48
Arts
March 2017
www.GilbertSunNews.com
Glitzy jazz-age musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, plays Hale stage BY DON ANDREWS
A high-spirited musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” runs through April 1 at Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert. A young ingénue from Kansas, a handsome beau, jazz age flappers and some comically devious characters come together in the production. Winner of six Tony Awards including Best Musical, Millie is based on the 1967 movie starring Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing, who won a Golden Globe Award for her performance. The Hale’s production stars veteran actress Caelan Creaser as the naive Millie Dillmount, newly arrived in the vibrant New York City of 1922, where she seeks a new and exciting life in addition to a wealthy husband. Comic actress Kathi Osborne, a veteran of more than 500 shows, performs the role of the conniving Mrs. Meers, who owns the hotel where Millie stays. Meers is involved in a plot to kidnap young ladies and ship them off to the Far East to become “actresses” in a white slavery ring. Allan DeWitt appears as the handsome Jimmy Smith, a paperclip salesman who tells Millie to go back to Kansas, but later
(Special to GSN)
Allan Dewitt plays the handsome Jimmy Smith, a paperclip salesman who falls in love with Caelan Creaser, the naive Millie Dillmount. (Special to GSN)
falls in love with her. Heidi-Liz Johnson has the role of Miss Dorothy Brown, an actress from California who becomes Millie’s best friend. Victoria Holden plays bon vivant and jazz artiste Muzzy Van Hossmere. Kinsey Peotter returns to Hale for her fourth
Ashley Harkey (from left), Kathi Osborne and Angela Kriese in high emotion. Osborne performs the role of the conniving Mrs. Meers, who is involved in a plot to kidnap young ladies and ship them off to the Far East to become “actresses” in a white slavery ring.
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(Special to GSN)
Victoria Holden and Caelan Creaser are jazz-age flappers in Thoroughly Modern Millie.
show as Miss Flannery, a surly stenographer at Sincere Trust, where Millie works and has designs on the wealthy company owner’s son. Audiences from San Diego to New York to London went bonkers over this show-stopping, toe-tapping 1920s-style musical. The glitzy production is directed and choreographed by ariZoni Award winner Cambrian James, a veteran of dozens of Hale performances. Elizabeth Spencer is the music director. Thoroughly Modern Millie features music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick
Scanlan and the book is by Richard Morris and Scanlan.
Millie plays Wednesdays through Saturdays in the evenings with a 3 p.m. matinee on Saturdays through April 1. Tickets are $18 for children, $22 for students and $32 for adults. The theater is located at 50 W. Page Avenue in Gilbert’s Heritage District. More details at 480-4971181 or HaleTheatreArizona.com.