Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Liverpool Empire Review
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Liverpool Empire
20-25 February 2017
Reviewed by Dotty Winters
Dust off your jazz hands, dig out your flapper dress and bring back your bob, Thoroughly Modern Millie is on tour and bringing the 20s back. Based on the 1967 film, this musical tells the tale of country-girl Millie who moves from Kansas to 1920s New York and is determined to live the flapper dream: jazz, job and bob.
This touring production features Strictly Come Dancing’s Joanne Clifton in the title role, proving that she can do much more than dance, and Michelle Collins (of EastEnders fame) as the villainous Mrs Meers. We already knew Joanne Clifton was at home in sequins and can deliver a high-energy dance number, but here she also demonstrates some great comic timing.
Much like the jazz age setting, fun is the order of the day. This musical is almost relentlessly chipper, and the high-energy performances and music maintain an impressive pace. Joanne Clifton is charming as Millie, and gives some very impressive vocal performances. The humour in the piece is very well delivered, and was warmly received by the audience. Overall, the tone is silly and frothy, and there is little by way of depth, but the large-scale song and dance set pieces, costumes and sets more than make up. Production-wise they’ve opted for full scale escapism and razzle-dazzle, and delivered well on that promise for most of the production.
“Modern” though the musical is, the Mrs Meers character jars in 2017. I found it hard to get on-board with the distinctly un-modern stereotyping and in particular, the use of a hammed up Chinese accent felt inexcusably inappropriate and added little. The scenes which involved Mrs Meers and her two accomplices were quite pantomine-y. This is not to criticise Michelle Collin’s performance, merely to highlight that this is one piece of “retro” which we could happily leave in the past and which doesn’t sit at all comfortably with the feel-good vibe which the rest of the show creates. Yes, it is presented as tongue in cheek, but still felt unwarranted, especially seeing as the justification for inclusion in the plot is a storyline about a still-very-much-modern issue of women being sold into slavery which could have been presented with more drama and darkness.
I watched the production at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre, which is very centrally located. It right next to Lime Street Station, making it very easy to access by public transport, although the city centre is also well served for car parking, so for those who prefer to drive it should also be straight forward. The theatre itself is well worth a look – it’s a Grade II listed building. With a capacity of 2,350 it is Britain’s largest two-tier auditorium, and is very ornately decorated. The grandeur and scale certainly added to the sense of occasion, and even on a relatively damp and dreary Monday night the theatre was buzzing. The staff were friendly and very helpful.
Rating: 3.5/5
Tickets cost from £14.90 to £49.40 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
Thoroughly Modern Millie is at the Liverpool Empire until 25 February 2017. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 8713017.
Liverpool Empire Theatre, Lime Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1JE | 0844 8713017
