COME GET MODERN WITH MILLIE AT GOODSPEED

CAST OF THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE AT GOODSPEED

Within five minutes of arriving by bus from Salinas, Kansas to the Big Apple, an optimistic Millie Dilmount has her hair bobbed, her frock shortened and her knees rouged.  It's 1922 for heaven's sake.  Within ten minutes, she has her hat, purse, one shoe and suitcases spirited away.  Welcome to New York City and the real world, Miss Dilmount.

Have no fear.  This bright, cute as a button, lass will land on her feet, once she gets a pair of matching pumps in the delightful musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie" making crowds deliriously happy at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam until Sunday, July 2.

Come cheer on Taylor Quick's adorable Millie, who keeps her glowing sunshine face on almost every minute of this award winning show with book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlon, with new music by Jeanine Tesori and new lyrics by Dick Scanlon.

Millie is on a mission: to find a secretarial job and marry her rich boss.  She moves into the Hotel Priscilla, run by a rather unorthodox Mrs. Meers (Loretta Ables Sayre) and snags a new roommate Dorothy (Samantha Strum) just when the rent she doesn't have comes due.

Securing a job at Sincere Trust, Millie sets her romantic cap for the swaggering stud Trevor Graydon (Edward Watts), while fending off the advances of a penniless suiter Jimmy Smith (Dan DeLuca).  Millie soon find herself mingling in high society, meeting socialite and sultry singer Muzzy Van Hossmere (Ramona Keller).

Meanwhile the nefarious Mrs. Meers, with her cohorts Ching Ho and Bun Foo (James Seol and Christopher Shin), cause orphaned residents of the Hotel Priscilla to suddenly disappear, with a one way ticket to Hong Kong.  Millie, Jimmy and Trevor work to unravel the white slavery trade when Dorothy goes missing.  Unexpected romantic matches occur that make almost all concerned deliciously joyful.

All along the way, the musical numbers directed by Michael O'Flaherty with snap typewriter key rhythm speed and  the choreography and direction by Denis Jones rocks and roars with rousing success.  Gregory Gale has a glorious time designing costumes with a flamboyant flapper's flair, on a set of 1920's sensibility designed by Paul Tale de Poo III.

For tickets ($29 and up), call Goodspeed Musicals, 6 Main Street, East Haddam, on the Connecticut River, at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org.  Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Select performances are Thursday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

Practice your Charleston, shorten the hemline on your flapper frock, hide a flask of bootleg gin, bob your hair and prepare for jazzy fun, mysterious madcap moments and Cupid's arrows flying far afield.