Role: Millie Dillmount
Theatre: Marquis Theatre
Previews: March 19, 2002 - April 17, 2002 [32 Previews]
Opening Night: April 18, 2002
Run: April 18, 2002 - June 20, 2004 [903 Performances]
Sutton's Run: March 19, 2002-February 15, 2004
Setting: New York City, 1922
Original Broadway Cast:
Sutton Foster [Millie Dillmount]
Gavin Creel [Jimmy Smith]
Marc Kudisch [Trevor Graydon]
Angela Chirstian [Miss Dorothy Brown]
Harriet Harris [Mrs. Meers]
Ken Leung [Ching Ho]
Francis Jue [Bun Foo]
Sheryl Lee Ralph [Muzzy van Hossmere]
Ann L. Nathan [Miss Flannery]
Synopsis:
Manhattan, 1922. Millie Dillmount steps off the train from Salina, Kansas (Not For the Life of Me). Surrounded by a throng of fabulous flappers, Millie’s a fish out of water, until she bobs her hair and sheds her Sunday best for a higher hemline and a hotter look (Thoroughly Modern Millie). As the number ends, Millie is mugged. She seeks help from Jimmy Smith, but all he provides is unsolicited advice for her to make a U-turn and return home (Not for the Life of Me (reprise)).
A week passes, and we’re at the Hotel Priscilla, where a bevy of stagestruck hopefuls are starting their day. Enter Miss Dorothy, and she and Millie quickly prove that opposites attract (How the Other Half Lives).
Meanwhile, in the laundry room, Mrs. Meers, the of the hotel, plots to kidnap Miss Dorothy. Why? Mrs. Meers runs a white slavery ring, targeting orphans whose sudden disappearance goes unnoticed, and Miss Dorothy fits the bill. Mrs. Meers barks instructions at her immigrant henchmen, Ching Ho and Bun Foo. The two brothers quarrel over Ching Ho’s crisis of conscience, but Bun Foo reminds him that crime is the only career that pays well enough for them to bring their mother over from Hong Kong (Not for the Life of Me (reprise)).
Later that afternoon, Millie begins her job hunt, or rather husband hunt: Millie’s "modern" plan is to find work as a stenog to an eligible bachelor and wind up his wife. On her list of potential bosses/hubbies is Trevor Graydon III as the Sincere Trust Insurance Company (The Speed Test).
Back at the hotel, Mrs. Meers tries to dope Miss Dorothy with a poisoned apple, but is repeatly interrupted (They Don’t Know).
Millie takes the Priscilla girls out on the town to celebrate her new job, and she runs into Jimmy Smith. He gets them into a speakeasy, and though Millie is initially standoffish, they eventually join in a dance (The Nuttycracker Suite).
By the time they are raided and land in jail, Jimmy reconsiders his assessment of Millie (What Do I Need with Love?). Jimmy asks Millie to a Yankees game, but she reveals her plan to marry her boss. Saving face, Jimmy pretends that his interest is platonic, suggesting that she bring Miss Dorothy along. A trio is formed for nightly excursions to Coney Island, Central Park and the glamorous penthouse of Muzzy Van Hossmere, Manhattan’s most celebrates chanteuse (Only in New York). Later that night, on Muzzy’s terrace, Jimmy needles Millie about her plan to marry a man who thinks of her as a "typewriter on legs." Their quarrel escalates until, unable to control himself, Jimmy kisses Millie passionately. He exits in a panic, leaving her alone to sort out her feelings (Jimmy). She returns to the Hotel Priscilla in a state of bliss, which is quickly shattered when she sees Jimmy sneaking out of Miss Dorothy’s room after what appears to be a late-night tryst.
The next morning, Millie is miserable (Back at Work). She wills herself into wasting no more time on Jimmy Smith (Forget About the Boy). Instead, she redoubles her efforts to seduce Mr. Graydon, until Miss Dorothy drops by and the two are immediately smitten (I’m Falling in Love with Someone). Jimmy appears on the window ledge outside of Millie’s office, where he declares his feelings for her (I Turned the Corner). Millie, too, is falling in love, as are Mr. Graydon, Miss Dorothy and Ching Ho, whose heart belonged to Miss Dorothy since the moment they met (I’m Falling in Love with Someone (quartet)).
Meanwhile, Mrs. Meers is more determined than ever to get Miss Dorothy. Ching Ho tries to stop her, but she reminds him of her promise to import their elderly, ailing mother in exchange for their evildoings (Muqin).
