Replay: Sutton Foster!!!

[1:36]Zibby Owens: Welcome to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books hosted by me, Zibby Owens. It's an award winning podcast with over 1,900 episodes all featuring authors of books you love and those you have yet to discover. Listen daily five times a week. Then go to zippymedia.com and learn more about what the LA Times called the Zippyverse. Zippy Media includes Zippy's Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica, Zippy Books Publishing, Zippy Retreats, Zippy's Book Club, and more. Go check it out at zippymedia.com, and follow me on Instagram at Zippy Owens. It'll take you where you need to go. Thanks for listening. Hi, everybody. This is one of the replay bonus episodes to get you through the holiday season. Maybe you missed them. There have been over 2,000 episodes. We are going into a rebrand where we're going to be changing the name of the podcast from moms don't have time to read books to Zippy's podcast. So that is happening in the new year. In the meantime, have a listen, enjoy, and let me know what you think. Bye. Sutton Foster is the author of Hooked How Crafting Saved My Life. She can currently be seen leading Darren Star's hit TV land series Younger, which returned for its seventh and final season in 2021. On stage, Sutton most recently reprised her Tony award winning role as Reno Sweeney in anything goes at the Barbican Theater in London. She will soon make her highly anticipated Broadway return as Marian in the upcoming revival of the music man opposite Hugh Jackman in February 2022. The award winning actress has also appeared on Broadway in violet, anything goes for which she won a Tony award, Shrek, young Frankenstein, the drowsy chaperone, little women, thoroughly modern Millie for which she won a Tony award, Les Miserables, Annie, Scarlet Pimpernel, and Grease. Off Broadway, Seton has been seen in Sweet Charity at the Pershing Square Signature Center, The Wild Party, Trust, and Anyone Can Whistle. She's toured all over the country with her solo albums, which include Take Me to the World, Wish, and an Evening with Seton Foster Live at the Cafe Carlyle. Additionally, she has appeared on television in A Million Little Things, Instinct, Gilmore Girls, A Year in the Life, Mad Dogs, Elementary, Psych, Bunheads, Royal Pains, Law and Order SVU, Flight of the Concords, and Sesame Street. She holds an honorary doctorate from Ball State University where she also teaches. Okay. Welcome, Sutton. Congratulations on Hooked How Crafting Saved My Life. Welcome to Mom's Zone of Time to Read Books. Thank you. It's nice to be here. Well, this was a beautiful, beautiful memoir about your family life, of course, but also a great sort of career book. How does it It's the answer to everyone's question, well, how did that happen? Right? And you're like, well, here it is. This is how it happened. You know, leave me alone. No, I'm kidding. But tell me about what was the impetus for writing this book?

[4:27]Replay: Oh gosh. I felt like that I mean, so it's like, I felt like that I wanted to tell my story, and I wanted to share the story, especially of my mom, you know? And it was like a lot of different reasons. Like, wanted to I had like I work a lot with young people. I'm on theater faculty at Ball State University. And I was thinking, Oh, I want to write a book that's about sort of, you know Like, one of my pieces of advice is to get a hobby, is to have something else creative in your life that doesn't require someone to give you permission or you're not waiting for the phone to ring, especially as an actor. You feel like so many times you're sort of waiting for someone else to tell you to be creative when it's like, Well, what are some things that you can do that you have complete creative control over and that have nothing to do with, you know, singing and dancing and acting? You know, and I It's And for me, like, my crafts or the things that I make are like it's part of the tools that help me stay sane and help me navigate this business and help me navigate my family. And I just felt like it was something I wanted to share. It was also, in many ways, the thread pun intended that has, like, held me kept me together and sort of kept me going. And I It just felt like the right way to sort of tell my story and my journey and also sort of what this is what I do to sort of, you know, navigate the day to day and the ups and downs and

[6:04]Zibby Owens: everything. We all need our thing. That's for sure. Yeah. We all need our thing, you know? No. But as structure device for a book, I thought it was so clever and genius. And the fact that it's actually true to your life is great. I mean, what better way to like weave together a narrative than to actually have? Well, yeah, it's like the quilt of my life, you know? And, you know, I have so many things that I

[6:25]Replay: love to do. You know, one of the I think it's in the beginning of the book, it's like people know me as an actress, singer, dancer, but those who really know me know me as a crafter. And it's like I always have something I'm working on or something that I'm making. Know, I'm literally in my I'm surrounded by I see, like, little projects everywhere of things that I've been working on since I've been here in London. But, yeah, it just felt like the thing that could could sort of tie it all together.

