Sutton Foster
It's not surprising that the creative team of Little Women waited for Sutton Foster to leave Thoroughly Modern Millie before bringing the show to Broadway. With a big smile and an even bigger singing voice, Foster redefined spunky in her Tony Award-winning performance as Millie Dillmount. Rather than running off to Hollywood, she stayed with Millie for two years, and now, as Louisa May Alcott's tomboy heroine Jo March, she's got a part that's just as demanding nine songs!. Felled by bronchitis after New Year's weekend, Foster missed almost a week of previews but went back into the show in time for last-minute adjustments before the critics arrived. The sweet and soft-spoken star spoke with Broadway.com about what it's like to carry a big Broadway musical on her oh-so-slender shoulders.
How are you feeling?
Much better. Unfortunately this horrible flu and bronchitis has been going around the cast and crew, and one by one we've all gotten it. I was able to stave it off until I performed on The Today Show. I got up at 4:25AM and did it and was like, "Yay! It's all over!" and the next day I was sick. I think my body was waiting for that to happen and then I was down for the count.
And you couldn't hurry back because you've got so many songs to sing!
It was horrible to be away, but I was happy it happened then rather than two weeks later. When I was sick they put in new things and made small cuts, and two of the songs were reworked a little bit. The show takes off like a rocket now, which I'm so excited about. Everything is getting more and more settled, and the more we do it, the more of a family we become.
Are you nervous about the critics?
It's interesting—when I did Millie, I had no concept that $10 million was resting on me or that people were going to start talking about me because I was playing the lead. I just didn't realize it. With this, I know that the reviews will be a big deal, but I'm really proud of the show. Ultimately, whether the reviews are glowing or critical, I still have to perform the next day. I just want to hold on to my own feelings of pride. My responsibility is to do a good show. I feel very strongly about that.
You were in the chorus of the original Scarlet Pimpernel, so you've seen the challenges of turning a classic story into a musical.
It's all a crapshoot. We will have our skeptics; I knew that going into it. But I feel so passionate about this character I'm portraying and I feel very positive about the work I'm doing. That's all you can ever ask for. I just hope we have a great run.
Millie was hard, but this is hard too. It might actually be more intense because of the physical and emotional aspects of the part. I start off 16 years old and I grow to 20, and what I go through as an actor every night is emotionally more difficult. I don't have big dance numbers, but Jo is an incredibly physical character.
I heard that the second of three movie versions of Little Women, the 1949 film with June Allyson as Jo, was your favorite.
After I knew I was going to be doing the musical I watched all of the movies, and I liked that version because I could see a musical in it. It was very theatrical, and I could see where musical numbers could be inserted in the story.
Why is Jo so beloved?
She's a huge dreamer and she never takes no for an answer. She defies all the odds and breaks all the rules. In that time, the only option for young women was to get married and have babies. She didn't want that. She wanted to be a writer, and she showed women that you can be more than you think you're supposed to be. That message is still relevant today. We're still defying odds and fighting for equality. Jo was an incredible role model in the 1860s and she still is in 2005.
I was in the audience with a lot of very young girls and they were all riveted.
I met a little girl and her mom at the stage door the other night. The girl was about 8 or 9 and didn't want an autograph, she just wanted to say, "I really liked your part." I said, "She's cool, isn't she?" and she said "Yeah." I thought it was so great that she saw something in Jo that inspired her. What a wonderful character to be introducing to a new generation, to inspire girls to dream big. I was really touched by that.
You don't find Jo's rejection of Laurie [played by Danny Gurwin] problematic? My daughter was a fan of the Winona Ryder movie and said, "Jo is stupid. She turns down the cute guy and ends up with an old man."
I totally said the same thing when I saw the movie! I said [Foster takes on the voice of a teenage girl] "I don't get it. Why is she not with Laurie?" But I understand it now. Jo's whole fight in life is not to get married, and Laurie is her friend. Professor Bhaer is a teacher and a philosopher, all the things she is aspiring to be, and she realizes that if she were to marry, it would have to be to someone who challenges her intellectually. Louisa May Alcott did not want Jo to marry at all but her publisher pushed her, so she created the character of Professor Bhaer. In the book, he is nondescript and not necessarily handsome, but Jo falls in love with his mind and his spirit.
Isn't it ironic that after winning an Astaire Award, you're playing a character who hates to dance?
I love it! I feel like this is a really great follow-up to Millie for me.
When Glenn Close won her Tony for Death and the Maiden, she said in her acceptance speech, "There is life after Frank Rich," who had given her a bad review in the Times. When you won, were you tempted to say, "There is life…"
"…after Ben Brantley"? [Laughs] As much as I might have loved to publicly say something, you can't give power to critics because then they will rule the day. There is life after a negative review, and ultimately, it is just one person's opinion. Unfortunately, there's so much weight and power on that one person's opinion.
Meanwhile, the ever-opinionated John Simon loved you in Millie!
It got some very nice reviews. People either loved it or loathed it, and I think that's the kind of theater you want to be a part of. It's fun to do something that gets people talking and that people have strong opinions about.
I'm sure you got a lot of juicy offers after winning the Tony. Do you have any regrets about staying with the show for two years?
Oh God no. Not at all. I was approached by all the television networks about pilots and other things, and I really had to think about what I wanted to do with my life and career. Before Millie, I would take anything, and all of a sudden I had choices. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had no interest in going to Los Angeles. I loved being in New York, I loved being onstage, and I felt that as difficult as [stage acting] is, this is my calling. So I made the decision to stay here.
I don't think so. Wouldn't it be annoying? [Laughs] I don't have to worry about what I wear every day when I go outside. I'm famous on a very small level and I like that.
What are the odds that a brother and sister would come to New York and both become Broadway headliners, as you and your older brother Hunter have?
I know. It's crazy! We feel so lucky.
What have you learned from Hunter?
Well, he came here before I did and he was able to help me through the ropes. He taught me about open calls and what to do on auditions and all those things. And now we help each other through our ups and downs, which is wonderful.
You've never felt competitive with him?
No. We're proud of each other. You want people to succeed in this business because it's so difficult to make it. If I never do another show again and Hunter works until he's 80, I will be so proud.
I can hardly imagine the kind of nerve it took for you to go off on a national tour of The Will Rogers Follies when you were only 17.
I had a lot of tenacity. I just wanted it—I thought I could do it and I did.
Were you the tour mascot? What was your relationship with the other cast members?
I was the annoying little teenager! It was very difficult because I was surrounded by women and I had to grow up fast. It was a big test of what I could handle. I made it through a lot and I learned a lot.
Like what?
I learned to keep my mouth shut! [Laughs] I learned to be really respectful to people I worked with. Not that I wasn't already, but I didn't know how to fit in on a professional level. I was coming straight from high school and all of a sudden I'm working in a professional setting with adults. I just learned to calm down and be a hard worker and respect those around me.
When you got to Carnegie Mellon after the tour, did you feel, "I'm beyond this"?
It was more than that. I didn't know if I wanted to stay with theater. Carnegie Mellon was very challenging, I had just come off a national tour, and I wasn't ready to learn anything new. And I couldn't see paying $25,000 a year if I wasn't sure this was what I was meant to do.
Are you sorry you dropped out and missed the whole college experience?
I am a little bit. I wonder where I would be if I had stayed in college. I wonder if I would be starring in Little Women on Broadway.
Probably not!
But I do miss having had those fun years of being a teenager and young adult, partying and having fun. I never had that because I spent those years working.
When did realize that you were committed to acting?
It was actually during The Three Musketeers, a show I did in California between the La Jolla production of Millie and Broadway. It wasn't a great show, but it was a good show—and I remember being onstage thinking, "I can't imagine doing anything else." Something happened and I thought, "This is it. I'd better go for it." The whole experience was very special.
We met at Carnegie Mellon. He was two years ahead of me, and then we re-met doing The Three Musketeers. We were just friends then, but it was a special time.
Was it strange to have him play your love interest when he replaced Gavin Creel in Millie?
No. I think so highly of him as a performer that I never saw him as my boyfriend when we were onstage, I saw him as an actor. I know that seems weird, but I really did. I think he's amazing; he's the most talented person I know.
He's starting previews soon on Broadway in Spamalot. How do you balance two busy careers?
First of all, I'm so happy for him. He's been waiting so long for an opportunity like this. Spamalot is going to be huge, and I can't wait for him to experience that. I have such respect for him and I think he's such a brilliant performer that I wish only the best for him. He was an unbelievable source for support for me during Millie and I owe it to him to be the same.
So, your family isn't pushing you two to get married?
I think marriage is in our cards but I don't know when it will happen. We've talked about it, but right now we're both so busy and we have such a lovely, happy existence that we're in no hurry. I feel like it will happen when time allows.
Is it possible to be a Broadway star and not become a diva?
[Heatedly] Yes! All you have to do is keep your perspective. There are so many people who want to do what I am doing and I'm very aware of that. I'm also aware that I used to be a 14-year-old girl dreaming of this, so I never take it for granted. I cannot believe that I get to walk into a stage door in New York and do what I love to do every night. It is a complete gift. It's also the hardest thing I will ever do in my life. There's no way you can be a diva when you are working this hard!
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See Sutton Foster in Little Women at the Virginia Theatre, 245 West 52nd Street. Click for tickets and more information.
