Thoroughly Modern Millie is an upbeat musical about a girl with big hopes and dreams in 1920s New York City. The show involves large ensemble dance numbers and fantastic vocal performances. It received rave reviews from the first preview and songs from the show can still be heard at auditions around the world. Thoroughly Modern Millie is truly a show that all ages can enjoy and love.
Originally, Thoroughly Modern Millie was a 1967 movie-musical starring Julie Andrews as the title role. Both the movie and broadway show are done in what is known as a pastiche style. Pastiche is a style that mimics another artist’s work to celebrate it. The show uses new songs as well as previously written songs together which helps the show portray a very jazzy 1920’s feel. The 1920’s setting of the show really contributes to the plotline. In the 1920’s the United States was extremely rich and social barriers were being broken. Women were now more involved in society than they ever were in the past due to their role on the homefront during World War I.
The story follows a small-town Kansas girl named Millie Dillmount who decides to move to New York City in hopes of becoming a success. She is set on achieving her goal and becoming a “modern” which basically is a flapper. Soon after arriving in New York Millie is mugged and while she runs after her aggressor in a panic, she trips Jimmy Smith. Jimmy is an attractive young man who flies by the seat of his pants. He and Millie end up fighting over her plans and she storms off.
Millie then checks into a hotel run by Mrs. Meers who works for a white slavery ring in China. At the hotel, Millie meets the wealthy Miss Dorothy who agrees to room with her to pay rent. Millie begins to look for rich eligib...
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...at wasn’t always going to be the case. Originally Erin Dilly was cast as Millie Dillmount but Sutton was pulled from ensemble to take on the role of Millie. Not only was Thoroughly Modern Millie a Broadway show but it also ran in the West End beginning October 21, 2013 with Amanda Holden as Millie.
Thoroughly Modern Millie won a total of six Tonys including Best Musical and Best Actress in a Musical for Sutton’s performance. From the moment the curtain opened for the first time to the final bow it mesmerized audiences and kept people coming back for more. Its fast-paced, fun storyline and witty nature made it instantly a hit. Not only does it incorporate large ensemble numbers but it also provides small, intimate numbers for the principal characters to really reach the audience emotionally. Thoroughly Modern Millie has definitely made a lasting mark on broadway.
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
...e are virtuosity and magic. To have virtuosity, one must have great skill in knowing how to use your body and voice and well as its limitations. Magic is a bit more complicated. It cannot be defined. Everyone on stage had good virtuosity. They knew where their center was and they knew how to use their voice and body. This was not shocking considering that most of the actors were seniors in Musical Theatre. However, not all of them possessed that magical quality. The person I saw this the most in was Taylor Young who played the character of Vera Sanders in the show. I’m not sure what pulled me to her the most, but that is what magic is. I can’t define it; I just know that there was something special about her that I really enjoyed watching, especially when she told the story about the June bugs. That story really stuck with me. In fact, I thought about it all weekend.
As Jacqueline got to the age where her grandparents home was just a constant routine, never seen as anything but a cycle, her mother takes her and the family to New York for “new opportunities”. Jackie thinks of the idea as an adventure till she sees the pale grey streets
Her family ties to the south, her unique talent, her ability to travel and make money are similar to the Blues women movement that preceded her. It can be said that Nina Simone goes a step further the by directly attacking inequities pertaining to race and gender in her music. However, what distinguishes her is her unique musicianship and that is what ultimately garners her massive exposure and experiences than those of her past contemporaries. Like the Blues women Simone expands ideas pertaining to self-expression, identity and beauty as they relate to black women. She does this by embracing what is definitively African American and connecting that to a historical context. By doing so she is the embodiment of a political statement. Her journey which began like many entertaine...
These strong people have help not only with the growth of the Broadway musical, but also with the beginning of the modernization of musical theater during this period. Particularly the growth and change in the types of characters being used in Broadway musicals. Such as the Cinderella type characters are in the rag to riches stories, where they are struggling in the beginning of the act, yet at the final curtain they have a happy ending. Women and men during this period are beginning to show more personality in their acting and their struggles on stage. This was also the period where talking pictures, started to become a growing industry, it was no longer about just the Jazz period of the 1920’s. However, all good things must come to an end; it was the crash of the stock market during this period that brought an end to the feverish pitch of Broadway.
