{"id":470985,"date":"2026-09-21T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470985\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T17:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:00:09","slug":"sutton-foster-sings-with-hugh-jackman-pacific-jazz-orchestra-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470985\/","title":{"rendered":"Sutton Foster Sings With Hugh Jackman, Pacific Jazz Orchestra in L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSutton Foster<\/a> charmed an appreciative audience on Saturday night at The Soraya in Northridge, California, with a nearly two-hour performance filled with show tunes and classics, backed by the Pacific Jazz Orchestra \u2014 with a surprise appearance by her romantic partner, Hugh Jackman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tFoster kicked off the show by introducing a few folks, including her music director and collaborator, Michael Rafter, who was on piano during the night, and Pacific Jazz Orchestra conductor Chris Walden. She then noted the importance and value of live shows: \u201cWe are all live humans, and this is a live orchestra, and you are a live audience. And we are so lucky that we get to gather and celebrate live music,\u201d she said, to applause from the audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Tony winner sang several Cole Porter songs, including \u201cI Get a Kick Out of You\u201d and \u201cBlow, Gabriel, Blow\u201d from Anything Goes and \u201cDon\u2019t Look at Me That Way\u201d (\u201cIt\u2019s quickly becoming one of my favorites,\u201d she said of the latter). She also sang Porter\u2019s \u201cMiss Otis Regrets,\u201d which she noted she\u2019d performed a dance number to when she was young. Marc Shaiman arranged the version she sang, which was based on a Bette Midler rendition, and Foster revealed that Shaiman connected her with Midler, who gave her approval to use that arrangement, much to Foster\u2019s delight.<\/p>\n

\n\tFoster also shared stories of her 9-year-old daughter, Emily (\u201cShe\u2019s my favorite person that I\u2019ve ever met\u201d), and segued into urging the audience to live in the moment before singing \u201cLife Is Just a Bowl of Cherries.\u201d She also shared a funny description of her dad, who loves the Weather Channel and the Atlanta Braves, apparently tracks her flights and says humorous things to her, like: \u201cYou know, you can really tell when someone else does your hair and makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Foster\u2019s singing chops are nearly superhuman, she did have a moment that showed her more endearingly human side just before intermission. She ended the first \u201cact\u201d with \u201cAnything Goes\u201d from Anything Goes, noting that she knew \u201conly one way to and an act one, and it\u2019s with this song.\u201d However, just a few bars into the song, she noted she had \u201cthis thing in my throat\u201d and asked Walden and the musician to pause the music.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI could feel it coming on, you know that thing when you get like a tickle in the back of your throat,\u201d she told the audience, noting the moment was unplanned. \u201cIt feels super daunting to sing this song anyway, but not like this. \u2026 I\u2019ve never had to do that, but I\u2019m really glad I stopped. This is a lesson. It is OK to stop. I\u2019ve got young performers here [in the audience]. You know what? it\u2019s just a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the second half of the show, Foster performed a mash-up of \u201cIf I Were a Bell\u201d from Guys and Dolls and \u201cSingin\u2019 in the Rain\u201d from the musical of the same name as well as Duke Ellington\u2019s \u201cI Like the Sunrise,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it was during \u201cA Doodlin\u2019 Song\u201d that Jackman came out onstage, much to the delight of the crowd. After Foster sang the lyrics, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you join the group? It\u2019s better than being a party-poop,\u201d Jackman then joined in, to loud applause. The couple, who have been dating for nearly two years, engaged in some fun onstage banter: \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d she asked him. \u201cYou said you wanted me to join the group,\u201d he replied. \u201cNo, you\u2019re supposed to stay backstage? \u2026 Why do you have a microphone?\u201d she asked him. \u201cIt\u2019s 2026; everybody has a microphone,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the song was over, Foster began, \u201cSo now that you\u2019re onstage \u2026 \u201d to which he joked: \u201cYeah, do you want five or six numbers from me?\u201d Jackman continued: \u201cWell, I don\u2019t know if a lot of people know this, but we sang this, and we\u2019re gonna sing a song that we sang together many or a couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIndeed, Jackman did stay to perform for another song \u2014 a complete surprise to the audience as it wasn\u2019t listed in the program \u2014 with Foster. That song, \u201cA Million Dreams,\u201d from Jackman\u2019s 2017 film The Greatest Showman, was something the couple workshopped together 12 years ago. \u201cIt took eight years for The Greatest Showman to be built, and I was a part of two of the workshops,\u201d Foster said. \u201cIt was many years ago, so this is a song that we did sing together and we would love to sing it for you tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a sweet moment, Jackman gave Foster a kiss before departing the stage. \u201cI don\u2019t know how we recover from that, so we\u2019re just gonna end the show now,\u201d Foster quipped of Jackman\u2019s cameo. She thanked Jackman for coming out onstage with her \u201cand singing and for getting my daughter Taco Bell today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFoster then sang \u201cMeantime\u201d before being given a standing ovation. She indulged the crowd in one last bonus tune: \u201cTill There Was You,\u201d from The Music Man. That musical, of course, had a revival on Broadway that debuted in 2022 and starred Foster and Jackman. The crowd happily obliged her request to sing along.<\/p>\n

\n\tFoster\u2019s performance kicked off The Soraya\u2019s 2026-27 season, which marks its 16th season overall, and the first under new executive and artistic director Chad Hilligus. See the full schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sutton Foster charmed an appreciative audience on Saturday night at The Soraya in Northridge, California, with a nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[185208,48,52,51,47,50,49,185209],"class_list":["post-470985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-hugh-jackman","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-sutton-foster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}