Thoroughly Modern Millie--Original Broadway Cast Album on CD

Add Thoroughly Modern Millie to the growing list of shows I have not seen in live performance, but need to. Based on this original cast album, I will love this show. This is a good old fashioned type book musical, with a lot of variety in its music. And this recording shows that the original cast was top-notch.

Sutton Foster had been on Broadway before, but only as a ensemble player or understudy, but here she is coming out from the chorus to play the lead and she is fantastic! I don't hear a note of Ms. Foster's singing that I have any quarrel with--it's a bright, forward sound that is typically American for the typically American Millie Dilmount.

The male leads are equally good. Baritone Marc Kudisch nearly floored me with the Gilbert and Sullivan re-work as "The Speed Test". The tap-dancing for the typing segment is brilliant, and I need to see it live. Tenor Gavin Creel has a nice light, flexible voice that I always want to hear from my Broadway tenors.

The other women in the cast vary in experience and success. Sheryl Lee Ralph was the original Deena in Dream Girls; her club act numbers in Millie are wonderful. Harriet Harris is a character actress with a familiar face, but neither the Broadway database nor imdb.com give me any clue where I've seen her before. Angela Christian has several musical Broadway credits, but I found her soprano voice a little forced.

It's the music in this show that is the real star. Incorporating themes from the 1969 film with new music by Jeanine Tesori along with the afore-mentioned Sullivan number, a couple of Victor Herbert tunes, and a fantastic jazz arrangement of the Nutcracker, this score is delightful--evoking the 20s era without ever descending into stereotypes or blandness. I do wonder if the Chinese jokes were an issue in our proto-proper inclusive environment.

None of these performers nor the music and lyric team have appeared previously in my Year. Again, I'm amazed at the number of composers who have written musicals. I'm going to shoot for 100 composers before the 12 months are up at the end of May.

Thoroughly Modern Millie
Music by Jeanine Tesori (with some help from James Van Heusen, Victor Herbert and Arthur Sullivan)
Lyrics by Dick Scanlan (with some help from Sammy Cahn)
Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlon
Opened in 2002
Cast: Marc Kudisch, Sutton Foster, Gavin Creel, Angela Christian, Sheryl Lee Ralph