Sutton Foster to Headline Eccles Theater's 10th Anniversary in Salt Lake City

Broadway favorite Sutton Foster is set to headline a one-night-only concert at Salt Lake City's Eccles Theater on November 4, as the downtown venue celebrates its 10th anniversary season. The two-time Tony Award winner will perform alongside longtime musical collaborator Michael Rafter, with the evening hosted by Utah composer Kurt Bestor.

The show, billed as An Evening With Sutton Foster, marks a milestone moment for the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater, according to ABC4 Utah. The performance is presented by the Eccles Theater in partnership with Live at the Eccles and Zions Bank Broadway at the Eccles. Tickets go on sale September 8, through ArtTix.

Angela Vanderwell said the evening will feature music from Sutton Foster and her accompanist, Michael Rafter, and added that the Eccles Theater is beyond excited to welcome Foster to headline its 10th anniversary season, per the same report. Foster and Rafter's professional partnership stretches back more than two decades, having first met while working together on the 2002 Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, according to BroadwayWorld. Rafter went on to produce Foster's solo albums, including Wish in 2009 and Take Me to the World in 2018.

A Career Built on Broadway Milestones

Foster is a two-time Tony Award winner, taking home Best Leading Actress in a Musical honors for originating the role of Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002 and later for playing Reno Sweeney in the 2011 revival of Anything Goes. Across her stage career, she has earned seven Tony nominations total, according to the Internet Broadway Database. Her stage résumé also includes Little Women, The Music Man, Shrek the Musical, and Once Upon a Mattress.

Before her 2024 Broadway run as Princess Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress, Foster starred as Mrs. Lovett opposite Aaron Tveit in the revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, completing back-to-back Broadway starring engagements that year. She's also known to television audiences for starring in the series Younger and is a bestselling author, having written the memoir Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life.

Not Foster's First Trip to Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City audiences have seen Foster before. She appeared as the featured guest artist for The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square's annual Christmas concert in December 2017, performing before a combined live audience of more than 63,000 people, a performance that was recorded for a nationally broadcast PBS holiday special.

This time, host Kurt Bestor brings his own deep Utah ties to the stage. The longtime Utah resident won an Emmy Award for his music on ABC's coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics and later composed and conducted music for the Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics, which were held in Salt Lake City. Bestor is widely known across the state for his regional film scoring work and his annual holiday performance series.

Inside the Venue Marking a Decade Downtown

The Eccles Theater opened on October 21, 2016, as a $119 million performing arts centerpiece for downtown Salt Lake City, designed to serve as an economic anchor for the city's arts district. Its main stage, the Delta Performance Hall, seats 2,468 people and sits alongside a smaller black box theater on Regent Street that holds between 150 and 250 patrons, according to Salt Lake County Arts & Culture.

Designed by HKS Architects and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the LEED Gold-certified building used just 30% of its budgeted utility costs in its first full year of operation, saving an estimated $466,000 in predicted energy expenses. The Eccles Theater is owned and operated by Salt Lake County Arts & Culture, the same county government division that manages four other regional venues, including Maurice Abravanel Hall and the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre. The Live at the Eccles performance series that's bringing Foster to town operates through a co-presenting partnership between the county agency, Utah-based MagicSpace Entertainment, and First Tracks Entertainment.