Search - Jeanine Tesori, Dick Scanlan, Sutton Foster :: Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Original Broadway Cast)

A fantastic new musical

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 11/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE opened to mostly-excellent reviews at the Marquis Theatre earlier this year, and led the charge at this year's Tony Awards.Newcomer Sutton Foster is a revelation as Millie. When she played the Star-To-Be in the recent Broadway revival of ANNIE, she might as well have been predicting her future when she sang: 'NYC/I give you fair warning/Up there/In lights/I'll be'. Her glorious voice soars in such numbers as "Not For the Life of Me", "Gimme Gimme", "Jimmy" and "Forget About the Boy". Needless to say, Foster's Tony win as Best Actress is well-deserved.The rest of the cast includes Marc Kudisch, Gavin Creel, "Frasier"'s Harriet Harris, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Angela Christian.Among the rest of the stand-out numbers are "I Turned the Corner", "They Don't Know", "Long As I'm Here with You" and a hilarious Chinese version of "My Mammy" entitled "Mugin".It looks like THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE will be firmly playing on Broadway for many years to come. (RCA)."

A Must!

Byron Kolln | 08/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To start this cd is terrific.It includes great new and old music.A mixture of popular 1920's jazz and operatic things.With the cd's great orchestration on the title song you'll be humming it in your sleep.Both the title song and "Not for the Life of Me" are heard frequently.Sutton Foster sings all her numbers beautiflly.Highlights of her numbers are "Forget About the Boy","Gimme Gimme",and "Jimmy"."The Speed Test" is an extermely comic number filled with tap dancing typists and office workers.Sheryl Lee Ralph sings her numbers ("Only in New York" and "Long as I'm Here with You")very well and has a powerful voice.Gavin Creel is a pleasure to hear as Jimmy singing the rakish "What Do I Need with Love" and the love song "I Turned the Corner".Last,there is the entertaining "The Nuttycracker Suite".Which is a jazz version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.I feel this cd is a must for any musical theater lovers and great for those who like old-fashioned musical theater."

Has its ups and downs

Byron Kolln | 08/13/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Thoroughly Modern Millie is one of those shows that pleases 90% of the crowd as a fun, fluffy, musical that harkens back to shows like Bells are Ringing and 42nd Street. As for the other 10%, there's only so many times you can see a show like Millie and therefore, to me at least, is generally unimpressive. I think the show's saving grace is Harriet Harris, whose comic timing is divine. Sutton Foster, while she fits the part, starts off as a fresh new talent and then by the end of the show becomes repetitive. As for the score, it does give a pretty good representation of 1920s fare, and some of the songs' lyrics have a nice wit to them. Forget About the Boy is pretty catchy, same for Not for the Life of Me. However, after a while, the songs seem to blend into one another and all sound the same. I think the two I play most are the Nuttycracker Suite (a rather clever salute to Tchaikovsky) and Muqin for the showcase of Harris' talent. Marc Kudisch has a talent, but it seems to me it is the same talent I saw in Bells are Ringing, and he's merely continuing that role.All in all, you could do worse when buying a cast album, and for most people it will be guaranteed to please with toe-tapping rythms and a somewhat solid cast with a story that translates well onto CD. However, if you're a 10 percenter, it may get played once or twice and then stay on the shelf. Hey, you could do worse and get something like By Jeeves."