Search and auditioned for the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. She left school (which she later completed via correspondence course) to join the national tour of “The Will Rogers Follies” directed by Tommy Tune. Apparently she knew what she was doing—she appeared on Broadway in various roles, some as understudies (“Grease,” “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” “Annie,” “Les Miserables”) before being plucked from the chorus of the revival of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” to replace the lead in 2002. She won her first Tony Award that year for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.

Style

Musical theatre, pop, jazz

Additional Background

Foster has performed in numerous shows on and off-Broadway. Her acting, singing and dancing has served her in “Little Women,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Shrek the Musical,” and “Young Frankenstein.” She’s taught at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and Ball State University, despite the fact she herself only attended Carnegie Mellon University for a year. Foster played Reno Sweeney in the Broadway revival of “Anything Goes,” and won her third Outer Circle Critics Award and second Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance. She left the play to film the television comedy-drama Bunheads, which ran for one year on ABC Family. On the small screen, she’s also been seen in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Law and Order: SUV, The Good Wife, Psych, Royal Pains and currently stars in Younger on TV Land. Foster’s debut solo album Wish was released in February 2009; a live recording came out two years later, and she’s also on two cast recordings, for “Little Women” and “Violet.”

Quotes

“She’s got the full package: girlish gawkiness and Broadway brass, the legs and the lungs. Foster is a big reason the show is just about the cutest thing to hit Broadway since Annie’s dimples.” Time Magazine on “Thoroughly Modern Millie”

“If Broadway had a reigning diva as of 2010, it was probably Sutton Foster, who had worked more or less without letup in starring roles in musicals.” – The All Music Guide

Venue

City Opera House, Traverse City

Date & Time

October 2, 7 p.m.

Ticket information

Tickets start at $35. Go to CityOperaHouse.org

For more

SuttonFoster.com


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Photo(s) by © Laura Marie Duncan