Review by Laura Petracco of Thoroughly Modern Millie: NKU
I recently saw Thoroughly Modern Millie at NKU and I cannot give it high enough praise. This production was packed full of such talented performers, choreography that was meant for Broadway and costumes that made the story even more real.
The entire cast of Millie was phenomenal, but there were three performers that stood out in my mind. The first is, not surprisingly, Megan Urz, who played Millie Dillmount. Megan gave Millie an aggressive edge that I“™ve never seen played before and I truly enjoyed her choice. There are a lot of one liners in this show and Megan also did a perfect job of delivering hers. The second performer is Melissa Cathcart, who played Mrs. Meers, who was the actor-turned-criminal that was impersonating a Chinese woman to stay undercover. Her terrible Chinese accent immediately made me love her and she played the annoyed, evil characteristics of Mrs. Meers very, very well. The third notable performance in my book belongs to Andy Burns who played Trevor Graydon. Trevor is the president of the company where Millie gets hired and he is a very proud, earnest, obsessive man. Andy did such a marvelous job of portraying the quirky, yet serious, business-minded side of Trevor and really showed his loveable side in the second act.
The choreography in this production was done by Tracey Bonner. It was so incredibly fun to watch and at times I felt like I was watching a Broadway show. The cast was so in sync with each other during every number and all of them were so, extremely talented. The steps that Miss Bonner had the cast doing did not seem simple or easy, but you never would have guessed after watching the students perform. One of my favorite, most memorable parts of the show was the scene change into “œThe Speed Test“. Tap dancers brought out desks and chairs and papers and books and they got around by tapping very quickly. They made it sound like an old typewriter and it fit so well, considering they were setting the scene for “œSincere Trust“ ““ an insurance company where Millie gets a job as a stenographer.
Ronnie Chamberlain gets the credit for designing the time-period-appropriate costumes in this production. This show is set in the 1920s, when women were wearing short skirts, bobbing their hair and drinking in Speakeasies. Mr. Chamberlain did a great job bringing all of these characteristics of the twenties to life on the stage with the costumes.
This show had its last performance on Sunday and I hope you got to see it! It was clear that these students worked their tails off to make this show all that it was. I look forward to seeing the next show at NKU!
