\n<\/p>\n
There\u2019s busy, and then there\u2019s bonkers.<\/p>\n
Sutton Foster, one of musical theater\u2019s most celebrated performers, had already committed to starring in a City Center production of \u201cOnce Upon a Mattress,\u201d on top of developing concert shows for Carnegie Hall<\/a> and Caf\u00e9 Carlyle, when she was approached last fall about stepping into the lead female role in the Broadway revival of \u201cSweeney Todd.\u201d<\/p>\n She hesitated.<\/p>\n \u201cSweeney\u201d wanted new stars in January, the same month as the \u201cMattress\u201d production. She would have to simultaneously master two scores and two stagings while building the bespoke concert shows and learning to speak with a Cockney accent. And even if, as it turned out, \u201cSweeney\u201d was willing to wait until her \u201cMattress\u201d run ended, she\u2019d still have to do double duty \u2014 rehearsing \u201cSweeney\u201d during the day while performing \u201cMattress\u201d at night.<\/p>\n She said yes.<\/p>\n On Feb. 9, she took her first bows as Mrs. Lovett, the shamelessly resourceful pie shop owner in \u201cSweeney Todd,\u201d alongside Aaron Tveit, also in his first night, as the bloodthirsty barber (the show\u2019s title character). It was just five days after she took her final bows as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, a coarse but determined marriage candidate in \u201cOnce Upon a Mattress,\u201d and the applause was thunderous.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So how did she do it?<\/p>\n Plenty of people hold down two jobs at once. There are repertory companies in which actors perform in a rotating selection of shows. There are Broadway stars who spend offstage hours filming television shows. And 40 years ago, Cynthia Nixon, while still a teenager, spent three months performing in two Broadway plays at the same time (dashing from one theater to another and back again).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But still, learning the starring roles in two vocally and physically demanding musicals at virtually the same time is a feat. And, inevitably, Foster faced hurdles. Among them: Halfway through \u201cMattress\u201d rehearsals, she came down with Covid (for a third time).<\/p>\n In a series of interviews, Foster talked about why she agreed to the potential pileup and how she approached the work.<\/p>\n \u201cI do love a challenge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She has always revered \u201cSweeney Todd.\u201d The commitment being sought was relatively short \u2014 12 weeks. The two productions were willing to coordinate and adapt to accommodate her availability. And another factor, even for someone of her stature, was the ever-present awareness of the vagaries of theater.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an embarrassment of riches, and I\u2019m very aware of how lucky I am,\u201d Foster said. \u201cI get these opportunities to play roles like this, and I don\u2019t know how long that will be, you know? I know how rare it is. And I also know it\u2019s fleeting.\u201d<\/p>\n She decided to study \u201cSweeney\u201d first, even though she was starting performances in it last, because of the limited time between shows. \u201cThe score of \u2018Sweeney\u2019 is essentially an opera,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so complex, and one of the hardest scores I\u2019ve ever had to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n So she would spend as much time as possible on \u201cSweeney\u201d in November and December with the goal of being able to run through that show, without an audience, by early January; then she would set \u201cSweeney\u201d aside to learn \u201cMattress.\u201d Once \u201cMattress\u201d was up and running in late January, she would simultaneously resume rehearsing \u201cSweeney.\u201d The two-week \u201cMattress\u201d run would end on Feb. 4, which would give her a little less than a week to finish preparing for \u201cSweeney.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTo me it\u2019s clear that a normal human could not possibly do that,\u201d said Lear deBessonet, who directed Foster in \u201cMattress.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s completely epic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her time was further constrained by the concerts. She needed to pick and learn the songs and patter for the November Carnegie Hall show, which she was developing with a fellow Broadway star, Kelli O\u2019Hara, as a homage to Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett\u2019s 1962 Carnegie concert. And then she had to create a new holiday show for a seven-night December engagement at the Caf\u00e9 Carlyle.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was major compartmentalizing in my brain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Foster, 48, has been a darling of Broadway since 2002, when she broke through<\/a>, and won her first Tony Award, as a tap-dancing, husband-hunting flapper in \u201cThoroughly Modern Millie.\u201d Her performances are characterized by high energy, irrepressible spirit, and go-for-broke physical comedy. She can sing (\u201cthe voice of a trumpet<\/a>,\u201d this paper once wrote), she can dance (\u201cShe\u2019s the Top<\/a>,\u201d read a headline in Dance Magazine), and she can hold the stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe has that thing you can\u2019t teach,\u201d said Thomas Kail, the \u201cSweeney\u201d director. \u201cAs they say in \u2018Gypsy,\u2019<\/a> \u2018You either got it, or you ain\u2019t,\u2019 and she\u2019s got it.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years, Foster has performed in a dozen Broadway musicals, starring as the nightclub singer Reno Sweeney in \u201cAnything Goes,\u201d the ogress Fiona in \u201cShrek,\u201d a disfigured woman seeking faith healing in \u201cViolet,\u201d and, most recently, as Marian, the librarian, in \u201cThe Music Man.\u201d She has been nominated for Tony Awards seven times, and has won twice. She took a seven-year break from Broadway while appearing in the television series \u201cYounger\u201d; some fans also know her for the short-lived television drama \u201cBunheads.