"Thoroughly Modern Millie"

Vivid sets, upbeat musical numbers and extreme talent were a few of the many entertaining aspects of the Stanford Ram’s Head Theatrical Society’s presentation of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” which I attended this past Saturday. Although the story line was slightly generic (although fairly interesting to me, as I have never seen this musical before), what really impressed me was the visual spectacle of it all, which perfectly complimented the music and choreography.
In my opinion, most musicals fall into a sort of “feel-good” genre, which aims to present a conflict and then resolve it in a comprehensible, engaging way, leaving the audience with a sense of felicitous resolution. The goal of the musical is not necessarily to be the most elaborate in terms of plot; rather, it is to entertain the audience.  I believe the Ram’s Head Society chose to put on this musical as opposed to any other because the story is simple, allowing for appropriately extravagant costumes and choreography, yet the message is potent; when looking for true love, one should use the heart rather than the eyes.
In terms of visual elements, the costumes heavily contributed to the overall continuity and symbolism of the play. Dorothy, a sweet California girl, always appeared onstage in some sort of flowing, pastel colored dress, which emphasized her innocence and inexperience with the city of New York. In fact, during one scene where she, Millie and some of the other girls are enjoying a night on the town, all of the girls have on flashy, scandalous dresses while Dorothy is dressed in a conservative white gown. Additionally, Millie’s costumes represented her transformation from simple Kansas girl to fiery, New York woman. In the opening scene, she dons a plain, uninteresting dress but as she becomes more acclimated to the big city, she frequently sports short, modern dresses that demand attention.
Another huge visual aspect was the lighting in the scenes and how it created a mood. In general, the lights were used to denote the passage of time, using darker filters for night and brighter, orange-based filters for dawn. My favorite usage of light had to be the scene in which Millie and her friends land themselves in jail. The way the light filtered through the smoke onstage created the illusion of bars, which I found to be extremely clever and well done.
The lighting also contrasted well with the sets in the musical. Two staircases which eventually combined to form one with an elevator in the middle made up the main scene, along with a New York City skyline in the background. The skyline particularly interested me because the colors seemed to fit the era quite well. As the story takes place in the 1920’s, at the beginning of the age of jazz, the set designers used shades of purple, pink and turquoise with gold embellishments to create a modern atmosphere. The set was very appropriate and captured the fresh excitement of NYC in the Roaring Twenties.
Although the technical elements of the musical obviously enhanced it, the musical numbers gave life to the show. Just by watching these students act, I knew they all had to be crazy talented, but I was utterly bewitched when I heard them sing and saw them dance. I particularly enjoyed the actor who played Jimmy; he had an incredible stage presence and obviously possessed an impressive control over his voice. Millie was also fun to listen to because she had a very clear distinction between her chest voice and head voice; she would sing the sweet, quiet parts in her upper register and the loud, belting, showy parts in her lower register. The dance sequences were quite extravagant, but, considering the time period during which the musical takes place, I felt like they were appropriately exaggerated. The choreography was so ridiculous at times, that it made the show that much more fun to watch. For instance, during a scene in the office (where Millie works as a stenographer), the secretaries all perform a tap dance while Millie is trying to type a memo as quickly as she can. The sound of the taps and the rhythm they conform to mimics that of a typewriter, which I found quite amusing.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this production simply because it was so over-the-top that I couldn’t help adoring it. There are several times when the characters intentionally break out into song and dance in the cheesiest manner, adding to the overall lightheartedness of the musical. I acknowledge that I am very partial to musicals, but I really felt like this one had something different to offer, almost as if it were a caricature of itself. I was also rather impressed by the vocal talent of the ensemble cast. Every number was completely on point and the orchestra also did a fantastic job with the score. This play was extremely well put together and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys talented performers and the occasional romantic comedy.