Fresh off the bus from Kansas, a thoroughly un-modern Millie comes to New York in search of a new life. She has a plan get a good job as a secretary to a very rich man and then marry him. She checks into the Hotel Priscilla where she encounters the eccentric proprietor Mrs. Meers and her riotous adventures in the razzmatazz of Jazz Age Manhattan begin. As she flaps, taps and Charlestons her way through the Roaring 20s, Millie learns there's more to being modern than the latest fashions, bobbed hair and a boss who is a rich, eligible bachelor. There's a little thing called love that never seems to go out of style.
Millie Dillmount
Jeff Nomination
Actress in a Principal Role - Musical
THEATER REVIEW
Tari Kelly's `Millie' is just what the doctor ordered -- silly
By Chris Jones
Tribune arts critic Published February 27, 2006
Tari Kelly, the cheerfully old-fashioned young performer headlining the Marriott Theatre's top-drawer production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" is a whole lot closer to Carol Burnett than Sutton Foster, who starred in this show on Broadway. And Kelly is exactly what this silly roaring '20s thing -- a hopelessly retro musical comedy with an emphasis on the gags -- needed from the start.
Had Kelly (or, better yet, a more famous version of Kelly) been in place when this Chicago-produced endeavor opened on Broadway, it might actually have made a decent profit for Michael Leavitt and his crew, instead of getting a respectable but not entirely remunerative run. Her considerable talents notwithstanding, Foster is first and foremost a romantic lead. And I saw two other people play the title role thereafter -- in New York and on the first national tour. They were primarily romantic leads too.
But this show -- a relatively recent live retrofit of the 1967 movie musical with the "42nd Street"-style plot about a Kansas rube finding her feet in the big city even as white slavers try to ship her ilk down the East River -- really requires a natural comedian who also happens to sing and dance very, very well. That combo is very hard to find today -- just ask the producers of the "Sweet Charity" revival.
Modern leads like to also be legitimate leads. They don't necessarily like to stick their energy low in their body, set their jaws and thighs, then lumber and pratfall their way across the stage. Kelly doesn't seem to mind -- and by finding the comedy in her Millie's gut, she brings the woman to full and refreshing life.
I'd argue that Marc Robin's Marriott Theatre production is at least as good as the Broadway "Millie" and a great deal better than the cheap first national tour. And the reasons go beyond Kelly. Granted, Marriott's version of the show lacks spectacle -- the famous elevator-tap number loses most of its oomph when there's no elevator to tap in (Come on Mr. Marriott, dust off those wallets). And the hysterical ending photo montage involving the bumbling kidnappers from Hong Kong and their beloved mother is sadly absent (although if you never saw it in New York, you probably won't miss it). But it looks like Robin persuaded the Lincolnshire bean counters to come up with a few extra bucks more than usual. He got some flash, and the show has what it needs. And while the material won't change anyone's life, it makes for one heck of a good time.
This being a Robin production, the ensemble tap numbers sparkle. It's not so much that Robin does everything better than other choreographers (although he does everything better than most). It's that he does a whole lot more of it. When there's an easy way out of staging a scene, he coaxes his kids into doing it the difficult way. And thus even the minor moments gets so darned punched up, they win you over. And in a show like this one with a serviceable but second-tier score, that's pivotal.
Kelly's Millie is well supported. Her opposite number, Stephen Schellhardt's sweet-voiced Jimmy Smith, is a central casting version of the retro lead male. Brian Herriott is slightly over-ripe as Milly's stiff boss, but without spoiling the credibility of his fruit. And as Muzzy Van Hossmere, E. Faye Butler has never sounded better (her voice just gets richer and richer). The humor with the diabolic, faux-oriental Mrs. Meers (exuberantly played by Rosalyn Rahn Kerins) needs more pace and certitude. And you wouldn't want it any broader. But with Catherine Lord firing on all cylinders as the hysterical chief nerd of the steno pool, the laughs flow thick and fast.
