Musical theatre prepares for ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’
Junior Dalton Kizer (left) and senior Zane Gray (right) rehearse for musical theatre with chorus teacher Ms. Mary Sexton.
Year after year, Bearden’s musical theatre wows their audience with a unique performance that never fails to entertain, and this year the same is expected.
This year’s show, Thoroughly Modern Millie, is about a 1920s girl from Kansas that moves to New York City determined to marry a rich bachelor. With the new, modern image of herself, Millie goes looking for a husband by getting a job with an eligible, rich boss. She is convinced love has nothing to do with marriage, and being modern means marrying for money instead of love.
This show is different when compared to last year’s show, Legally Blonde, in that it is more serious and the theme is much more complex. In addition, Thoroughly Modern Millie only has a few leads, unlike Legally Blonde, which made the competition even fiercer for roles this year.
“Last year, you just picked the part and auditioned, but this year we had more call-backs than we did last year, so people would have to come back and audition for a character they didn’t even have in mind,” senior Zane Gray said. “This year, the call-back auditions were a lot more extensive.”
Added musical theater director Mrs. Leann Dickson: “A good audition means that you know the words to your song from memory, you have planned the blocking, the acting is very much a part of the scene; in other words, you have taken on the role in that singing audition.”
Mrs. Dickson believes that the audience for the shows has grown over the past few years and will continue to grow this year. She also believes that this year’s musical will need a little more promotion because it is a less known musical compared to Legally Blonde.
And while the cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie is done with auditions, they are still working as hard as ever.
“We are learning our new music,” senior Sam Arnold said, “and you go through and decide what your character wants in each scene and how they’re going to get what they want, what’s in the way, and it all comes together to make your character unique for you as the actor so you can get across what the character needs to get across.”