SUTTON HOOKS US IN
The evening with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall last night began with a series of stellar and inspiring performances by the Grand Prize winners of the 2024 Fidelity Investments Young Artists Competition (Jiyu Oh, violin; Dilzafer Singh, tabla drums; Lazar Kaminsky, cello; and Brian Washington and Pelin Su Yavuz, drumset and piano duo). These were followed by Sutton Foster, winner of two Tony Awards for her roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes. Other Broadway credits include roles in The Music Man and most recently, Sweeney Todd and, soon, Once Upon a Mattress. Foster was joined by Michael Rafter, the man she described as her mentor and collaborator, on piano. Famed and beloved Pops conductor Keith Lockhart had been slated to conduct but was unable to do so due to a family emergency. He was replaced at the last minute by Eric Stern, but the performance gave no hint of any disruption.
Pelin Su Yavuz and Brian Washington with the Boston Pops
Lazar Kaminsky with the Boston Pops
Dilzafer Singh and Alexander Newman at Symphony Hall
Jiyu Oh with the Boston Pops
Stern had been a mentor to Rafter, in fact; thus we were treated to three performers with a long history of influence and mutual support working together to bring us an evening of delightful music. Rafter is also Foster’s arranger, and his work was spot on, fully taking advantage of the size and range of the Pops to enhance and support, but never overpower, Foster’s voice. She brought her clear and gorgeous soprano to her delightful opening medley, which combined Loesser’s “If I Were a Bell” with “Singin’ in the Rain” and later to Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.” But Foster isn’t just sweetness and light: later in the evening she proved she could rival Carol Burnett in belting out “Meantime, ” written by composer Robert Allen and lyricist Al Stillman for Burnett’s concert with Julie Andrews in 1962.
An Evening with Sutton Foster with the Boston Pops
Few performers are able to bring so much of themselves to the stage in a sincere and engaging manner as Foster. She dedicated “Undecided” (Robin/Shavers) to her seven-year-old daughter, Emily, adding lyrics about the difficulties of getting a young child out of the house and told us about her life as a Broadway mom, having to put her young child to bed via FaceTime from her dressing room, before singing “Goodnight My Someone,” the song from The Music Man she sings to her daughter each night. She even brought a chair onto the stage, sat down and pulled a crocheted blanket-in-progress from a large tote bag and explained how crafting has connected her to her mother and brought balance to a life that may look glamorous from the outside but that is filled with challenges and stressors. After making a subtle plug for her 2021 book Hooked, she proceeded to sing yet another beautifully arranged Rafter medley of “Que Sera, Sera” and John Denver’s “Sunshine on My Shoulders” while crocheting yet another row of her current project.
Sutton Foster at Symphony Hall
By now, it was clear that the audience was “hooked” on Foster, and she brought the evening to a satisfying end with Rodgers & Sondheim’s “Thank You So Much” from Do I Hear a Waltz, and finally, as an encore, Meredith Willson’s “Till There Was You.” Ms. Foster appears again tonight, June 5, with the Pops in a program that includes a performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue featuring pianist Marta Aznavoorian, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the work.
Sutton Foster with the Boston Pops
photos by Michael J. Lutch, courtesy of the BSO
An Evening with Sutton Foster and Fidelity Young Artists
presented by Boston Pops
Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston
reviewed on June 4, 2024
An Evening with Sutton Foster plays on June 5, 2024
for tickets, visit BSO
