By Andrew Gans
08 May 2009

	Sutton Foster
	photo by Joan Marcus

SUTTON FOSTER
Nominated for her performance as Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical at the Broadway Theatre.

Speaking of phenomenal comic timing, Tony Award winner Sutton Foster was also out walking her dog when the news of her fourth — yes, fourth! — Tony nomination was announced on TV.

"I was out getting coffee. I went out with my dog, so I was in the rain," Foster explains, "and then I came back and I turned [the TV] on, and I missed the [announcement]. But a friend of mine texted and said, 'Congratulations!' Then my agent called, and he told me. I asked, 'Did the show get nominated?' That was the first thing [I wanted to know], and he said yes, and I was like, 'Oh, yay!'"

Although she won a Tony for her dazzling performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie and was also Tony-nominated for her work in Little Women and The Drowsy Chaperone, Foster says a nomination is still an honor. "I grew up watching the Tony Awards," the Georgia native says. "To be a working actor on Broadway and to be recognized in this way and to be able to put on a pretty dress and to be invited to go to the Tony Awards and to be able to perform, hopefully, it really is a dream come true, and it never gets old. It's a beautiful, beautiful blessing, and I feel so proud to be a part of this show and so proud that it's been recognized."

	Sutton Foster in Shrek
	photo by Joan Marcus

Foster, who possesses a powerful, exciting, clear-as-a-bell Broadway belt, plays Princess Fiona opposite the Shrek of fellow 2009 Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James in the new musical by lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire and composer Jeanine Tesori, and she says this role is especially meaningful to her. "It's probably one of my greatest opportunities," Foster admits, "a great fit of a role and a person, probably closest to me of any other part that I've played. . . .It's just been a wonderful process working on this for about two or three years. It's this thing that's been released in my life . . . and I just feel really attached, I guess. I care about it, and I'm proud of the show."

Foster adds, "It's exciting to play a strong person. I love the idea that [Fiona] tries so hard to be this perfect pretty princess, yet she's really this farting, crazy woman. And I'm like, 'I can relate to that!' [Laughs.] I think it's a great role model to young girls to embrace your inner ogre and [know] that beauty really is within and not necessarily what you look like. I think that's a really important message."

As for the role's biggest challenge, the triple threat says, "Unfortunately, I would probably say the makeup at the end. Every night when they come at me with the green sponges I'm like, 'No! Please don't do it!'"

	Stockard Channing

STOCKARD CHANNING
Nominated for her performance as Vera Simpson in the recent Pal Joey revival at Studio 54.

Stockard Channing is one of those extremely rare species: an actor who can stand still on stage, say nothing, and be completely riveting. Add to that her consummate acting skills, her intelligent delivery of a lyric — her "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in the recent revival of Pal Joey was a mini-drama in itself — and it is no wonder that the Tony and Emmy winner received her sixth (!) Tony nomination earlier this week for her performance as the sophisticated "cougar" Vera Simpson in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical.

When reached the morning of the Tony announcements, Channing told Playbill.com's Robert Simonson, "I'm on a train going to Paris, where I will be in about ten minutes. So I may get cut off, because we're going into a tunnel. I'm literally in the suburbs of Paris. I've been on vacation. I'm going to Paris for a few days, then I go back to London then back to the States. Someone called me on the train, and then my British cell phone promptly died on me!"

While she was playing the role at Studio 54, Channing told me, "I think [Vera] is a pretty amoral person in many ways, but I think she's got ethics. They're two different things. She's a woman of the world. I think her feathers are definitely singed by this [experience with Joey]. I don't think she'll ever probably go as deep again [into another relationship]. I do think that she has her own comeuppance in this. That's about as much as I can say. I really leave that for the people watching Vera."

	Stockard Channing in Pal Joey
	photo by Joan Marcus

Channing, who won her Tony for her performance in Joe Egg, said she had many favorite moments in Pal Joey. "I really love playing her," Channing explained at the time. "She's become such a rich character. I love the moment where she realizes that she has made him up, shall we say. I love it when the audience gasps when she realizes that she has fallen in love with this guy that is not what she thought, and that split second where she has to give him up and how horrible that is for her and how gutted she is and how angry she is and how lonely she is. I think that's a very interesting choice. Many moments. I don't want to give the game away by talking about it too much, and certainly 'Bewitched' is kind of cool, because the lyrics are really supporting an emotional journey she's going through, which is kind of amazing."

When asked in January whether she would like to do more theatre, Channing answered, "I would, but something this good comes along very rarely. The part is great, and the production is great. We'll see what happens. You never know. That's what I said at the beginning of the conversation. When someone said to me two years ago, 'They want you to do Pal Joey,' I said, 'Oh, yeah right!' [Laughs.] And here I am!"

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.

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