Friday, April 19, 2002

NEW YORK -- Thoroughly delightful entertainment, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" is everything you'd ever want in a bright, light and splashy musical comedy.

Opening yesterday at the Marquis, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" is a ceaseless whirl of high style, hummable songs, nifty dances, swell performances and lots and lots of laughs.

The lavish new stage show in some ways betters its source material, the same-named 1967 movie that affectionately spoofed the Roaring'20s.

The story centers on Millie, a sweet young thing newly arrived in Manhattan, who bobs her hair, hikes her hemline and decides she's going to marry her boss -- once she gets one.

Millie's prowess at stenography nabs her an employer out of an Arrow Collar ad but he is soon smitten with her roommate, the la-dee-da orphan Miss Dorothy. Fortunately, Millie has been enjoying an on-and-off romance with Jimmy, a snappy if broke gent about town.

Unfortunately, Millie also resides in a hotel for young ladies that's really a front for a white slavery racket run by its wicked proprietress, Mrs. Meers, who keeps trying to shanghai the lovely Miss Dorothy with the unhelpful aid of her two Chinese henchmen.

What with flappers, speakeasies, tap-dancing office workers, penthouse parties, and all sorts of razzmatazz Jazz Age nonsense going on, the story is a great big ball of fluff. But the script by the late Richard Morris (who wrote the screenplay) and Dick Scanlan is swift and wonderfully silly stuff, offering a couple of new twists on the movie.

Considerably more prominent in the musical are the brothers Ching Ho and Bun Foo, whose Chinese dialogue is translated in projected surtitles. (They share a song, too, but let's not give away that excellent joke.) Frankly, for awhile it's debatable whether the huge laughs that erupt from their scenes are, well, a bit racist in tone, but any such doubt is finessed by the script, the actors and the staging.

The score is a dandy hybrid of material involving two songs from the film, new vo-dee-oh-doh numbers composed by Jeanine Tesori and several other melodies by the likes of Sir Arthur Sullivan, Victor Herbert and Tchaikovsky, cleverly refitted with lyrics by Scanlan.

For instance, Sullivan's "Matter Patter" ditty from "Ruddigore" becomes the boss' rapid fire "Speed Test" for Millie's office skills.

Snazzy orchestrations synthesize the disparate musical styles into 1920s-era congruence.

Thanks to Michael Mayer's very sharp, very witty direction and Rob Ashford's blissful Charleston-crazed, tap-happy choreography, what might easily be a ten-ton mound of cotton candy is transformed into a stylish confection. Designer David Gallo's sets render Manhattan as a silvery art deco Oz. Martin Pakledinaz's peachy John Held Jr.-style costumes are colorful and humorous.

The cast socks the show over with great precision and energy.

A vivacious miss with a pert face, a brunette Dutch bob and a strong, clear, soaring voice, newcomer Sutton Foster is tremendously appealing as Millie.

A clean-cut and limber Gavin Creel is a mischievous Jimmy. With his granite jaw and fine baritone, Marc Kudisch looks perfect as Millie's boss, and his florid love-at-first-sight duet and dance with Angela Christian's fluttery Miss Dorothy is one of the show's best bits.

With Carol Channing's old role as a world-renowned jazz baby reconfigured for her gifts, Sheryl Lee Ralph insouciantly tosses off a few songs and sweetly enacts a heart-to-heart scene with Millie. Anne L. Nathan delivers a droll cameo as a tough office manager.

Teamed with Ken Leung and Francis Jue as her unwilling accomplices in crime, Harriet Harris's Mrs. Meers nearly steals the whole $10 million show. Looking like Rosalind Russell on a bender, hissing her lines in bogus dragon lady accents, Harris is hilarious as a ham actress turned white slaver. Such brilliant comic expertise surely will nab her several awards in the near future.

Actually, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" looks likely to rack up any number of prizes. It's a winner nearly every way you look at it -- and I, for one, can't wait to see the show all over again.

NEW YORK STAGE

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Where: Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway at 46th Street, New York When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays

How much: $55 to $95.

Call (212) 307-4100 or visit

www.ModernMillie.com.