Welcome to the song trivia page. Please note I have not seen the entire original film yet, and I am simply an avid fan of the show and am not privy to much inside information. Therefore, there may be some other interesting tidbits not covered here, and some composer information may be inaccurate. If you know of any additional information or have corrections to inaccurate information, feel free to let me know. Finally, you may find of the changes listed to be considered "spoilers" — if you don't want to know what happens, don't read them!

Thanks to Matthew Murray, misty and others who provided much updated and accurate information for use on this page.

FIRST BROADWAY PREVIEW TO OPENING NIGHT CHANGES

• The overalls that Millie wore during "Not for the Life of Me," as well as those worn by the "New Modern" at the conclusion of the show, have been replaced by a yellow printed dress and a blue-checked gingham dress respectively.
• Millie does not change into her modern clothes until she leaves the stage halfway through "Thoroughly Modern Millie," and reappears on the line "This is 1922!"
• Millie has a new dress during her first scene with Miss Dorothy.
• "They Don't Know" has a completely new set of lyrics.
• The speakeasy and mug lineup scenes have been shortened, and the "Mr. Whoever You Are" joke has been pretty much removed.
• "Ain't No Prohibition on Romance" has been cut in favor of a new song, "Long As I'm Here With You" with Muzzy and the boys, which is a scene-in-one with Jimmy and Millie washing dishes on the opposite end of the stage turntable (which has consequently been shortened).
• The scene with the married couple and Muzzy signing autographs has been cut.
• The "Gimme Gimme" dance break was not, as rumored, completely restored; however, depending on the amount of vocal strain Sutton Foster felt at that point in the performance, the dance break was deemed an optional alternative in lieu of holding onto the "somebody to love me--" note.
• Both chase scenes have been cut.
• A scene in which the white slavery scheme is revealed to Miss Dorothy by Ching Ho has been added in between Zazu checking into the hotel and the final scene.
• At the conclusion of the show, a drop lowers with a photograph of Ching Ho, Bun Foo and their mother standing in front of the Statue of Liberty waving American flags. (Previously, after Muqin there was very little mention of the fate of their mother besides "You don't bring our ma over," with Ching Ho and Miss Dorothy falling in love and Bun Foo being hired as Trevor's newest stenog.)

LA JOLLA TO BROADWAY CHANGES

• "They'll Be Some Changes Made" (the first song before the title number) has been replaced with the original song "Not for the Life of Me" which has several reprises. Consequently, Miss Dorothy, Ching Ho and Bun Foo no longer appear in the opening scene.
• "Thoroughly Modern Millie" has been considerably shortened and altered in terms of musical arrangements and orchestrations, with the entire verse from "in a rumble seat the world is so cozy if the boy is kissable" to "they think is scandalous-and-desistable" being cut. (Thus, this fan site's title now has no premise in the show.) Ching Ho also does not appear in the end of the song and sing "I'm changin' and how" in Chinese.
• The characters of Alice, Ruth, Gloria, and three other girls who live in the hotel have been added and introduce the tapdancing element of the elevator as well as the "white slavery" plot. Ethel Peas' character has grown considerably.
• "Stumbling" (with Millie and Miss Dorothy) has been replaced with the original "How the Other Half Lives."
• A new dance sequence has been added to "The Speed Test."
• After "The Speed Test," Mrs. Meers gets a new solo titled "They Don't Know," about her career as a struggling actress before her involvement in her current white slavery scheme. (This background on Meers was not previously discussed in the show in La Jolla.)
• "One Manhattan, Straight Up" (Jimmy with the girls at the speakeasy) is now an extended dance sequence titled "The Nuttycracker Suite".
• Jimmy has a new song during a stint overnight in prison after a speakeasy raid about his growing feelings for Millie, "What Do I Need with Love?"
• The major scene in which Trevor Graydon asks Millie to be his private secretary has been cut.
• "Then What, Baby?" (Muzzy's first song) has been replaced with "Only in New York", another original piece.
• The roles of Kenneth, Muzzy's butler and Mathilde, Muzzy's maid, have been added.
• "Millie's Dilemma" (the argument she has with herself musically immediately before "Jimmy") has had some major alterations in lyrics since La Jolla.
• "Say That" (Jimmy's second act solo) has been replaced with "I Turned a Corner."
• "Jazz Baby" (Muzzy's second song) was replaced by "Ain't No Prohibition on Romance."
• There have been lyric changes to "Gimme Gimme", with the line referring to Scott and Zelda being replaced by the line "Here I am, St. Valentine, my bags are packed; I'm first in line," and Millie no longer has her dance break after the climax of the song, thus eliminating the presence of a representation of the logo within the actual show.
• The scene with Trevor, Jimmy and Millie ends with Millie's line "But I know someone who would"; Jimmy and Millie's kissing and Trevor's "quickly -- if we don't act fast" line have been cut.
• Chase scenes have been added between the Trevor/Jimmy/Millie scene and Zazu appearing at the Hotel Priscilla, and between the end of that scene and the beginning of the final scene. Consequently, Millie no longer appears during the first Zazu and Mrs. Meers scene.
• At the conclusion of the show (not during the bows), after the company sings "whoopee baby here comes thoroughly modern -- now", the "Millie" has been cut in favor of the appearance of a New Modern in overalls appearing in NYC for the first time, continuing the perpetual cycle.

FILM TO WORKSHOP / WORKSHOP TO LA JOLLA CHANGES

• "Thoroughly Modern Millie" was taken (although slightly altered lyrically and in musical arrangements) from the film. The song was written by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen.
• "Stumbling"'s music has been taken from underscoring in the film, but has new lyrics for the show by Dick Scanlan. I have been told that the Zez Confrey song existed before the film was released.
• "The Speed Test" is based on a (William S.) Gilbert & (Sir Arthur) Sullivan pattersong called "My Eyes Are Fully Open" from their operetta Ruddigore.
• "One Manhattan, Straight Up" originally had a different chorus and was called "Operator Lingo."
• Mrs. Meers originally had a song in addition to "Muqin" called "I Want to Be An Actor Lady" (which was by Harry Von Tilzer and Vincent Bryan with additional lyrics by Dick Scanlan). Later on in the run when Harriet Harris took over the role the song returned, in a more evolved version titled "Mrs. Meers' Lament."
• "Jimmy" was taken from the film and was originally written by Jay Thompson.
• "Forget About the Boy" is one of the token new songs written by Jeanine Tesori for the show.
• "I'm Falling in Love with Someone" and its preceding "Ah! Sweet mystery of life" are from Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta.
• "Say That" was originally titled "S'posin'" which it replaced in the La Jolla run. It had a slightly different melody throughout but an entirely changed chorus. It was also written by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan.
• "Muqin" is a semi-translation (some of it is in English) to Cantonese (Hong Kong dialect of Chinese) of the classic Al Jolson song "My Mammy," which was written by Irving Berlin.
• Muzzy had a song in the workshop called "I'm Sorry, Dear" which, I presume, was also written by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan.
• "Jazz Baby" was featured in the film but was written by Blanche Merrill and M.K. Jerome and sung by Marion Harris, in addition to Carol Channing.
• "Gimme, Gimme," the incredible current 11 o'clock number in the show, was written especially for Sutton Foster (replacing a song in the workshop called "Chuck it, John" - which was not sung by Trevor Graydon, as one would think based on the title, but Millie) and completed right before one of the final technical rehearsals for the show in La Jolla. It was written by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan.