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06/08/2017 12:01 AMHere we go again. Another old-school musical that opens with a naïve young woman arriving at the center of the universe—Manhattan—from a hick town in the Midwest with nothing but a shabby suitcase in hand, seeking fame and fortune. Well, in this case, actually just fortune, and she’s not all that naïve.
It wasn’t until 2002 that the 1967 film, starring Julie Andrews, arrived on Broadway, winning six Tony awards, including Best Musical. Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan wrote the original book. The stage show has additional new songs by Jeanine Tesoris, lyrics by Dick Scanlan.
Thoroughly Modern Millie, the opening show for the season at the Goodspeed, has some swell songs, wonderful choreography, imaginative sets, a lot of laughs, and consistently good performances—you just have to get beyond the not only ludicrous, but puzzling storyline, sit back, and enjoy the well-executed production.
Set in 1922, Millie Dillmount, performed by Taylor Quick, arrives in New York from Salina, Kansas, tearing up her return ticket. A Flapper wannabee, she is thoroughly modern with her bobbed hair, and dress slightly above the knee. Quick captures Millie’s independent and determined spirit.
So, from today’s perspective, “modern” would mean she’s a career-minded gal at a time when women were just starting to enter the workforce. But in this musical fantasy, the penniless Millie is only interested in getting a job as a direct route to a husband. Although she never says exactly why—does she want to raise a family or just marry rich and eat bon-bons? We are told she’s 29 with no previous work experience. What was she doing all these years and wouldn’t that be rather old to be getting married for the first time in the 1920s?
Sorry, here I go again, trying to make sense of the plotline.
Millie is mugged the minute she hits the mean streets of the city and asks for help from the elusive ladies’ man, Jimmy Smith, played by Dan Deluca, who is thoroughly likable and charming and a fine singer. Jimmy eventually falls for Millie, but she has her sights set on her TBD new boss. In Act One, Jimmy sings, “What Do I Need with Love,” hitting it out of the park, and Millie sings the heartfelt “Jimmy.” In Act Two, they come together singing the sweet, romantic “I Turned the Corner,” when they realize they’re in love.
Meanwhile, Millie moves into The Hotel Priscilla for Single Women, run by Mrs. Meers, an actress-turned-evil-con artist, who operates a white slavery ring in Hong Kong. Loretta Ables Sayres is unlikable and sinister as required by her role, made famous in the movie by Bea Arthur. Her Chinese henchmen carry out her kidnappings: James Seol as Ching Ho and Christopher Shin as Bun Foo, comic brothers with a lot more heart than their boss.
The “amazing” coincidence is that most of the women who come to stay at the boardinghouse are “orphans” ripe for picking! Including the lovely Miss Dorothy, played by Samantha Sturm, who has a lovely voice. Polar opposites, Millie and Miss Dorothy become BFFs—Miss Dorothy is a rich girl, who wants to learn, as we learn in the upbeat duo, “How the Other Half Lives.”
Dorothy says to Millie, “You’re my first poor person.” Millie replies that she’s broke, not poor and that “Broke can be fixed—I’m going to marry my boss,” even though she doesn’t have one yet.
Speaking of which, Millie goes to work as a secretary for Mr. Graydon at The Office of the Sincere Trust Insurance Company.
The humorless Dudley Dooright-ish, Mr. Graydon—a marvelous performance by Edward Watts—ends up being the funniest character of all when he bursts into “I’m Falling in Love with Someone,” the second he sees Dorothy for the first time in Act II. It’s so over-the-top, it works.
To complicate things further, enter Muzzy Van Hossmere, a famous singer who hobknobs with the likes of Dorothy Parker and George Gershwin. Millie attends a party with Jimmy in her penthouse apartment where Ramona Keller as the all-knowing matriarch, nicely pulls off a smoky, sexy “Only in New York.”
Lots of cases of hidden identities come to light, wrapping everything up in a feel-good ending.
The best choreography (by Denis Jones, who also directs the show) takes place in the office, a wonderful “tap and type” number called “The Speed Test” on real typewriters—remember those?—that’s orchestrated by Lucia Spina as Miss Flannery, the non-nonsense office manager. Another stand-out choreographed number, “The Nuttycracker Suite” takes place in a Speakeasy (it’s Prohibition) in which the company performs a drunken, but tightly and gracefully executed, dance—quite a feat.
A highlight of the lively sets by Paul Tate dePoo III is the old-fashioned elevator in the hotel lobby (where several songs are sung). Lighting designer Rob Denton creates the up-and-down movement with bold stripes of light.
Act One feels—and is— too long, running one hour and 15 minutes, but the show picks up speed in an energetic, shorter (45 minute) second act.
Performances of Thoroughly Modern Millie continue through Sunday, July 2 and The Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam. For tickets, call the box office at 860-873-8668 or visit www.goodspeed.org.