"Millie" is silly. And there are only about three good songs. But in this terrific rendition, it's a shame when all the stuff and nonsense comes to a close. During these dreary days, one could stand a great deal more.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie"
When: Through April 23
Where: Marriott Resort, Lincolnshire
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Tickets: $42 (inc. dinner on Wed. and Thurs. only) at 847-634-0200
Sometimes we just want to laugh and enjoy ourselves when we go to the theater. Yes, we know that the stage can also make us think deep thoughts, and we'll gladly see those on occasion, but sometimes we just want a good old-fashioned song and dance show. The Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre offers one such confection in its latest lighthearted musical romp, "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
Based on the cheerfully tongue-in-cheek film starring Julie Andrews, "Millie" tells the story of a young lady who comes to the big city (namely, Manhattan) to explore modern living far from her native Kansas. She quickly lands a job with the wealthy boss she intends to marry, but manages to lose her heart to a seemingly poverty-stricken playboy.
Throw in a ludicrous plot to kidnap orphaned actresses and ship them to Hong Kong as part of a white slavery ring, and the audience has a thoroughly frothy yet thoroughly entertaining evening on their hands. And let's not forget the many opportunities for smiling guys and gals to break out their tap shoes.
As the cheerful and ambitious Millie, Tari Kelly wins the audience over almost instantaneously and keeps them in the palm of her hand for the rest of the show. She's a fine singer, dancer and comedienne, and brings a goofy and exuberant charm to every moment of stage time.
She also gracefully yields the stage to supporting characters in equally fine comic form, including Johanna McKenzie Miller, Dawen Wang and Brian Herriott as parts of a secondary romance plot, and E. Faye Butler as a feisty club singer and millionairess. Butler in Little Bo-Peep drag (Costumer Nancy Missimi has a fine sense of period and clearly a dry wit as well) near the end of the show is a comic highlight.
The leads are backed up by an impressive ensemble that sinks their teeth into some demanding tap numbers courtesy of director/choreographer Marc Robin. Audiences eager to let the weight of the world slip off their shoulders for an evening are encouraged to make their way up to the Marriott before "Millie" takes off her tap shoes.
Playing at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre; 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire; (847) 634-0200; $42-$45. Playing through April 23; 1 p.m. & 8 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 5 p.m. & 8:30 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. & 5 p.m. Sunday.
Steadstyle Chicago
Critical Evaluation: *** out of ****
Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear! When "Thoroughly Modern Millie" last tapped its toes into Chicago in a lackluster Broadway in Chicago tour, it confirmed its reputation as Broadway's "Worst Best Musical Ever". The Chicagoland regional premiere at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire may still be a trifle, but it is a sparkling trifle and makes the best case for style over content. Just crown Director/Choreographer Marc Robin the King of Chicago musical comedy! Robin's magic touch is everywhere here from flawless casting and slick pacing to the thrilling tap choreography he is renowned for. Robin energizes the formula material from flat ginger ale to vintage bubbly. In fact, if you didn't know better you might think at certain moments you were watching an authentic 1920's revival.
The 2002 stage adaptation has little resemblance to the 1967 movie on which it its based, aside from the general outline. Only two of the old songs remain, with a pastiche score by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan of original tunes and homage (from Gilbert and Sullivan to Tchaikovsky to Al Jolson). At the height of the Roaring Twenties, our titled heroine leaves her small Kansas town for the big city's lure. Armed with big dreams and ambitions, Millie determines to be a "new woman," a modern who rejects love for business and a well-laid plan to marry a well-heeled employer. But on her first day in New York, she must first contend with a mugger and overcome poverty.
She finds a welcoming abode in a hotel catering to struggling young actresses, who mysteriously disappear and wind up being sold into white slavery by the proprietress Mrs. Meers. A former failed actress herself, Meers preys on innocent young orphans under the ridiculous guise of a Chinese laundress. While Millie and her society roommate Miss Dorothy unwittingly sidestep Mrs. Meers' devious snare, the ladies must also choose romantic alliances with a carefree but penniless playboy named Jimmy Smith and a pompous business tycoon named Trevor Grayson.
This is the kind of innocuous but generally harmless boy meets girl bubblegum popularized during the 20's and 30's with some politically incorrect stereotypes: Meers in her Butterfly kimono mangling L's and R's in pseudo Asian speek, joins a couple of Chinese immigrant henchmen in an impromptu Oriental version of "Mammy," complete with subtitles. The authors Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan have at least tried to give their stereotypes some depth: Meers (a game performance by Rosalyn Rahn Kerins in an obvious and offensive role) leads a double life as a Brooklyn born one-time starlet with a nefarious scheme, while her cohorts Ching Ho and Bun Foo assist her only to help export their elderly mother from Hong Kong to America. And you won't believe the final romantic resolution.
