'An Evening with Sutton Foster' lives up to Broadway billing

When Broadway in Chicago President Lou Raizin spoke at the opening of remodeled and renamed Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, he also paid tribute to the late Tony DeSantis who brought back live theater to the Michigan Avenue high rise in 2004. "The chandeliers are gone, but not forgotten," Raizin said, garnering chuckles for the decor of the former Drury Lane Theatre at Water Tower Place. Now that Broadway in Chicago has taken over the theater's lease, the reconfigured space features a new west lobby entrance and a sleekly industrial look done up in largely black.

As the opening attraction, "An Evening with Sutton Foster" proved to be a wonderfully intimate revue with one of Broadway's most talented and Tony Award-winning leading ladies.

In the past decade alone, Foster amazingly originated five major roles in brand new musicals ("Shrek the Musical," "Young Frankenstein," "The Drowsy Chaperone," "Little Women" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie"), and she sang songs (in some cases snippets) from each show.

Starting off in a muted tan outfit, Foster later sported a deep purple dress that matched the passion she brought to her zesty Broadway belt in many of her songs. Working well with the masterful accompanist/arranger Michael Rafter, Foster's song selection smartly moved among themes ranging from starry-eyed dreams of showbiz ambition ("NYC," "Astonishing"), the realities of living in New York ("Up on the Roof") and the reflective sadness of recalling relationships that didn't work ("My Heart Was Set on You").

The only real fault in Foster's performance is her frequently meek and aw-shucks patter that is more scattered than self-confident. Some could find Foster's self-effacement to be honest and spontaneous, but I would have liked more commanding bravado during her entertaining behind-the-scene theater stories (like the cut songs saga in shows like "Shrek" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie").

Foster has previously played Chicago in the 1990s, but that was when she was unknown in the ensembles of national tours. It's great to have Foster back as the Broadway star she has rightfully become.