AN EVENING WITH SUTTON FOSTER Opens New Broadway Playhouse 9/23-26

Broadway In Chicago is pleased to offer the chance to see a legendary Broadway star in a rare, intimate concert setting and to be one of the first people to experience the new Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place at AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster. The Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning actress will perform an exclusive, four-night engagement to inaugurate the new Broadway Playhouse (175 E. Chestnut) September 23 - 26, 2010.

Tony Award winner Sutton Foster gives a special concert performance during AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster with music direction by Michael Rafter (Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music, Jersey Boys, The King & I). Although Sutton has been working on Broadway and national tours since she was 17, she became a Broadway legend when she became an "understudy to the rescue" and took on the lead role of "Millie" in Thoroughly Modern Millie, eventually winning the 2002 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Since then, she has created four original roles in four new Broadway musicals Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek The Musical; a record unsurpassed by any musical theatre actress of her generation. Of the evening, Broadway World.com recently wrote "A stunning performance...Ms. Foster proved she's a major force to be reckoned with, not just on Broadway , but in concert as well." Foster will perform Broadway hits along with songs from her CD Wish (Ghostlight Records), which was co-produced, arranged and music directed by Mr. Rafter. AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster is produced by Fox Theatricals.

Broadway In Chicago and Water Tower Place recently announced the addition of a new venue, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut Street to its family of theatres. Broadway In Chicago entered into a long-term agreement with General Growth Properties (owner and manager of Water Tower Place) that will allow the theatre, formerly known as the Drury Lane at Water Tower Place, to re-open as the Broadway Playhouse. In addition to the inaugural performance of AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster, TRACES will perform at the Broadway Playhouse October 26, 2010 - January 2, 2011 and a newly adapted version of the musical WORKING is slated to open on February 15, 2011.

Individual tickets to AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster are $55 - $60 and are currently on sale. A limited number of premium seats and $25 - $30 week-of rush seats are available. Tickets are on sale at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St. and 18 W. Monroe St.); the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000; all Ticketmaster retail locations (including Hot Tix and select Carson Pirie Scott, Coconuts and fye stores); and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com. Groups of 15 or more should call (312) 977-1710.

The performance schedule for AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster is as follows:
Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 26 at 2:00 p.m.

Sutton Foster recently starred on Broadway as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, for which she was honored with Tony and Drama Desk nominations, and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Prior to that Sutton starred as Inga in The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, Janet Van De Graaff in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, LA Ovation Award) and Jo March in Little Women: The Musical (2005 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). She is the recipient of the 2002 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Astaire Awards for her performance as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, a role she created in the 2000 La Jolla Playhouse premiere. Other Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease!. Recordings include The Maury Yeston Songbook (PS Classics), Jule Styne in Hollywood and the original cast recordings of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek The Musical. In April 2010 she starred in the highly-anticipated City Center Encores! Production of Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle. Her debut solo CD, Wish (Ghostlight Records), was recently released to critical acclaim and is now available in stores. For more information, visit her website at www.suttonfoster.com

Michael Rafter recently returned from Melbourne, Australia where he supervised the music for the hit Broadway show Jersey Boys. Sutton Foster and Michael collaborated on her first solo CD, Wish, that was release in February and performed it live at the Lincoln Center American Songbook series. The New York Times wrote: "Michael Rafter's subtle, glowing arrangements for ten musicians...created a softened 1920s sound, at once lifting and refined." Michael conducted Gypsy on Broadway, as well as the TV movie starring Bette Midler, and won an Emmy award for his music direction of the movie. He has supervised the Broadway and/or national touring companies of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Sunset Boulevard, The Sound of Music, The Buddy Holly Story and the current hit Jersey Boys. On Broadway, Michael has served as music director/conductor of Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music, The King & I and Gypsy. As a guest conductor, Michael conducted the Memphis Symphony and the Tulsa Philharmonic for an evening of Jule Styne's music.

For more information please visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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