THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE run dates: 5/30/2008 - 6/15/2008 Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, Clinton, Iowa ____________________________________________________________________________
One of the risky things about a star vehicle show like THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, which gives the actor in the title role so much to work with, is that a director is tossing most of the eggs in one basket when casting this huge – and hugely important – role.
Happily for director Craig A. Miller (who is also the producing artistic director for the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre), the marvelous Alison Luff (pictured, above) is easily up to the task at hand. Luff makes a great Millie Dillmount – the "young modern" determined to take 1922 Manhattan by storm – delivering every line and lyric with a cheery pep that belies the amount of work that goes into such a big role. Utilizing her pretty voice and elastic physicality, she infuses the role with a sweet, slightly gawky air that is as infectious as it is entertaining. The determination and eventual romance are still there, but the humor in the experiences of this "modern" is what gets top billing in her performance.
In fact, the entire show is the funniest version of MILLIE I’ve seen to date. (I’ve never seen a lousy version of this show, but none have spotlighted the humor quite as effectively as this production.) At Friday’s opening, Luff got a huge laugh from one quite funny line reading early on, and it set the tone for the rest of the evening.
By the time a sweetly romantic kiss occurred later in the performance, the audible response of an audience member caught up in the moment generated laughs of its own. (Though the anonymous gentleman in the audience possibly got the biggest laugh of the night, there were many, many others with a similar quality and quantity of mirth.) As a whole, this MILLIE proved enormously entertaining, and it would not surprise me if many of the remaining performances sell out.
That’s not to say that this first offering of the summer stock season is perfect. Opening night saw some scene changes that were some distance from smooth – though I understand that this was still a major improvement over the transitions of Thursday evening’s preview – and the youth of many cast members made some of the more mature adult roles a bit of a stretch, but as a whole the production is a great kickoff to summer at the Showboat.
Luff starts out strong on the opening number, "Not For the Life of Me," and extends her vocal success with a string of other solo and company numbers. I particularly enjoyed her work during "Forget About the Boy" and "Gimme Gimmie," which are both powerfully-rendered songs.
Zach Borja is adorable as Jimmy Smith, lending gorgeous vocals and a Hugh Grant-ish romantic sensibility to the role. His "What Do I Need With Love" is a flawlessly-rendered ballad of immense beauty that will likely be the source of a swoon or two – and that kind of reaction to his singing in this role is completely understandable.
Luff and Borja sing the duet "I Turned the Corner," and their voices blend into sheer loveliness during this sweet moment, and the authentic emotion they put into their characters is amazingly natural.
As Mrs. Meers, Dallas Milholland is spot-on, lending a deliciously devious attitude to the cartoonish villain, and her "They Don’t Know" is a wicked treat. Joshua Estrada is delightful as Trevor Graydon, giving the clownish stuffed shirt just enough depth the prevent caricature – and he earns several big laughs of his own. Mikeitta Williams may be a tad young for the worldly-wise Muzzy Van Hossmere, but she’s got the requisite vocal chops and successfully belts out "Only In New York" and "Long as I’m Here With You" just the same.
On the whole, the cast seems to be having just as much fun as the audience, and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE is a show you won’t want to miss.
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
