'Millie' comes to Auditorium

The fun-filled story of flappers, strong-minded young women and glitzy production numbers makes "Thoroughly Modern Millie" a true crowd-pleaser, IU Auditorium Director Doug Booher said in an e-mail.\nIn 2002, it won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The show will debut at 8 p.m. tonight and Thursday at the IU Auditorium. \n"It's your quintessential Midwestern girl, Millie Dillmount, (who) comes to Manhattan to find a new cosmopolitan life marked by the excitement and romance of the jazz age," Booher said.\nAccording to the Modern Millie tour Web site, the motto of the jazz age was to "break all the rules." The show depicts prohibition, bob-haired flappers and women in the workplace.\nAlex Ellis plays Millie in the national tour. The recent musical theater graduate from Elon University in North Carolina said she is thrilled to be a part of the show.\n"It is a very fun romantic comedy," she said in an e-mail. "The book is filled with witty jokes and great new music."\nEllis said Millie moves to New York hoping to meet a successful and financially stable businessman. \n"She meets some very fun friends along the way and runs into some dead ends," she said. \nFinally, Millie realizes that love is truly what everyone wants at the end of the day.\nBooher said the show is filled with great singing, dancing and feel-good comedy. \n"It's one of those true blue Broadway musicals," he said.\nAccording to the show's Web site, much of the dialogue in the show is based on American slang from the 1920s.\nSome examples are: "hair of the dog," meaning a shot of alcohol, "the bee's knees" for great, terrific or wonderful, "rag-a-muffin" for an unkept person and "whoopee," which means to have fun.\nEllis has plenty of whoopee on tour, she said.\nShe said she is fortunate to have such an opportunity straight out of college. During her senior year, the casting director of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" came to audition graduating students.\n"I could never do anything else in my life," she said. "I feel I am destined for (theater), so basically I'm living out my dream."\nShe added that musical theater is a tough profession. Especially for this particular show, she said, everyone must remember the final product is a group effort.\n"We work hard together," she said. "Being on the road with the schedule we have been given is a true test of inner strength, patience and a trial run to see if you're really cut out for this business."\nThe tour opened Sep. 20, 2005 and will close June 11, Ellis said.\n"I hope that the audience can see how much we love what we're doing up there," she said.\nTickets start at $17.50 for IU students and $34.50 for non-students. They are available at www.IUauditorium.com, the Auditorium box office or any Ticketmaster ticket center.