'Bunheads' Amy Sherman-Palladino Talks Reuniting with VIOLET's Sutton Foster

In an exclusive interview with Zap2it.com, 'Bunheads' scribe Amy Sherman-Palladino talks about her first Broadway producing experience for the Sutton Foster-led Violet, now playing at New York's American Airlines Theater. The production marks a reunion for Sherman-Palladino and Foster, who starred on the short-lived ABC Family ballet dramedy series.

"We bonded with the delightful Ms. Sutton Foster during 'Bunheads' and now we'll be stalking her for the rest of her life," Sherman-Palladino joked to the site on the Broadway musical which recently picked up Tony nominations for Best Revival of Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical.

She continues, "Sutton is a gift from the heavens. She's incredible and we just adore her and as sad as we were to see 'Bunheads' go out, it was quite a fun show to do. It brought us close to her [in] a lasting friendship for all times. When that ship sinks, we all go down with the ship together. So, you know, I'm not going to say it was worth it 'cause I wish the show was still going on but at least we got that thing out of it."

The writer and her husband attended a rehearal for last year's one-night-only concert performance of the then Off Broadway musical, and immediately knew they wanted to play a role in bringing the show to the Broadway stage. "We saw this unbelievable rehearsal of this show that we didn't know anything about," Sherman-Palladino explains. "The Roundabout [Theatre Company] really wanted to do 'Violet,' but they needed some outside people because they were not budgeted for a big musical. They needed someone to come in and sort of jumpstart things and luckily we were there to help jumpstart it. We've been there the whole way, through a lot of the rehearsals, the CD recordings, the previews and now we've been helping them plan the Tony presentation."

Sherman-Palladino offered her own explanation as to why the show appeals to a wide-ranging audience. "I believe it's the kind of show that even people who think about musicals are all about jumping around and about writing a song -- some people just don't like that -- those people would like 'Violet.' it's a human show. It's not about breaking into song, and jumping around. The music is so wonderful; it's something that I think would appeal to a lot of people who wouldn't necessarily go see a Broadway show."

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Violet stars Sutton Foster, Colin Donnell, Alexander Gemignani and Joshua Henry. The cast also includes Ben Davis, Annie Golden, Emerson Steele, Austin Lesch,Anastasia McCleskey, Charlie Pollock, Jacob Keith Watson, Rema Webband Virginia Ann Woodruff.

Based on the short story "The Ugliest Pilgrim" by Doris Betts, Violet features music byJeanine Tesori, book & lyrics by Brian Crawley and direction by Leigh Silverman. The creative team includes Jeffrey Page(Choreographer), Joseph Joubert and Buryl Red (Original Orchestrations) andMichael Rafter (Music Director). The design team includes David Zinn (Sets), Clint Ramos(Costumes), Mark Barton (Lights) and Leon Rothenberg (Sound).

Read the interview in full here

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus