Enthralling acting, long legs make 'Millie' a success

Alex Ellis, the actress who played Millie Dillmount in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at the IU Auditorium, sang to herself in the mirror with aching honesty.\n"Gimme, gimme this thing called love. I want it," she said.\nThe show is about a girl who moves to New York, hoping to marry a rich man. After an introspective song-and-dance retreat, Millie realizes love will always trump money.\nMillie plans to marry her boss, Mr. Trevor Graydon (Jason Fleck), a rich man who enjoys dictating letters to paper and floor wax companies. While working to achieve this goal, she meets Jimmy (Adam Zelasko). Jimmy lives for the moment, and while his originality captures Millie's heart, she has trouble giving up on financial stability.\nWhen Millie chooses Jimmy, he conveniently confesses he is actually a multi-millionaire in disguise. Millie is delighted. \nWhile this musical fell into the romantic comedy trap of tired plot twists and gender and racial stereotypes, the cast performed with brilliant energy and successfully recreated the sexy Jazz Age.\nThe audience laughed the most for the two Chinese brothers, Bun Foo (Fang Du) and Ching Ho (Arthur Kwan), who play bumbling kidnappers working to bring their mother over from Hong Kong. Mrs. Meers (Elizabeth T. Murff) is Millie's landlord and the kidnapping mastermind.\nThe brothers' characters were portrayed as slow and ignorant to the point of discomfort. \nWhile humor at the expense of racial profiling is never acceptable, the show used a digital screen to translate the Chinese words to English. When Du and Kwan sang a reprise of the show's opening song in Chinese, the humor worked well.\nMurff shone as the show's villain, appearing to take her curtain call in black and white prisoner's stripes. \nAnother great scene came later in the first act, when Millie visits her first speakeasy. Director and choreographer Joey McKneely managed to convey just the right blend of caution and celebration with arched backs, raised hands and occasional out-of-step Charlestons.\nThe stage belonged to Ellis for the entire show.\nEllis' sincerity and long dancer's legs kept the audience enthralled. Because the show is set in the 1920s, Millie is trapped by a society where women are dependent on men. It is a little sad when Millie is happy because her boss nicknames her "John," because she is so efficient at stenography.\nDespite this, Millie grows as a character and learns to value love over money, and Ellis makes it believable.\n"We hope the audience can take away anything from the show, even if it's just a smile," she said.\nHer enthusiasm was contagious, and the rest the cast spoon fed excitement to the audience.\n"You kind of walk out snapping," said senior Betsy Hansfield, as she did.