Thoroughly Modern Millie

Synopsis

Based on the 1967 film starring Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing, the nostalgic musical comedy is set in 1920s New York where recent arrival-from-Kansas Millie Dillmount is determined to bob her hair, dance to jazz, get a job and marry her boss - all in the modern fashion.

Our Review:

22 October 2003

Just as the title character of Thoroughly Modern Millie arrives in New York and discovers, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, that she's not in Kansas anymore, so Amanda Holden has arrived on the London stage to play the eponymous Millie and prove that she herself is not just a tabloid headline but also a headliner of real star quality.

Holden's the heart and the art of an all-guns-blazing Broadway blast of a show that has transferred here far quicker than any New York musical has for some time - where's The Producers, anyone? - just 18 months after it premiered there and swept its way to six Tony Awards.

Although it's based on a familiar movie musical, as with the stage version of Fame only the title song (by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn) survives from the original score. The rest has mostly been freshly re-constructed to pastiche period new songs by Jeanine Tesori (music) and Dick Scanlan (lyrics), wrapped within an en...

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Latest User Review

82.71.40.61) - 19 November 2005:

I am giving this show 3 stars only because of Sheila Ferguson - AND yes, she gets all three!!! I saw her performance the opening week at The Shaftsbury Theatre and again just before it closed on June 26th, 2003. What strides Sheila had made. Sheila's voice, stage presence and comedic sense of timing is parallel to none. She is finding a depth to her acting with each part she undertakes, and I think some of you are being extremely cruel regarding her! This woman dares to be different and to try new things. Why do we always diss people like 'Sheila Ferguson'? Whenever Sheila takes any stage, it lights up and other's simply pale in her signigicance, as she really is larger than life. How would Whitney Houston have fared in 'The Bodyguard' had she not been protected and surrounded by Kevin Costner to hold up a meek and mediocre preformance? Same thing applies to Denzel's holding her up in 'The Preacher's Wife'. And, would any Diva put their career on the line like Sheila? I think not! And speaking of Amanda Holden? Geessssss, what a wooden performance she gave!!! No stage presense whatsoever!!! You've also mentioned Maureen Lipman and her singing??? DUH!!!! Anita Dobson and her singing??? DUH AGAIN!!! Is that what you call singing? How can you possibly compare the voices of Amanda Holden, Maureen Lipman and Anita Dobson with that of Sheila Ferguson's??? I don't get it? Sheila is brilliant!!! Why can't we give the woman her due, here in this country? Sheila Ferguson is an 'INTERNSATIONAL STAR', not a local yocal. I respect her for even daring to stretch herself to be different!!! Sheila Ferguson is a truly great, daring and innovative 'Diva'. And it's about time people stopped expecting the worst and givng her the 'Party Line'. Sheila Ferguson CAN act and watch out for her, she'll prove you all wrong one day. I can't wait to see her starring as 'The Fairy Godmother' in Cinderella. My mates and I will be there, in Canterbury, to see and support this amazing lady in her first Panto venture. Ali and the boys....

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