Review: Broadway star Sutton Foster heats up new Queens arts center on a snowy night
You’d be hard-pressed to think of a better way to inaugurate a sparkling new, $23 million arts center than with a concert by the effervescent Broadway star Sutton Foster.
Foster was the first artist to perform at Queens University of Charlotte’s Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for the Arts and Civic Engagement. As wet snow gently fell Thursday night, she lit up the sold-out Sandra Levine Theater with a lively and lovely show.
She sang, she shimmied, she told a few jokes and dispensed a few stories. She easily moved her arms as the songs dictated, whether jazz hands or in her own embrace. They weren’t the least distracting; they were all for the performance.
I’m thinking of “If They Could See Me Now,” from “Sweet Charity,” where Foster’s jaunty phrasing and movement fit the mood perfectly. From there, she easily segued into Cole Porter’s “I Get A Kick Out Of You.”
In fact, most of her songs were pairings of showtunes, such as her opening number of “A Cockeyed Optimist” and “Everybody Says Don’t.” Throughout, Foster was joined on stage by her long-time musical director and pianist, Michael Rafter.
“I don’t know if you know this, but my roots are from North Carolina,” Foster said early on, to cheers from the sold-out crowd in the 1,000-seat venue. “My entire family is from here, so it feels good to be back home.”
Foster, though, grew up in Troy, Mich. Ever since she was little, she said, all she wanted to do was sing. For anyone. “My No. 1 piece of advice,” Foster said, “is to say yes. To say yes to life. To say yes to opportunities.
“Except porn. Don’t make the same mistake I made,” she joked.
There aren’t many mistakes on the resume of this Broadway vet who captured Tony Awards for leading roles in “Anything Goes” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” This fall, she’ll appear in her 12th Broadway show, a revival of “The Music Man,” where she plays Marian the librarian opposite Hugh Jackman’s Harold Hill.
So she knows her way around a stage and a phrase or two.
Throughout the night, Foster paid tribute to several people, including Rick Bodick, her high school drama teacher, and her mom, both of whom have passed away. She also paid tribute to her nearly 3-year-old daughter, who already has the musical-theater bug.
And when she paid tribute to Megan McGinnis, her best friend and co-star from “Little Women — The Musical,” she brought McGinnis on stage for a pair of duets.
It wasn’t quite all showtunes during the brisk, 90-minute set. One of her songs with McGinnis was an a cappella version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Old Friends.”
Foster sang ”Sunshine On My Shoulders” because it was one by her mother’s favorite singer, John Denver. “Whenever we perform,” Foster said, “I always sing a song for her.”
And she invoked Bodick when she sweetly sang a pair of songs from shows of his she was in, “How to Handle a Woman,” from “Camelot,” and “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’“ from “Oklahoma!” During her career, Foster said, she’s had plenty of fancy people see her perform, from Liza Minnelli to Bill Clinton.
“But no one was as fancy as Mr. Bodick was,” she said. “When he was in the audience, it was a beautiful day.”
Near the end of the evening, Foster wanted to thank her daughter, Emily. One day when she was getting ready to do a concert, she told Emily she was going to work. “You’re not going to work,” Emily said. “You’re going to sing.”
Foster never made it look like work at Queens. She was going to sing, and you were in very good hands.
Sutton Foster’s set list
1. “A Cockeyed Optimist” / “Everybody Says Don’t”
2. “Not for the Life of Me” / “NYC” / “Astonishing”
3. “The Newness of You”
4. “If My Friends Could See Me Now” / “I Get A Kick Out Of You”
5. “Don’t Look At Me That Way”
6. “C’est Magnifique”
7. “Give Him the Ooh-La-La”
8. “The Nearness of You”
9. “Stars and the Moon”
10. “Any Moment” / “Moment in the Woods”
11. “How to Handle a Woman” / “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’”
12. “If I Were a Bell” / Singin’ in the Rain”
13. “Room”
14. “Up On the Roof”
15. “Lies of Handsome Men”
16. “Down With Love”
17. “Flight” (With Megan McGinnis)
18. “Old Friends” (With Megan McGinnis)
15. “Sunshine On My Shoulders”
16. “Anyone Can Whistle” / “Being Alive”
17. “A Cockeyed Optimist” / “Take Me to the World” / “Starting Here, Starting Now”
Encore:
18. “On My Way to You”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 6:58 AM.