[6:56]Zibby Owens: And then I feel like the reception that your crafts got, like the scene with your grandfather when you gave him that thick quilt. And then when he passed away, you had the quilt left over. And, what do you do with the quilt? And then you were just, sadly, like, maybe it just went to goodwill. Anyway, that, like, broke my heart, that scene.

[7:13]Replay: Yeah. It's it's an amazing thing. It's like you if anyone ever gives you something handmade, there is so much time and care and love or anxiety or whatever emotion you get poured into this thing. And it has, I've learned this now as a maker, as someone who make, it's like if anyone gives me anything handmade, I treasure it. You can't just discard it because it's like heartbreaking because so much time and effort has been put into handmade things. But yeah, my grandfather was a tough cookie, hard to crack. But yeah, so not a blanket

[7:57]Zibby Owens: couldn't even crack him. But I thought it was really important how you described him and what he was like, because then we almost have more empathy for what your mother ends up being like and then how she treats you. So I feel like there's always all this context, right? If you had just talked about her, right? But everybody comes from something and a lot of things are reaction to how they were raised or the people the way they've been treated and then they develop their own mental stuff in response to that.

[8:24]Replay: Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's the book was really working on it was very I mean, there were things that I knew, of course, but then just sort of digging deeper. I'm a mom now as well. So it's like that even changes your perception and perspective of your own parents. Know, it's like, already my daughter's only four, and I'm sure I've screwed her up a million times already. But it's like but you realize, oh, I only know what I know that I'm imparting on her. And it's like and I'm trying to learn and grow and and, you know, do my best and and all of those things. And it's like, that's exactly what my mother and my father did too. And they only knew what they knew from their parents of a certain and everyone's of a certain generation. And it's like, yeah, and everyone sort of grows and learns at different times and speeds. But the book really was it was this real opportunity for me, too, to have It was very healing, you know? I mean, I think that's And my mom passed away in 2013, I have the space, too, to kind of it's not as raw, you know, to be able to tell the story. So it felt like I gave it a good space. And everyone was you know, my aunt, Mary Anne, my mom's sister, my dad, everyone was willing to sort of look back and reflect and talk about it and tell the story, the good, the bad, you know, all of it. So it's scary. It's scary to put it out into the world because so much of it is we've never really talked about, you know? But I think it was very healing for all of us as a family to talk about it and that we were all sort of going through it together, you know? Yeah. Well, I feel like, you know, there are a lot of people out there who have very complicated relationships with their parents. And then when those parents pass away, the grief is even more complicated. Right? Because there's so much unresolved.

[10:16]Zibby Owens: Right? And your mom, you know, I could feel the disappointment, right, when she wouldn't come to the opening of your show and when you did Thoroughly Modern Millie and, you know, the ways that she disappointed you in these little bits over time. And even how you said as a child, like, you just thought this is the way it kind of was. That like, this is, you know, who knew? Like, and then you go all the way to like when she's putting deodorant on her lips and it just is like, oh my gosh. You know, you take the reader on this big emotional journey with you. And it's so, I guess that's how it kind of feels at the end. It's like unresolved, like so there are so many different feelings. That is And that is most people's life and relationships. So I feel like you're helping all those people who probably feel similarly.

