Sutton

From the series ‘Interviews With People I Like But Will Never Meet’.

I ask Sutton to remove her humility for just one second and ask her to describe herself in three adjectives. No joking around. No self-deprecation. Positive light. She can't do it.

Lithe. Tasteful. Elegant.

She’s far too modest. She has to know I'm right. Foster has an air about her. I can’t quite describe the feeling of being in her presence. She reminds me of my neighbour.

We sit down for cake. She loves cake.

“Sugar is my saviour.”

Foster is a Broadway gal at heart and loves that Younger (her TV Land comedy-drama) films in the heart of the city.

“There’s always something. You want a quiet space? You want to people-watch? You want to be consumed? NYC has everything. Every day I feel like I’m 19-year-old me again. I break out into ‘NYC/Just got here this morning/Three bucks, two bags, one me’ far too often.”

She just sung for me. At me. We could wrap this now and I’d die happy.

You can see her as the Star to Be in the 1997 Broadway revival of Annie on YouTube. Could it be any more fitting? Five years later and she was claiming her first Tony Award.

“Millie was a turning point for me. Even though I had been on Broadway, I was now the one people were watching. Our original Millie dropped out in LA and I got the call to step up. I was a real-life Peggy Sawyer!”

What I would have given to see that original production.

“New York changed before Millie got to town. 9/11 had such an impact on everyone and we were this love letter to the city. It was escapism, not just for the audience, but for us too. Gavin [Creel] and I fell in love. Not romantic love, but this deep kind of human connection. Each time we danced on that ledge and sung, we had this growth of adoration. If he didn’t like men and I wasn’t in a relationship, we would be married by now, I tell ya!”

What I would give to dance on a ledge and have Gavin Creel sing to me. Hell, what would I give to have Gavin Creel look at me.

Foster married her screenwriter husband, Ted Griffin, in 2014 and adopted their daughter, Emily, in 2017.

“I’ve always been a fan of adoption and it just seemed natural – as soon as we started pursuing adoption, it was as if heavens opened up. Someday, I can’t wait to tell her. It was a really beautiful and amazing journey to find her, and I feel like we found each other.”

The future is bright for Sutton. The sixth series of Younger is about to be released, there’s buzz about her moving into film, and rumours are circulating around her starring in a brand-new musical-comedy written by Scott Frankel and Michael Korrie of Grey Gardens/War Paint fame. She denies these rumours and claims she has no idea what I’m talking about.

I quiz on to her recent move to TV. Foster aficionados will have loved Bunheads, and Younger now has a cult following and is doing better than anyone expected.

“I love TV. The screen allows you to make mistakes and fix them instantly. But I guess that’s the fun thing about stage. There’s no room to hide. You’re always on your toes.”

I mention that she is missed on The Great White Way. There has to be something soon.

“The Millie concert at the start of the year was incredible. It’s a timeless story. What I love about it is it’s just fun but has that gooey, sincere little heart. I was proud we were able to hold onto that and really send it up with integrity and sincerity, to really honour what it is and what it was and what so many people remembered about it and loved about it.”

We briefly recap all her Broadway roles, as well as off-Broadway, national tours and regional appearances.

“That’s a long list. I’m feeling all of those forty-three years.”

As much as I want to see her do Millie again (she’ll protest that she’s too old), there’s so much more out there for her.

“I got to do Charity a couple of years ago and that was a dream come true. But now I’m getting to that age. I wish it wasn’t a thing, but it seems to be. Where are the roles for the 40-something-year-old female dancers? A Chorus Line?”

She looks 20. She’s not playing Cassie.

“Maybe there’ll be something soon. Who knows in this crazy business?”

My brain zooms forward. “How about Phyllis Rogers Stone?” Her eyes light up at the mention of a Sondheim show. I have been consumed with the idea since seeing the 2017 National Theatre production of Follies. Can you just imagine her performing ‘Could I Leave You?’ and ‘The Story of Lucy and Jessie’? Give it 10 to 15 years. There’s her 13th Tony nomination. I bet she wins it, too.

It seems like a natural fit. The 2011 revival of Anything Goes was staged at the Stephen Sondheim theatre, but that’s the closest we have been to a collaboration, save for a 2010 Encores! Production of Anyone Can Whistle and a couple of his songs on her three albums.

We can all see Mama Rose, but let’s give her another 20 to 30 years. The funny thing is that she seems eternally youthful. Will a Rose who can out-sexy Lousie, out-high kick June, and out-dance Tulsa work…? Look, she can do anything. There’s her 14th Tony nomination.

I continue; Assassins (Sara Jane Moore), Company (female Bobby perhaps?), A Funny Thing… (Domina), Into the Woods (Witch or Baker’s Wife), A Little Night Music (Desiree), Merrily… (Mary or Beth), Passion (Fosca… makeup necessary), Sweeney Todd (Mrs Lovett), Sunday… (Dot).

She smiles and giggles at my sugar-induced rapid fire.

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see”

She inflects upwards at her statement’s ending. I pry further, thinking there’s something there. She gives me nothing. I know Damn Yankees! is rumoured to return in soon, and of course I can see her as Lola, but it’s still not Sondheim.

“What else do you want?” I ask.

“Want and need are very important words for humans. Some struggle to separate one from the other. I want those I love to be happy, and I know that I can provide a certain amount of happiness. What we need is love. We need acceptance. We need a world that is a better place when we leave it than when we found it. I guess I want that too.”

She pauses.

“I want another piece of cake, but I don’t need it.“

We stand to leave, and she places her ever-reaching arms around back. I stand and watch her walk away.

But this didn’t happen, and it probably never will, because I don’t know Sutton Foster and she is not my friend.