“Were off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz” One of the infamous phrases from one of the most well know classics of all time. The original movie titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was made in 1939 by Frank Baum. This film featured stars such as Judy Garland, Jack Hayley and many others. This was not only a movie, it was a fantasy, and a musical storytelling adventure with unusual characters that shook the audience. This was one of the first films to make it to the big screen with color. Because of its success, this film has been remade many times with multiple different spins making it rhetorical. Over the years this film has become one of the best films of all time and is still watched today among all ages
... engages in a struggle with sexual identity. Both the governess and Miles find themselves lost in a gray area of their own sexuality. Although for Miles it relates to his relationship with Quint and how that translates into his own sexuality, the governess creates her own hardship through her desire for a sexual identity. While she is eventually attracted to every male that she meets, she still does not accomplish her various goals, from privilege to love. The wealthy uncle indeed presents an opportunity to achieve a higher status, but even in this case, she translates her dream into sexual desire. It is this desire which manifests itself in the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. These two individuals manage to represent everything about the governess that she fears. Quint presses her desire for the wealthy uncle while Jessel questions her adoration for Miles.
earlier and ventures out into New YorkCity. The story focused around thepeople he meets and the
As a student of hers, I am confident in saying that she puts all of her hard work and efforts into her productions. Hard work pays off and thanks to her, the transitions between all scenes especially act two scene three to the finale were a great success. She did a extraordinary job casting the actors and hiring Abby Peterson Murrel as the choreographer. Abby did a fantastic job directing the “Waiters Gallup” there was so much movement and this song/scene that it is easy for it to become a jumbled mess, however she made clean, cut movements that is was a breeze to follow. Rudolph Reisenweber played by Garrett Johnson, the head chef of the overwhelming restaurant, was well placed. We see the first and second cook dressed in completely different outfits making appearances on either side of the stage while other waiters are dancing to songs in the middle. The choreography kept things interesting and the dances in a musical can make or break the performance. Overall, Cherie and Abby did amazing jobs directing each person to have a place among a crowded
It is New York in the 1920s. Nick Carraway moves to the West Egg from Minnesota. He lives in a small house next to Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man who throws lavish parties, and decides he wants to know more about him. Then conflicts ensue about affairs and the secrets about all of the characters’ pasts. Nick, Daisy, and Tom (Daisy’s husband) “hang out” and later on, Gatsby joins on their travels. One day, when they are on an outing, Daisy hits Myrtle (Tom’s mistress) accidentally with Gatsby’s car and Myrtle dies. Tom then assures Daisy that they will cover up who killed Myrtle. Wilson thinks Gatsby killed his wife, so in a fit of madness goes to Gatsby’s house and kills him and
The musicals that were produced around that time period were meant to be strictly for entertainment, for the most part. It was a very brave move for the creative team of this musical to tackle themes like racism, violence, and death. The risk definitely paid off, because even today West Side Story still remains a very popular musical. The main message that this show is trying to convey to the audience is that it shouldn’t take a horrible tragedy to finally unite people. Just because someone may not look the same way you do, or act the same way, or share your same belief system, that doesn’t mean you have to be fearful of them. Instead we should try our hardest to embrace the fact that this world would be a very boring place without a little diversity, and it’s ok to celebrate the things that make us
In New York, however, Cocoa finds herself amongst a group of people who seem distant and interested in only themselves. Stemming from many different backgrounds, the people of New York are always in a rush and "moving, moving, moving ---and to where?" (19). No one knows for sure. Just like the subways, racism in New York moved underground, and Cocoa experiences it as she desperately searches for a job. After having lived in New York for seven years, Cocoa still has not found a suitable mate. Only when she meets George does she start believing again in the goodness and sincerity possessed by some. George is t...
thesis of how the musical brought our inner child out to realize our true struggles in life.
The plot centres on a fictional World War I army veteran named Nick Carraway. After his involvement in the war on the allied side with a machine gun battalion, he returned to his home in Chicago. With no clear direction of what he wanted to do with his life, he decided to move to New York to enter into the business of selling bonds. He settled down on an area of Long Island called West Egg, directly beside a more fashionable area of Long Island called West Egg. Across from him lived a rich man named Jay Gatsby who also was a World War I vet. Not far away lived a married couple Daisy and Tom Buchanan which he knew relatively well. It was at their residence that he met a woman, Jordan Baker, who was to become his good friend and later his girl friend. Carraway soon became a good friend with his rich neighbour next door, Gatsby, and soon was exposed to many rumours about this man which caused him to question his relationship with him.
The classic tale of Cinderella is well known for the fight of overcoming great obstacles despite great odds. However, there are always a few ill-hearted people who go out of their way to cease any competition that they might face, as seen with Cinderella’s step-sisters. Samuel Jackson says is his distinguished quote, “The hunger of imagination…lures us to…the phantoms of hope,” to help develop a more defined view of a fairytale. The story of Cinderella fully embodies the ideals of a true fairytale by encompassing magic, hope, and struggle between good and evil throughout the duration of the plot.