[11:01]Replay: Yeah. I mean, it's it's been I mean, I hope so. You know? And I I I feel like, you know, my mom my mom gave me so many amazing things too. You know? I never would be doing what I'm doing without her and without her pushing me and without her, you know, wanting her children to have a life that she didn't have or that she didn't think she could have. And how she went about it, there's questions about that. But I'm incredibly grateful to her. But yeah, I mourn the loss of my mother, but I also mourn the loss of a mother I never have really had, you know, in many ways. And it's interesting now being a mom. Yeah. It's funny because I find myself My daughter She's four. And she asks She knows that my mom has died. And she asks some questions about her. But I it's funny, but I don't talk about my mom a lot to my daughter. It was I did one of the reasons why this book too, it's like it lives on like an heirloom in many ways. And one day I'll just be like, Read this. Maybe this will help you understand your mother. You know? But yeah, it's like like, yeah, the book becomes sort of like a little time capsule too of just of, you know, any Yeah. So I anyway, I I we poured a lot a lot of thought and love and pain and memories and, like, all sorts of things into the book, crafted it just like I would a blanket, you know, same type of thing, you know. I also thought it was neat getting this, you know, front row seat, if you will, into how

[12:38]Zibby Owens: how you became how you get on the starring role on Broadway and all the twists and turns your career took from that very first audition where you take your friend and like stand up and you like opened your mouth to sing and the whole room gets quiet. I loved that moment because you're like, like reading it, was like, oh gosh, I wish I were there hearing it. Like, what did it sound like? You know, how did it? I wish I had been there. But it's such a visual moment. And then we get to see how much pain is involved for you too. I mean, those tours that you went on at such a young age and those mean girls and being apart from your family and, like, the raciiness of some of them and, like, all of that. I mean, it's a lot. And I was so impressed with you, like, when you chose that one touring role versus the role your agent wanted you to pick when you were like, no. No. This is a company I wanna be with. Like, that sort of sense of self you had and, like, that you were so you just knew what you wanted, where the right place was for you. That's amazing. Like, how where did that come from? Today's episode is sponsored by Quince. Quince. Summer always makes me rethink what I'm reaching for every day. Lighter fabrics, better materials, pieces that just feel good the moment you put them on and look effortless. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high quality essentials. Think breathable linen, soft organic cotton, washable silk, but without the luxury markup. It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still easy. Quince has beautiful everyday pieces like 100% European linen pants, dresses, and tops with styles starting at $32. Their denim is soft and easy to wear. I wear my jean jacket all the time. And their organic cotton sweaters are perfect for layering on cool summer nights. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And it's not just clothing. Quince has really become a destination for elevated essentials across home, kitchen, bedding, and beyond, making it easy to bring a more premium feel into everyday life. In addition to my jean jacket, I recently got a white tank top dress with a beautiful cotton skirt that is absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait for it to be warm enough so I can wear it every day, but it has been a cool spring. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com/zippy for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com/zippy for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Quince.com/zippy.

[16:23]Replay: I think to be honest, it's like I think it's like it's it's interesting as my my mom I would I mean, I'm very when I was younger, and still, in many ways, I mean, I can be very sort of green and naive. And I think a lot of it was like naivete and sort of like, and I've always thought of myself as a leeper. Like, would leap into the pool, but I wouldn't know how to swim. And that was like my mom and dad were always like, Oh my god. I would always someone told me not to do something, it only made me want to do it more. So it was like, I don't know what that I don't know where that came from. Know, it was just like a maybe it was part of like because my mom you know, my mom was very stubborn. And so maybe it's like a little bit of a stubbornness fire that I you know, I just don't know, I wanted to yeah, but I've always sort of trusted my gut. Although and every time that I've not trusted my gut and I've sort of taken the other the safe route, I've always regretted it, you know? So it's I mean, that's like an interesting thing because I never But I think my naivete and greenness, really, because I wasn't I didn't know, like, that that was a risk. I was just or that, you know, it could not go well or that it would I don't know. I just like I was like, I wanna do that, you know? So it was sort of so it was sort of like dumb and, you know, dumb luck. Yeah, a lot of my a lot of that early sort of greenness of just wanting to work and learn and be with different and I feel I still feel that way in many in many, many ways. I mean, I have different factors now that come into play. I have a family and, like, you know, I have to sort of navigate different things now. But I still have this very strong sense of I have, like, a strong instinct, I guess, of, like And I still get scared, and I want to quit, and I want to run away. But then it's like I have this thing inside me that, like, won't let me quit. It won't let me stop. If someone says no, it makes me want it more. You know, I always told I always told my brother. My brother would always be like, don't date this person. Don't date that person. And I'm like, you know I'm gonna go date them now. Right? Like, you just basically set me up to go date all the all the bad boys. It was like, I have I have this I have this sort of inner drive. And yeah. And sometimes yeah. I don't know. I don't know where I don't know what where it I think early fueled by naivete. And now I don't I'm not sure what it's fueled by. Maybe now it's fueled by old age. You know

