Johannesburg’s Northcliff High to tour a full scale musical production to the Playhouse making a proud #13 for a 13th year.For the past several weeks, the switchboard at Northcliff High has been fielding calls from the Durban public, enquiring about this year’s musical production and when it will be presented in Durban. It is heartening that there is such keen interest in a theatre offering from a school that has no actual musical or drama facilities but which has built up a reputation due to the sheer determination and enthusiasm of each year’s crop of young performers and their producer/director Nick Jourdan.
Thoroughly Modern Millie has been adapted for the stage from the film starring Julie Andrews and recounts the adventures of the feisty small town girl Millie Dillmount who makes her way to the big city with the aim of finding a well-to-do boss to marry.
The hotel “for single young ladies” in which she stays has as its proprietor, a faded Broadway actress, a Mrs. Meers. Posing as Chinese, she is engaged in the kidnapping of young orphan girls for sale into the slave trade. In a chance encounter, Millie meets the young Jimmy Smith with whom she falls in love, upsetting her carefully-laid plans to marry for money.
A delightfully corny and funny plot laced with catchy and well-known tunes are the substance of this fun musical which is entertaining for the whole family. When it was first staged on Broadway in 2002, it garnered no less than seven Tony awards including best new musical.
Thoroughly Modern Millie runs in the Playhouse Drama from June 28 to July 3, with matinees on July 2 at 14h00 and on July 3 at 15h00. Booking is at Computicket.
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