Sutton Foster Starring Opposite Hugh Jackman in Broadway’s ‘The Music Man’

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “The Music Man” has found its Marian, the librarian.

Sutton Foster, the two-time Tony Award winner, will star opposite Hugh Jackman in the upcoming revival of “The Music Man.” She will play Marian Paroo, a small-town librarian who is initially immune to Professor Harold Hill’s charms. It’s a role that was previously performed by the legendary soprano likes of Barbara Cook and Shirley Jones.

Foster credits include “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Anything Goes,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Little Women,” “Shrek The Musical,” and “Violet.” On television, she’s appeared in “Younger.” “The Music Man” will be her first Broadway show in six years.

The production, will be directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. Scott Rudin is producing the show, which will begin performances on Sept. 9, 2020 and officially open on Oct. 22, 2020. A venue has yet to be announced. The show will be a hot ticket given Jackman’s star power and audiences’ familiarity with the book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson. The play follows Hill’s attempts to pull a con on a small town by posing as the leader of a marching band.

In a statement, Foster appropriated some lines from one of Marian’s most famous songs. “There were bells on a hill but I never heard them ringing,” she said. “No, I never heard them at all. Till there was Hugh.”