[18:52]Zibby Owens: Speaking of men and all the relationships in your life, you the one scene you had when Tom was, like, laying back in bed with his arms, like, behind his head. Oh my gosh. I just I did.

[19:08]Replay: Yeah. Yeah. True story. That's when I was like that's yeah. Yeah. That's when I was like, I'm done. Yeah.

[19:16]Zibby Owens: Those moments. So so what was this what was it like? Like, how did you how long did it take to write? When did you fit this in with your busy life? Like, did you dictate it? Did you work with somebody? Like, how did you get this book done? I worked with a collaborator, amazing woman named Liz Welch. We met in 2000.

[19:35]Replay: It was before 2019. It was before the pandemic. Was it 2019 or might have even been 2018? But we we met and started just chitchatting and talking. And knew I didn't want to do a straightforward memoir. I knew I wanted to, you know, tell my story through, like, objects that I've made. I knew that that was sort of the concept behind it. But it took us two years, I would say, to sort of And it's interesting. I really do look at it the same way I would look at, like, any type of Even though I am And one of the things I'm most proud of is that it wasn't just me dictating the words and her writing the book. Like, we really wrote it together, which I am so proud of. Like, that it was this incredibly collaborative relationship of writing and words and chapters flying back and forth. It was incredibly sort of hands on and sort of in the depths of. We did a big chunk of it during lockdown, like in during the beginning of COVID, that whole summer. And then we did the final push at the end of last year and beginning of this year. It was like while I was filming, was finishing the last season of Younger. So I was sort of doing it then, like in between scenes. Like I'd be in a corner, you know, working on things. But it was very it was like we wove it together, which I'm really proud of. It's not like I didn't just buy her the yarn and let her make it. We were like, we made it together. And that's I'm really, really proud of that. And I feel like that translates in the book too. Because it really feels like it's me, you know, which is what it should feel like it should be.

[21:13]Zibby Owens: On a scale of one to 10, how much do you like actually having to talk about your book? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Oh, that's such an interesting question.

[21:22]Replay: I'm just starting, you know, like, think the thing is is that I'm a little bit freaked out because people are reading it. So that's, like, freaking me out a little bit, even though I it's coming out in, like, you know, any day. So, I mean, I'm excited to talk about it on a scale of one to 10. 10 being, like, the most excited, one being, like, the numb. I think I would rather talk about my book than about I don't know. I'm excited. You know why? Because it has to do with crafting, and I really like talking about crafting. So yes, it has to do with me, but I really do love talking about crafting. So I would say

[21:55]Zibby Owens: I'll give it a seven. All right. All right. Not bad. Not

[21:59]Replay: bad. So

[22:00]Zibby Owens: what's coming next for you career wise, book worldwide, Book

[22:04]Replay: worldwide. Hooked comes out on October 12. I start rehearsals for a brand new Broadway production of The Music Man with Hugh Jackman. We start rehearsals on October 28,

[22:16]Zibby Owens: which I'm so excited about. My mother has had tickets to that to take my daughter, and it keeps getting postponed. So it's been in my calendar. It keeps being, like, pushed back because of COVID. So they will be there.