By 1967, the heyday of the movie musical was really passed, but the film of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" had a definite campy sensibility that is played more earnestly here. It also had a quartet of thoroughly irreplaceable leading ladies (Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing and Beatrice Lillie) all in spectacularly giddy form. What the Marriott production lacks in movie star quality it more than makes up for in exciting regional theatre talent. Fresh from the female lead in the national tour of "Little Shop of Horrors," Tari Kelly makes an ideal Millie. Reminiscent of a young Carol Burnett, Kelly is a spunky heroine with sharp comic instincts and a knock 'em dead brassy voice.
There are numerous show-stealing turns among the stellar cast Robin has assembled. Stalwart Brian Herriott has never been better as Millie's stuffed shirt boss Trevor Graydon, rattling off "The Speed Test" with dizzying proficiency, and hilariously turning plies and jetes at the sight of pretty Miss Dorothy. And who wouldn't fall madly in love with the divine Johanna McKenzie Millier, who manages to invest a glow in a fairly bland soubrette role. Handsome Stephen Schellhardt is a sweet voiced charmer as jack-of-all-trades playboy Jimmy Smith, and Catherine Lord is a scream as the hard-nosed secretary Miss Flannery. And then there is the remarkable E. Faye Butler, nearly walking away with the show and singing her soul out as socialite chanteuse Muzzy Van Hossmere. It's a safe bet you will never find "Millie"in thoroughly better hands than Marc Robin and the Marriott Theatre.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" continues through April 23, 2006 at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. The musical runs 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission. Performances are Wednesdays at 1:00 & 8:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 5:00 & 8:30 p.m., and Sundays at 1:00 & 5:00 p.m. Tickets are $42, with discounts for students and seniors. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, receive a complimentary dinner in either the King's Wharf or Fairfield Inn Restaurants (based on dining availability; gratuity and tax not included) with the purchase of a full price ticket (not available with any other offer). Marriott's season continues with "State Fair" May 3-June 25, "Once Upon a Time in New Jersey" July 12-September 10, "Into the Woods" September 20-November 26, and "All Night Strut" December 6-February 11, 2007. For tickets and information, call (847) 634-0200 or visit www.marriotttheatre.com.
Marriott's 'Millie' is thoroughly fun
BY DOROTHY ANDRIES MUSIC CRITIC
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" opened at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire Wednesday night to hoots of laughter and thunderous applause. The applause was elicited by drop-dead tap-dancing routines, choreographed by that dance master and director Marc Robin, and the mega-watt songs delivered with gusto by every single performer.
Laughter bubbled up everywhere, especially when it was evident that this musical, which won multiple Tony Awards in 2002, wasn't taking itself seriously for one second.
The comedy begins when Millie, a girl from Iowa determined to marry a rich man, is robbed on her first day in New York. It is 1922 and she seeks help from a callous young man, whose sends her to the Hotel Priscilla, where young women rent rooms.
He doesn't know it is owned by the evil Mrs. Meers, a frustrated actress from New Jersey who pretends to be from Asia and is involved in the white slave trade. She sedates young women who are orphans and ships them off to Asia with the help of two young Chinese brothers, complete with braids, in her employ. They cooperate because her wages allow them to save money to bring their mother to New York from Hong Kong.
I certainly wondered how that very disturbing and racist aspect of the story could ever be part of a comedy. But the show was able to do it. The two Chinese men, whose dialogue was translated with super-titles, emerged as good-hearted and much smarter than Meers.
Millie is played by Tari Kelly, a dynamite singer/dancer, and cute in a Carol Burnett sort of way. She's a sparkling comedienne -- particularly when trying to charm a marriage proposal from her straight-laced boss.
The boss is Brian Herriott, a leading-man type -- (Billy Bigelow in "Carousel," and Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast," both at Marriott) -- playing his role with high camp. In "The Speed Test," a patter song about floor wax, he also reveals skill as the very model of a modern corporate mogul.
Kelly is the consummate heroine, belting out "Thoroughly Modern Millie," that fabulous song by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen, and later tugging at our heartstrings with "Jimmy" and "Gimme Gimme."
