| Thoroughly Modern Millie | |
|---|---|
Original Broadway Windowcard |
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| Music | Jeanine Tesori |
| Lyrics | Dick Scanlan |
| Book | Richard Morris Dick Scanlan |
| Basis | 1967 film Thoroughly Modern Millie |
| Productions | 2002 Broadway 2003 US tour 2003 West End 2005 UK tour |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical Drama Desk Outstanding Musical |
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan, and a book by Richard Morris and Scanlan.[1] Based on the 1967 film of the same name,[2] Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of a small-town girl, Millie Dillmount, who comes to New York City to marry for money instead of love – a thoroughly modern aim in 1922, when women were just entering the workforce. Millie soon begins to take delight in the flapper lifestyle, but problems arise when she checks into a hotel owned by the leader of a slavery ring in China.[3] The style of the musical is comic pastiche.
After auditions at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California in October 2000,[4] the show opened on Broadway in April 2002.[1] The production subsequently won six 2002 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.[5] Due to the success of the original Broadway production, there were both a United States tour[6] and a West End production[7] launched in 2003, followed by a United Kingdom tour in 2005.[8] The musical has since become a popular choice for high school productions.[9]
Contents |
Act I
It's 1922, and Millie Dillmount has just escaped to New York City from Salina, Kansas, and, determined to become a success, tears up her return ticket ("Not For the Life of Me"). Bobbing her hair, she assumes the modern look of a "flapper" ("Thoroughly Modern Millie"). But she is quickly mugged on the streets of New York, losing her hat, scarf, purse and shoe. In a panic for someone to help her, she trips bypasser Jimmy Smith, a handsome, carefree young man who makes his way through life on whim and wits, who promptly lectures her on why she needs to head back home: she is just another girl full of false hopes who doesn't belong in the big city. Almost taking his advice, she changes her mind and yells after him, "Who needs a hat? Who needs a purse? And who needs YOU, mister whoever-you-are?!" and soon takes a room at the Hotel Priscilla for Single Women ("Not for the Life of Me").
A week later, Millie is confronted by the hotel proprietress, the mysterious and sinister Mrs. Meers, an actress turned evil who now works for a white slavery ring in Hong Kong, kidnapping pretty unsuspecting orphan girls and shipping them to the Orient. Mrs. Meers declares that Millie "has two minutes to pack, or find her things on the street!" But then Millie meets the wealthy Miss Dorothy, who wants to learn how the poorer half lives, and tried to get a room in the Priscilla hotel. Unfortunately there were no rooms left. When Mrs. Meers suggested Dorothy go live with some family for a little while, she confides to her that she is an orphan, therefore giving Mrs. Meers a horrible idea to try to kidnap her. So she decides to room with a reluctant Millie and pay the rent until Millie finds a suitable, rich, and single boss, whom she plans to marry ("How the Other Half Lives"). Millie is showing Miss Dorothy to her room, but the elevator is malfunctioning again, so they have to tap dance to get to their floor. The two quickly become best friends.
In the Hotel Priscilla laundry room, two Chinese immigrants, Ching Ho and Bun Foo, are working for Mrs. Meers to earn enough money to bring their mother from Hong Kong over to the states ("Not For the Life Of Me[reprise]").
Millie comes to Sincere Trust looking for a job (and a single boss) and is appointed to Trevor Graydon III ("The Speed Test"). She quickly decides that she wants him to marry her and easily gets the job. Meanwhile, Ching Ho attempts to capture Miss Dorothy for Mrs. Meers with a poisoned apple but when he sees her, falls in love with her instantly and then wants to save her from Mrs. Meers. Before Dorothy eats the poisoned apple, Millie arrives with the good news that she has found a job and a boss to marry. To celebrate this success they go to a speakeasy, where they meet Jimmy, but the club is raided by the police. While waiting for his release in the jail cell, Jimmy realizes that he loves Millie ("What Do I Need With Love").
Jimmy asks Millie to a party hosted by famous singer Muzzie van Hossmere, and she accepts. After the party, Millie explains to Jimmy how she is going to marry Trevor. She also tells him off for being a "skirt chaster" and "womanizer". As they argue, Jimmy suddenly grabs Millie and kisses her, then runs away. Millie realizes that she loves Jimmy ("Jimmy"). Millie returns to the hotel to go to bed and overhears a conversation between Miss Dorothy and Jimmy, "I really want to tell her, she's my best friend" "You know we can't". Millie sees Jimmy sneaking out of Miss Dorothy's room after what appears to be a late-night tryst; confused and horrified Millie breaks up with Jimmy.
Act II
At Sincere Trust, Millie tells the other stenographers that she is "completely over" Jimmy, then realizes she is still in love; the girls try to convince her to let him go (Forget About the Boy). Then Jimmy breaks in through the window and asks her to dinner. She tells him off for a while, then agrees. Jimmy finally declares his feelings for Millie while washing dishes to pay their tab at Cafe Society, a swank speakeasy. Millie is confused by her feelings for Jimmy and her desire not to be poor. Just as she returns to Jimmy, they encounter Mr. Graydon, who was stood up by Miss Dorothy. He tells Millie and Jimmy that Mrs. Meers told him Miss Dorothy had checked out of the hotel. When Millie recalls that several other tenants had also suddenly "checked out", and that all of the missing tenants were orphans, Millie, Jimmy, and Mr. Graydon realize what Mrs. Meers is up to. They persuade Muzzy to pose as a new orphan in town to trick Mrs. Meers. Mrs. Meers takes the bait, is exposed as the mastermind of the slavery ring, and taken to the police station. Meanwhile, Ching Ho had already rescued Miss Dorothy and won her heart.
