Sutton Foster’s debut CD, “Wish” (Ghostlight Records), has been in the works for four years, but it doesn’t sound — or feel — like a collection of songs that have been endlessly labored over.
Indeed, the album released just a few weeks ago has a fresh, unstudied sound that you might never guess is the work of one of the reigning Broadway leading ladies of this generation. Foster is a genuine star but she doesn’t “belt” the tunes on this CD in the manner of a Broadway diva.
Foster broke through as a star in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 2002 — winning the Tony for best actress — and has been smart (and lucky) in her stage choices since then. The singer actress has gone from show to show in a manner that recalls the old days on Broadway, when stars like Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera spent virtually their whole careers on stage, with a new show almost every season.
“Wish” is an eclectic group of songs, ranging from folk to pop to offbeat Broadway (Foster includes the wonderful Charles Strouse and Lee Adams ballad “Once Upon a Time” from the long-forgotten 1961 Ray Bolger flop musical, “All American”).
Foster also takes an old John Denver hit, “Sunshine on My Shoulders” — which I thought I had heard a few hundred times too many in the 1970s — and makes it sound newly minted.
The whole notion of CD “albums” of songs carefully chosen — and precisely sequenced — by recording artists might be under assault at this moment, but “Wish” demonstrates that the art form is alive and well.