She's supported by a first-rate cast. Her true love, the initially callous Jimmy, is played effortlessly by Stephen Schellhartdt in his Marriott debut.
The upper-class girl who came to the Hotel Priscilla to see, as she sang in her entrance song "How the Other Half Lives," is portrayed by the beautiful Johanna McKenzie Miller. In one side-splitting scene she and Herriott sing -- no kidding -- "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" in a spoof on Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. There is a dandy dance number in a speakeasy titled "The Nutty Cracker Suite," full of souped-up Tchaikovsky.
The show has an ace up its sleeve in the nightclub diva Muzzy Van Hossmere. The role is given a show-stopping performance by the multiple Jeff Award winner E. Faye Butler, every inch the cabaret star and a great comic actress as well. Nothing quite prepared us for her appearance as the "out-of-town orphan girl" who foils Miss Meers.
In her Marriott debut Rosalyn Rahn Kerins is appropriately over-the-top as the evil Miss Meers. Hers is the most hilarious number in the show, joined by her Chinese cohorts Bun Foo, Emir Yonzon from the national touring company of "Millie," and Ching Ho, Northwestern grad Dawen Wang. When they try to rebel against her white slave scheme, she reminds them of their mother and launches into the Al Jolson hit "Mammy." The men give the song Chinese lyrics, and super-titles add to the merriment.
Based on the 1967 movie starring Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing, the show has multiple progenitors. Its story and screenplay were by Richard Morris, who with Dick Scanlan wrote the book for the musical. Music, except for title song and all those blatantly lifted pieces, was by Jeanine Tesori and Scanlan provided the lyrics.
Of course, the white slave deal is thwarted and Millie marries for love not money -- making her the darling of the thoroughly modern crowd and giving the Marriott audience a night of superior entertainment.
'Thoroughly Modern Millie' Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire
Through April 23 at 1 And 8 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays and 1 and 5 p.m. Sundays
$45 and $42
(847) 634-0200
Marriott Theatre’s energetic Millie produces laughs and bounces throughout.
Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan
New Music by Jeanine Tesori
New Lyrics by Dick Scanlan
Directed & Choreographed by Marc Robin
At the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire
Milwaukee Avenue & RT 22
Lincolnshire, IL
Call 847-634-0200, tickets $42 - $45
Wednesdays at 1 & 8pm
Thursdays at 8pm
Fridays at 8pm
Saturdays at 5 & 8:30pm
Sundays at 1 & 5pm
Running time is 2 hrs, 30 min with intermission
Through April 23, 2006
How do you improve a show that won six Tony Awards? Answer: Have Marc Robin direct and choreograph with the slick, polished production team from Marriott Theatre together with an ensemble team of “A” list Equity actors. Thoroughly Modern Millie is a fun show full of outstanding dancing, energetic performances with lots of laughs. Considered as one of the lightest shows ever to win the Tony Award for Best Musical, Millie delights us with two and a half hours of songs, dances, and more laughs than anticipated. Many folks who saw the Broadway production liked Marriott Theatre’s production better mainly due to the fabulous craftsmanship of Robin and his crew. This show is big, bubbling and bright.
Thoroughly Modern Millie boasts a fine score by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan that echoes the sounds of the 1920’s Jazz Era. Based on the 1967 Oscar-winning film of the same name, Millie takes audiences back to the height of the Jazz Age, when “moderns,” including a flapper named Millie Dillmount (Tari Kelly), were bobbing their hair, raising their hemlines, entering the workforce and rewriting the rules of love. Millie takes NYC with her razzmatazzing in a bold bright old-time Broadway musical that is so much fun that we simply lay back and soak up all the cute fluff.
The recognizably “Thoroughly Modern Millie” song by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen is nicely presented and used to underscore and enhance the new songs by Tesori and Scanlan. I love the 20’s Jazzy flavor to Millie and from songs like the terrific opening number “Not for the Life of Me” to the clever zany “Speed Test” number (an ode to the old Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald film operettas) to “Jimmy.” The 19 song score features many show stopping dance numbers that feature outstanding tap, jazz and clever satirical dances that give depth to the story as well as offering breathtaking entertainment. Millie is an under rated dance show that features refreshing takes on 1920’s dance styles like the Charleston. I loved the slick Marc Robin choreography and talented hoofers in this show.