Jimmy proposes to Millie, and, poor as he is, she accepts, "because if it's marriage I've got in mind, love has everything to do with it." Jimmy turns out to be Herbert J. van Hossmere III, Muzzy's stepson, and one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. And Miss Dorothy turns out to be his sister, an heiress named Dorothy Carnegie Mellon Vanderbilt Rockefeller van Hossmere, and she ends up not with the dismayed Trevor Graydon, but with Ching Ho. Both Jimmy and Dorothy had disguised their wealth to avoid being targeted by gold diggers. In a final pairing, Bun Foo joins Graydon's company as a new stenographer after telling Graydon that he can type fifty words a minute. At the very end of the musical, Bun Foo and Ching Ho are once again reunited with their mother.
| Characters | Voice Type | Description |
| Millie Dillmount | Mezzo-soprano | A young, "modern" woman from Kansas. Originally, her goal is to marry for wealth, rather than love. |
| Jimmy Smith | Tenor | An attractive young paperclip salesman. He does not show pride in his wealth. |
| Trevor Graydon III | Bass-baritone | Sincere Trust Insurance Co. head boss. |
| Miss Dorothy Brown | Soprano | A new actress from California, Millie's best friend. |
| Mrs. Meers | Alto | Evil owner of the Hotel Priscilla who is a former actress. "Mrs. Meers" is her alias name, as her real name is Daisy Crumpler. |
| Ching Ho | Tenor | Chinese henchman, falls in love with Miss Dorothy. |
| Bun Foo | Tenor | Chinese henchman, focused more on the task at hand. |
| Muzzy van Hossmere | Mezzo / Alto | Singer and bon vivant, stepmother of Jimmy and Dorothy. She was the second wife of her late husband. |
| Miss Peg Flannery | Belter | Curmudgeonly head stenographer at Sincere Trust. |
Songs are by Tesori and Scanlan, unless otherwise noted.
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An original Broadway cast recording is available on the RCA Victor label.
The musical, directed by Michael Mayer, underwent several workshops in New York in 1999. Included in the workshops casts were Kristin Chenoweth, Marc Kudisch, and Beatrice Arthur.[10]
It then played out-of-town tryouts at the La Jolla Playhouse at University of California, San Diego in October 2000 through December 2000.[4] Despite nurturing the role through the workshop process, Kristin Chenoweth did not continue with the role of Millie in order to film her own sitcom. She was replaced by Erin Dilly, but prior to public previews, Sutton Foster was chosen from the chorus to assume the title role, a move that propelled her to stardom.[4]
The musical premiered on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on April 18, 2002 and closed on June 20, 2004 after 903 performances and 32 previews. Directed by Michael Mayer and choreographed by Rob Ashford, orchestration was by Doug Besterman and the late Ralph Burns, scenic design was by David Gallo, costume design was by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting design was by Donald Holder. The original cast included Sutton Foster as Millie, Marc Kudisch as Trevor, Angela Christian as Miss Dorothy, Gavin Creel as Jimmy, Harriet Sansom Harris as Mrs. Meers, Sheryl Lee Ralph as Muzzy Van Hossmere, Ken Leung as Ching Ho, Francis Jue as Bun Foo, and Anne L. Nathan as Miss Flannery.
Replacements later in the run included Susan Egan as Millie, Leslie Uggams as Muzzy, Delta Burke and Dixie Carter as Mrs. Meers, Christian Borle as Jimmy, Christopher Sieber as Trevor Graydon, and Liz McCartney as Miss Flannery. At the April 2, 2003 performance, Meredith Vieira appeared in three minor roles for a segment later broadcast on her daytime talk show The View.
The original Broadway production won six Tony Awards and five Drama Desk Awards, including the win for Best Musical at both award ceremonies.
In 2003, the original creative team reunited to stage the show in London's West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre. It began previews on October 11 and opened on October 21. Well-known UK TV personality Amanda Holden starred in the title role, with Maureen Lipman and Marti Webb alternating as Mrs. Meers and Sheila Ferguson as Muzzy Van Hossmere. When Webb subsequently left the production to join Tell Me on a Sunday, Mrs. Meers was played by Anita Dobson, and when Holden was forced to take time off due to illness, her understudy Donna Steele took over the role to great acclaim. Despite positive reviews and booking periods extended to January 2005, Thoroughly Modern Millie failed to catch the UK public's attention and closed on June 26, 2004.[11]
A UK tour beginning in March 2005 fared much better and successfully toured many of the country's major theatres until November, when it closed as planned in Nottingham. The tour starred Steele as Millie, Lesley Joseph as Mrs. Meers, and Grace Kennedy as Muzzy Van Hossmere.
The school edition of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" was premiered at the International Thespian Festival on June 26, 2007. It was presented by the International Thespian Cast. The production starred Elizabeth Elliott as Millie, David King as Jimmy, and Rachel Buethe as Mrs. Meers. The creators of the show also appeared at the festival to help introduce the show.
The Canadian premiere of the show took place in Courtenay, British Columbia, in October 2007. It was directed by Brian Kruse.
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | Nominated | |
| Best Actress in a Musical | Amanda Holden | Nominated | ||
| Maureen Lipman | Nominated | |||
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