Millie and Jimmy go to Café Society to hear Muzzy sing (Long As I’m Here with You), but they can’t pay the bill so they are put on dishwashing duty. Millie realizes that the unemployed Jimmy is as far from her plan to marry well as a girl can get, so she flees the kitchen and heads to Muzzy’s dressing room for some sound advice. Muzzy explains that though she herself married a multi-millionaire, she had no idea he was rich until after their engagement, when a green glass brooch he gave her turned out to be emeralds. Muzzy leaves Millie alone in the dressing room to mull over her advice (Gimme Gimme). Mr. Graydon shows up at Café Society in a drunken stupor: Miss Dorothy has checked out of the Hotel Priscilla with no forwarding address. Putting their heads together, Millie, Jimmy and Mr. Graydon realize that Mrs. Meers must be running a white slavery ring. They corral Muzzy into checking in as a new-orphan-in-town. Mrs. Meers takes the bait and is exposed as the mastermind criminal she is. With Mrs. Meers out of the way, Miss Dorothy is revealed in Ching Ho’s arms: he rescued her from an unspeakable fate and won her heart in the bargain. 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 reveals himself to be Herbert J. Van Hossmere III-Muzzy’s stepson, Miss Dorothy’s brother and one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. The two couples kiss as a throng of fabulous flappers appears. Through them walks another girl from nowhere, ready to take her chances in the never-ending tale that is New York City (Finale).
Songs:
Act One
Not For The Life of Me [Millie Dillmount]
Thoroughly Modern Millie [Millie Dillmount and Ensemble]
Not For The Life of Me (Reprise) [Ruth, Gloria, Rita, Alice, Cora and Lucille]
How The Other Half Lives [Miss Dorothy Brown and Millie Dillmount]
Not For The Life Of Me (Reprise) [Ching Ho and Bun Foo]
The Speed Test [Mr. Trevor Graydon, Millie Dillmount, Miss Flannery and Office Workers]
They Don't Know [Mrs. Meers]
The Nuttycracker Suite [Millie Dillmount, Miss Dorothy Brown, Jimmy Smith, Gloria, Alice, Ruth and Speakeasy Patrons]
What Do I Need With Love? [Jimmy Smith]
Only in New York [Muzzy van Hossmere]
Jimmy [Millie Dillmount]
Act Two
Forget About The Boy [Millie Dillmount, Miss Flannery and Typists]
I'm Falling In Love With Someone [Mr. Trevor Graydon and Miss Dorothy Brown]
I Turned The Corner [Jimmy Smith and Millie Dillmount]
Muqin [Mrs. Meers, Ching Ho and Bun Foo]
Long As I'm Here With You [Muzzy van Hossmere, Millie Dillmount and Ensemble]
Gimme Gimme [Millie Dillmount]
The Speed Test (Reprise) [Millie Dillmount, Mr. Trevor Graydon, Jimmy Smith and Muzzy van Hossmere]
Thoroughly Modern Millie (Reprise) [Jimmy Smith, Miss Dorothy Brown and Moderns]
Awards and Nominations:
TONY AWARDS (11):
Best Musical
Best Book of a Musical -- (Richard Morris, Dick Scanlan)
Best Original Musical Score -- (Jeanine Tesori; Dick Scanlan)
Best Actor in a Musical -- (Gavin Creel)
Best Actress in a Musical -- (Sutton Foster)
Best Featured Actor in a Musical -- (Marc Kudisch)
Best Featured Actress in a Musical -- (Harriet Harris)
Best Costume Design -- (Martin Pakledinaz)
Best Choreography -- (Rob Ashford)
Best Direction of a Musical -- (Michael Mayer)
Best Orchestrations -- (Doug Besterman , Ralph Burns)
DRAMA DESK (12):
Outstanding New Musical
Outstanding Book of a Musical -- (Richard Morris, Dick Scanlan)
Outstanding Actress in a Musical -- (Sutton Foster)
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical -- (Marc Kudisch)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical -- (Harriet Harris)
Outstanding Choreography -- (Rob Ashford)
Outstanding Director of a Musical -- (Michael Mayer)
Outstanding Orchestrations -- (Doug Besterman , Ralph Burns)
Outstanding Lyrics -- (Dick Scanlan)
Outstanding Set Design of a Musical -- (David Gallo)
Outstanding Music -- (Jeanine Tesori)
Outstanding Costume Design -- (Martin Pakledinaz)
