The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines Presents An Evening With Sutton Foster 5/13

The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines welcomes Tony Award® winning actress and singer Sutton Foster in An Evening with Sutton Foster to Civic Center's Temple Theater for one night only cabaret performance on Thursday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. Seating will be limited.

This evening of song and laughter, presented with her Musical Director Michael Rafter accompanying, is fueled by Ms. Foster's sparkling wit and incredible voice. Songs for the evening are drawn from her critically-acclaimed debut solo album Wish and from the stage roles that have helped make her famous, such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Drowsy Chaperone.

Tickets for AN EVENING WITH Sutton Foster go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 26, 2010 at the Civic Center Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster locations, charge-by-phone at (800) 745-3000 and online at CivicCenter.org. Civic Center Members will be able to purchase tickets earlier beginning Monday, April 19.

DAY DATE TIME TICKET PRICES
Thursday May 13 7:30 p.m. $40

All pricing includes a Building Restoration Fee of $2.50

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 was Inga in the 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!. Regional productions include What the World Needs Now (Old Globe), Dorian (Goodspeed), The Three Musketeers (San Jose Musical Theater), Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Sally in Me and My Girl (both at Pittsburgh CLO). She has toured nationally in The Will Rogers Follies, Les Miserables, and Grease!.

She has appeared as Svetlana in Chess in Concert and as the "I'm the Greatest Star" Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in Concert, both Actors Fund of America benefits. On television, Sutton recently guest starred on "Law & Order: SVU." Other appearances include the Disney Channel's "Johnny and the Sprites" and several episodes of the HBO series, "The Flight of the Conchords."

Sutton has performed in concert at Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, at Feinstein's, Joe's Pub, and at concert halls and theaters across the country. 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.

Her debut solo CD, Wish (Ghostlight Records), was recently released to critical acclaim and is now available in stores. In April 2010, she starred in the highly-anticipated City Center Encores! production of Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle.

Michael Rafter recently returned from Melbourne, Australia where he supervised the music for the hit Broadway show, Jersey Boys. He has traveled the globe this past year, working on the other six productions as well--from Toronto and Las Vegas to Melbourne.

Sutton Foster and Michael collaborated on her first solo CD, Wish, that was released 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 10 musicians ... created a softened 1920s sound, at once lilting and refined." He also co-produced Norm Lewis's solo CD, This Is The Life, and the recording of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's Broadway show, Caroline, Or Change.

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. His recent movie credits include two movies with Hugh Grant: Music And Lyrics (piano/vocal coach, produced vocals) and recently released Did You Hear About The Morgans? (produced vocal and instrumental tracks). 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. Michael did the arrangements for the Broadway productions of Swing and Sweet Charity. He was one of the two piano duo that played the Broadway revival of The Most Happy Fella, and worked on The Tap Dance Kid and Les Miserables as well. In addition, Michael was the music director/conductor for The American Songbook series at Alice Tully Hall. He was also the music director for Broadway's Best on Bravo where he worked with such artists as Trisha Yearwood, Kevin Bacon, Joan Osborne, MAndy Moore, Cyndi Lauper, Darius Rucker, and Shawn Colvin. 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.SutttonFoster.com.

The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines
The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines is a private not-for-profit corporation celebrating over 30 years of presenting the performing arts to Iowa and the surrounding states. It is the presenter of major Broadway and educational touring companies, performers and groups, and is the performing home of many local and regional groups, including the Des Moines Symphony and StageWest. All performances of the Broadway Series are supported by Willis Auto Campus. All performances at the Civic Center's Temple Theater are supported by Prairie Meadows. All performances of the Family Series are supported by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

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