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The \u201cMattress\u201d and \u201cSweeney\u201d roles lead with comedy, and Foster knows how to land a laugh. She\u2019s also uninhibited \u2014 both characters, at least in her renderings, involve spitting up food onstage. \u201cI guess it\u2019s now my thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But the shows are also quite different, tonally and vocally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOnce Upon a Mattress,\u201d adapted from \u201cThe Princess and the Pea\u201d and featuring music by Mary Rodgers, is built for a belter \u2014 Foster\u2019s sweet spot<\/a> \u2014 and calls for a madcap performance by the leading lady, culminating in a virtuosic display of squirming as the princess finds herself unable to fall asleep. \u201cSweeney Todd,\u201d with a score by Stephen Sondheim, is more complex \u2014 tongue-twisting lyrics and unexpected notes \u2014 and, given its gruesome plot involving both homicide and cannibalism, much darker. Both characters are looking to upgrade their circumstances, but whereas Winnifred is blithely confident, Lovett is daffy and desperate.<\/p>\n The roles require a very different sound. \u201cIf I were to talk about it technically,\u201d Foster said, Lovett \u201csits right on my break\u201d \u2014 the place where the parts of her singing range meet. \u201cSo it\u2019s constantly swapping back and forth, between my chest voice, my head voice, my mixed, and all in there and it\u2019s like constantly navigating, and negotiating. It fits the character.\u201d Winnifred sits \u201clower and brassier and shinier,\u201d she added, but that feels right too. \u201cIt fits the character that she would be WAAH!\u201d<\/p>\n Her first task was dialect. Foster, who spent her early childhood in Georgia, has occasionally performed with a Southern accent, but Lovett\u2019s Cockney accent was new to her, so she began working with a dialect coach, learning to open her vowels and drop some of her consonants. \u201cI was really nervous \u2014 afraid to make a sound, thinking, \u2018I\u2019m going to offend every British person,\u2019\u201d she said. At one point, she took her daughter to see \u201cWonka,\u201d and found herself staring at Olivia Colman\u2019s mouth, trying to learn from the English actress\u2019s facial movements. \u201cAt first it was so technical,\u201d Foster said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get past the dialect to get to the words.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the same time, she began studying the score. Alex Lacamoire, the show\u2019s musical supervisor, would play the notes she needed to sing; she would record parts of their sessions. \u201cI listen over and over,\u201d she said, \u201cso I can nail it into my brain and let it seep into my bones.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cSweeney\u201d revival began a year ago<\/a>, with Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in the starring roles, and is a hit; after three months with Foster and Tveit, the show is expected to end its run. Foster had seen the revival twice, but opted not to listen to cast recordings or watch the movie as she prepared to join the cast, saying \u201cI\u2019m afraid of getting either intimidated or someone else\u2019s interpretation stuck in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n Once the Carlyle concerts were behind her, she began rehearsing with Tveit. Other than a bit of time off for the holidays, they worked steadily through December, so that by Jan. 5 they could do a so-called put-in rehearsal \u2014 a run-through of the show with full company and full orchestra, but only the new members of the cast in costume. \u201cI was really proud of myself that I was able to get through the show, and I was really grateful that I wasn\u2019t going into the show that night,\u201d Foster said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t like, \u2018I\u2019m never going to be able to do this.\u2019 It was more, \u2018I\u2019ve done it, and I have so much more I want to figure out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But that figuring out would have to wait.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to let it go,\u201d she said. \u201cIt just had to be put on the back burner, and I made \u2018Mattress\u2019 my focus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMattress\u201d was being staged as part of City Center\u2019s Encores! series, which presents short-run productions of classic musicals, and has a limited rehearsal process. Foster knew none of the songs when she arrived, so she spent two days huddled with that show\u2019s creative team before joining the rest of the cast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a little scary, in the sense of, is my brain going to be able to handle this? Do I have enough juice left in the tank, even creatively? Will I crash and burn?\u201d she said. \u201cBut that\u2019s also part of taking on any challenge. Parts of me are really excited, parts of me are calm, parts of me are nervous. It\u2019s all the things.\u201d<\/p>\n She had learned half the show, and made it through half the rehearsal days \u2014 when she tested positive for Covid, forcing her to take several days off. And when she returned she had to rehearse in a mask, even while singing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI was determined to keep going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMattress\u201d opened Jan. 24 to enthusiastic crowds and strong reviews. \u201cFoster\u2019s glee in taking possession of the stage,\u201d the critic Elisabeth Vincentelli wrote in The New York Times<\/a>, \u201ccreates an all-encompassing manic energy that both the audience and her scene partners feed off.\u201d<\/p>\n With \u201cMattress\u201d on its feet, Foster resumed rehearsing \u201cSweeney,\u201d learning Lovett during the day while performing as Winnifred at night.<\/p>\n \u201cI was witnessing her flip back and forth like she was changing channels on a TV,\u201d said Mary-Mitchell Campbell, the \u201cMattress\u201d musical director. \u201cIt was insane but phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n It was also painful. \u201c\u2018Mattress\u2019 was way more physical than I was anticipating,\u201d Foster said. \u201cI\u2019d go to sleep and my hip would hurt, my shoulder, my back, my foot. Winnifred beat me up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSweeney\u201d was no joke either \u2014 she was developing physical antics that included massaging Tveit\u2019s chest with her feet while she sang upside down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n