Tari Kelly gave Millie a strong vocal as well as a cute, Carol Burnett persona that easily wins our hearts. Her “Jimmy” and “Gimme, Gimme” songs light the torch with haunting emotions and her “Forget the Boys” number with the typing girls demonstrate Kelly as a triple threat performer. Stephen Schellhardt with fine vocal range and sincere acting and outstanding dancing talent, is the likable Jimmy Smith love interest for Millie. E. Faye Butler belts out several songs in the best Dorothy Danderage tradition while Rosalyn Rahn Kerins is a hoot as the oriental imitator, white slaver Mrs.Meers. Kerins steals several scenes and her “Muquin” song with Dawen Wang and Emir Yonzon brings down the house.
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a light show that sings well, dances superbly and garners enough laughs to make it a pleasant show that will thoroughly entertains you. The mark of a Marriott Theatre show, in the capable hands of the director Marc Robin, is the swift pace, terrific costuming with vivid lighting and a lively outstanding sounding orchestra deftly delivering the bouncy score. I especially enjoyed Brian Herriott’s stiff take on the stuffy Trevor Graydon and the clever dances. Millie is a fine spoof of all those old MGM film musicals set in the 1920’s. This show is pure joy.
February 24, 2006 BY MIRIAM DI NUNZIO
Staff Reporter
Sometimes, 2-1/2 hours at the theater can seem like an eternity.
Other times, it's a delightful surprise. Such is the case with "Thoroughly Modern Millie" currently at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. Though on occasion the show's pace drags a bit, overall, the spunky production has such genuine heart you can forgive its missteps.
And the missteps have nothing to do with the cast's ability to tap the heck out of those boards. This is a show filled with snappy dance numbers, laugh-out-loud comedy, Keatonesque slapstick and a host of secret identities. It all comes together nicely under the clever direction of Marc Robin (who pulls double duty as the show's choreographer).
The play, set in the 1920s, revolves around the wide-eyed ingenue Millie Dillmount (Tari Kelly channeling a young Carol Burnett), who arrives in New York City and reinvents herself as a "modern" woman in search of a fabulous job (she has an uncanny ability to type what seems like a billion words a minute, and her stenography is no less stellar) and a wealthy husband (not necessarily in that order).
THEATER REVIEW
'THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE' HIGHLY RECOMMENDED When: Through April 23 Where: Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire,
10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire Tickets: $42-$45 Call: (847) 634-0200
She sets her sights on Trevor Graydon (Brian Herriott in a wonderfully comic performance), the debonair boss who hires her as his secretary, but then passes on her obvious affections in favor of her best friend, the blond curly-locked Miss Dorothy, (the angelic-voiced Johanna McKenzie Miller).
This unfolds around a secondary plot involving the flea-bag hotel where the the two women live along with a slew of wannabe actresses, some of them orphans -- "all alone in the world." The establishment is run by a con woman named Mrs. Meers (Rosalyn Rahn Kerins) who dons full Chinese dragon lady makeup as a cover for her sinister doings -- selling her orphan tenants into a white slavery ring in Hong Kong.
Oh, but who has time for all that when our heroine has to find true love? It comes calling courtesy of a young gadabout named Jimmy Smith (Stephen Schellhardt) who will change her life. But is he who he purports to be?
Robin has assembled a delightful supporting cast, too, particularly E. Faye Butler as the gorgeous and bombastic Muzzy Van Hossmere, Catherine Lord as the show's comic Miss Flannery, and Emir Yonzon and Dawen Wang as Bun Foo and Ching Ho, respectively, two Chinese brothers in the unwilling employ of Mrs. Meres' laundry service. But it's impossible not to like all the show's characters, impossible not to appreciate the way the actors don't necessarily take themselves all that seriously in a show that doesn't require them to do so.
Tom Ryan's sets were smart and Nancy Missimi's Roaring '20s costumes sparkled and flapped with every dance step. The use of projected overhead subtitles to translate the dialogue and song lyrics of the two Chinese brothers brought the house down every time.
The book for the 2002 Tony Award-winning musical by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan, with a score by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan, is not exactly Rodgers and Hammerstein, but it leaves the audience satisfied and ultimately entertained.
You may not walk up the aisles remembering any of the show's songs other than that catchy title tune, but you won't soon forget the 2-1/2-hour good time you had at the theater.
