Jennifer Holliday Will Headline THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE In Scottsdale
By: Alan Henry May. 21, 2018
Scottsdale Musical Theater Company has announced Tony Award-winner and Broadway legend Jennifer Holliday (Dreamgirls, The Color Purple) and Joey Lawrence (TV's "Blossom", "Brotherly Love", "Melissa & Joey" , Broadway's Chicago) will lead their production of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (September 27 - October 7 at Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona). Holliday will play Muzzy Van Hossmere and Lawrence will play Trevor Graydon. They will be joined by Marc Koeck ("Tony" in last year's 50th Anniversary international tour of West Side Story.
Holliday catapulted to stardom 35 years ago in the smash Broadway musical, Dreamgirls, with her show-stopping performance as Effie "Melody" White, the iconic role which garnered her a Tony Award for Best Actress in A Musical. She was discovered at age 17 while singing in her church choir in Houston, Texas by Broadway dancer Jamie Patterson, who persuaded and guided her to New York, where she made her Broadway debut in Vinnette Carroll's Your Arms Too Short To Box With God as a featured soloist.
Beyond Broadway, Ms. Holliday appeared as cast regular Lisa Knowles on the quirky FOX TV hit show, Ally McBeal. She has also enjoyed a successful recording career, winning her first Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her torch-ballad signature song, "And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going." Most recently, Ms. Holliday received rave reviews and top soul-music charts recognition for her latest CD, The Song Is You.
Thoroughly Modern Millie follows SMTC's upcoming production of 42nd Street starring Charles Shaughnessy (TV's "The Nanny," "Days of Our Lives", Broadway's Urinetown) and recording icon Debby Boone (#1 Hit "You Light up My Life", Broadway's 7 Brides, 7 Brothers) along with Broadway starlet Eloise Kropp (Broadway's Dames at Sea, Cats revival, On the Town) which runs July 6 - 15. Ms. Kropp will also be creating the tap choreography for this show.
The winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie was the 2002 season's most awarded new show on Broadway! Based on the 1967 Academy Award-winning film, Thoroughly Modern Millie takes you back to the height of the Jazz Age in New York City, when "moderns," including a flapper named Millie Dillmount, were bobbing their hair, raising their hemlines, entering the workforce and rewriting the rules of love. This high-spirited musical romp is a delightful valentine to the long-standing spirit of New York City and the people who seek to discover themselves there.
Set in New York City in 1922, Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of young Millie Dillmount from Kansas, who comes to New York in search of a new life for herself. Her grand plan is to find a job as a secretary for a wealthy man and then marry him. However, her plan goes completely awry. The owner of her dingy hotel kidnaps young girls to sell to the Far East, her wealthy boss is slow in proposing marriage and the man she actually falls in love with doesn't have a dime to his name... or so he tells her.
Filled with frisky flappers, dashing leading men and a dragon lady of a villainess that audiences will love to hate, Thoroughly Modern Millie is a perfectly constructed evening of madcap merriment. From explosive tap numbers to a "Fred and Ginger" routine on a window ledge, this is the perfect show for theatres that are looking to show off the dance skills of their performers. In Millie Dillmount, musical theatre has found a new heroine for the ages in Thoroughly Modern Millie!
Tickets range from $36 - $58 and are now on sale for both shows. Call (602) 909-4215 or order online at www.ScottsdaleMusicalTheater.com.
Now in its 8th year in the valley of the sun, SMTC prides itself on "bringing Broadway's favorites back to life", presenting full, large-scale productions of Broadway musicals in their original versions as they were meant to be seen. Featuring well-known guest stars from TV, Film and Broadway, great local talent, professional sets and costumes and a full 20+ piece live orchestra for every show, SMTC has been called "the best theatre company in AZ when it comes to producing classic musicals." (Talkin' Broadway).
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