Theater Play Review

“Everything today is Thoroughly Modern,” especially in Musical Theatre West's production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Based on the movie starring Julie Andrews, “Thoroughly Modern Millie” tells the fictional story of a young woman named Millie Dillmount who has just moved to New York City in 1922 in search of fame and fortune. On her way she literally bumps into Jimmy Smith, a handsome, but apparently poor guy, takes a room at a strange hotel for young actresses, where girls with no family or friends stand a good chance of being anesthetized and shipped off to white slave traffickers in Hong Kong by their landlord, Mrs. Meers, and meets Miss Dorothy Brown, a self-described “rich orphan” wanting to experience life on the other side of the tracks. Millie sets out to find a job where she can marry her boss for money with love having nothing to do with it, but fate interferes when she and Jimmy begin to fall in love with each other. Millie must then decide if she wants to follow through with her plan, or follow her heart. The message being communicated to the audience is to follow your heart. Don't go for material possessions if your heart isn't there, because you might miss the best thing to ever happen to you!

This musical was very presentational. It is written in the style of a 1920s comedy, so it is very fluffy, over the top and melodramatic at times, especially with the “whodunit” aspect, and very physically expressive. Each character's movements were very big, often striking poses when standing still. The show was very dance heavy, emphasizing on tap dance, and that in itself called for high energy and lots of smiles. Each performer in “Millie” excelled at playing their parts and really tuning into their stereotypes. Each character was 100% believable. The ones who particularly stood out to me where Trevor Graydon (played by Robert Townsend) and Miss Flannery (played by Kami Seymour). Robert take on Millie's handsome but oblivious boss Trevor Graydon was very likeable and hilarious as he played the professional very well, but really added a young teenage-like performance once he meets Miss Dorothy. Kami took the minor supporting role of office manager Miss Flannery and turned it into a show-stopping role simply by her physicality. She utilized her physical comedic abilities by hunching over and shuffling whenever she would walk, and her deadpan delivery made her police-officer like personality even funnier.

The direction in “Millie” was excellent. It was presented in an old-fashioned style, adding nothing contemporary for jokes or laughs from today's audience. The pacing was quick and on the ball, just as it should be. There were even background moments when a character would look at another character a certain way which really affected character development in the audience's eyes. The promise was read well by the audience, and therefore was fulfilled. The only thing I would have changed is one moment when Trevor asks for Millie to make notes, one of which says “go after him,” and thus Millie realizes she needs to put the moves on Trevor. This moment was executed too fast, and it didn't look as though Millie thought about it, she just did it. It didn't read well and I would have added more beats and a little more time for Millie to think about how she would put the moves on him.

The lighting was done very well. For the most part, it was standard lighting, except for any scenes taking place in a night club or when a character had a solo song. Once scene which involved some characters entering a risqué night club through a door (which was upstage) was done very well as the lighting quickly changed from standard to pink and purple with smoky mist in the background. It really looked as though they were in a hot night spot. I also really liked how there was a blackout except for one spotlight catching Millie's final pose in the show stopping number, “Gimme Gimme.”

The event design conveyed the story in a creative way and most of the set pieces were doubled up (i.e. the sky scraper windows for Millie's office doubled up as Muzzy Van Hossmere's apartment building). The costumes depicted 1922 very accurately, with bobbed hair and flapper dresses. The office stenographer's costumes were all color-coordinated to maroon and all of the females wore black framed glasses and pigtail braids except for Miss Flannery, who wore a wig which resembled an ice-cream cone. The geographic neighborhood didn't affect how I was feeling, but I did love the theater. It was very spacious and every seat was a good seat in the house.

Every musical in “Millie” ended up being my favorite moment in the show. The two that I still hold to be the greatest moments would be the song “Falling in Love with Someone” where Miss Dorothy and Trevor Graydon see each other for the first time. It takes place in a daydream of them meeting each other and dancing with the lights dim except for two spotlights, and at the end of them song, they return back to their places from the beginning of the song and the lights come up again. It is a very cute, well done scene. The show's funnier moments got a well deserved response from the audience as every couple of minutes the theater would be in uproar with laughter. During the quieter moments of the show, one wouldn't be able to hear a pin drop as the show really captured the audience's attention.

All in all, “Thoroughly Modern Millie” is a heartwarming, simple story that people of all ages would enjoy. I would say it's mostly a family/musical theater lover's show, but anyone who enjoys a good, simple old-fashioned comedy would enjoy this one. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys musical theater or who would enjoy a good night out.