Anything Goes As Sutton Foster Transitions to Playing ‘Broads, Old Maids and Hags’

Is Sutton Foster on a mission to change her image? The Broadway favorite recently told Broadway.com how much she enjoyed getting down and dirty in off-Broadway’s Trust, opposite beau Bobby Cannavale. Now the triple-threat laughingly reveals she’s ready “to play a broad” when she tackles the “adult role” of sassy nightclub singer Reno Sweeney in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Anything Goes in the spring.

“I think I’m ready to play a broad, and I’m ready to make my own take on it,” Foster explained about the part originated by Ethel Merman and memorably revived by Patti LuPone. "I’m excited to get my feet wet and get in there. It’s sort of my first adult role.”

Foster, whose Broadway credits include her Tony-winning turn as the fresh-faced title character in Thoroughly Modern Millie, says she’s moving into the next stage of her career. “I’m getting older, so it’s time to transition into older roles. I think I’ll only play broads, old maids and hags. I’m moving into [being a] character woman. The girl with the suitcase in her hands [in Millie]—we need to let the new generation play that. I’m moving into the next phase."

Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, directed by Kathleen Marshall and also starring Joel Grey, will begin performances on March 10 and open on April 7 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.