Last Wednesday, I went to my hairdresser for a permanent. My fine hair needs the boost of a perm every two months or so. Part of the routine of getting a permanent is a 30-minute period where one just sits while the permanent solution invades. Wednesday I asked my hairdresser to bring me some of the celebrity magazines on the side tables of the salon. I was content.

And then I saw it–a photo on the cover of the November 2024 issue of US Weekly of Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman. The headline talked of a “secret romance” and promised “The Untold Story.”

Sutton Foster is a Broadway singer/dancer and winner of two Tony Awards. Australian Hugh Jackman is an actor, singer and dancer on Broadway who has also starred in a number of movies (He played the popular lead in Wolverine). The magazine said Jackman and Sutton apparently met when they co-starred on Broadway in “Music Man.”

I SAW THAT SHOW! It was my last trip to New York during COVID and Music Man was having preview performances. That the show existed was news to me and I immediately paid for two tickets that were the most expensive tickets I had every purchased. But to see Hugh Jackman on Broadway(!!!)

The show was full of dancing and was entertaining (though Robert Preston will forever be my favorite star of Music Man). I remember the leading lady didn’t have much to do until there was a big post-show dance number, but I saw them.

I haven’t been keeping up on my Hollywood or Broadway romances, so this coupling was news to me. And Sutton Foster–just two weeks ago I finished binging on a Netflix show, “Younger,” starring Sutton Foster! I knew Sutton Foster was a Broadway star, but in this series she is an actress who lies about her age (saying she was younger) to get a job. Loved the series. (Later I Googled and learned that Sutton Foster is also divorced.)

But didn’t know Foster had a new romance with a man who used to brag about his almost 30 years of marriage. Now I know. Funny what a half hour during permant-izing can do to keep one up-to-date!