[22:28]Replay: Know. It's been this thing that I've been attached to for like three years, you know? So I'm excited that I'm finally like seeing it through. I know I realized I was like, My name has been on a marquee for a year and I've done nothing. Know? I was like, That's really weird. It's been it's been a really weird time, you know? So that comes out and that and my daughter's, you know, in pre K. And I've been in London for the summer. I've been doing a production of Anything Goes here at the Barbican Theatre. I'm in my final week right now. So I'm so sad that I'm gonna be leaving London, but I miss my family like crazy. So I'm really looking forward to getting back. And that's it. I'm gonna hopefully just doing be doing a lot a lot more crocheting and creating and, you know, one of my favorite phrases is I have an idea. And so I have lots of ideas. So I'm hoping to be able to, you know, allow the space to be able to just keep creating and keep seeing those ideas come true. You should really just be doing one of your crafting projects while you do your interviews. Well, I thought about it. Honestly, there's a couple of things I could grab. Yeah. No. I know. It's my latest thing I'll show you, which is very exciting, is that I'm like and I'm I'm in I'm in London, but I've been collecting, like, glass jars and stuff, you know, like, the peanut butter comes in or, you know, olives or something. And I've been crocheting around them, making them Aw. That's so cute. I love that. Vases or things to put your scissors in or whatever. I don't know. So I have this little collection of, like, little glass jars that have little cozies on them. So that's what I'm looking at right now. And I'm thinking I'm dreaming of what can be you know, what else what else can I do?

[24:15]Zibby Owens: Okay. I won't keep you longer, but do you have any parting advice to aspiring authors?

[24:20]Replay: Oh, gosh. I mean, I am a first time author, so it's hard for me to give advice right now because I'm still very much learning. What for aspiring authors? Well, the only thing I can think of is the any type of project that begins with nothing. Right? Same with, like, making a blanket. Same with creating a character. There's nothing. Right? And so every day, you can't you can't expect, you know, it to be done in a day. You you must give it time. You must be patient. Sometimes you make enormous progress in one day and sometimes you have to the only analogy I can do is like crocheting a blanket. You you have a row a day, a row a day, and then sometimes you're like, oh, man, you have to take out a row or you realize you look back and there's a big hole or there's some mistake. You just have to And it's like a garden too. It's like So funny. It's like pruning a garden. And then at some point, you have to stop. I think that was the hardest part for me. It's like, when when is it done? But for me in this project, was like, okay, this is what my story is right now. And it's like a little time capsule of where I am right now in 2021, who I am, the story I wanna tell. And I might have another story I wanna tell later. But this is the story I'm telling right now and will live on. Like anything creative that will live on forever, is also pretty intense. But it's being patient and realizing that not every day is prolific. And sometimes you have to start over completely, but you just got to keep going. And then next thing you know, you look down and you go, oh, look what I made. Amazing.

[26:00]Zibby Owens: See, that was great advice. You know? I mean,

[26:04]Replay: can kind of you can sort of take that with anything. I think there's an expectation that you have to be brilliant, you know, right away or that you have to come up with, like I one of the chapters in the book I was working on, and I remember it was it was a day of, like it was a day where it was snowstorm. It was snowing in Manhattan. We weren't filming because of the snow. And I was working on the chapter of Christian's mom's Christmas cookies. Oh, I love that. I love those. Like, those sheets and everything. Oh, my God. Yeah. So that's, like, one of my favorite chapters in the book. And I remember I was, like, in my bedroom, and it's snowing outside, and it, like, was all happening. And I was just, like, writing. I knew exactly what the chapter was. I had the beginning and the end, and I'm like and it was just one of those things where I went,

[26:55]Replay: If every day could be like that. But it it no. It's not. And it was like this perfect, you know, snowy day. And I'm like writing. And but then, you know, other days, you're just staring and you're like, I have no idea. Or a chapter that took us forever

[27:07]Zibby Owens: to, you know, to figure out. And But it just things take time, and that's okay. Yeah. Awesome. Well, Sutton, thank you so much. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for your book and sharing your story. And I wish you all the best. Reading it. Of course. I really enjoyed it. Have a great rest of your day. You too. Bye bye. Thanks for listening to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. If you love it, please leave a review and follow us on social Zippy Owens and Zippy Readers.