NOT 'MODERN,' BUT STILL FUN.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

So fizz isn't fluff. Same species, but a different animal.

An interesting realization, that, and one which Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori the playwright and composer of ``Thoroughly Modern Millie'' must have come to at a critical juncture in their creative process. Given that a nearly $10 million Broadway musical hung in the balance, it's a mighty good thing they figured it out.

You will find, gentle reader, that the following paragraphs about the ``Millie'' tour, which is spending half the summer at the Ahmanson Theatre, actually contain the words ``subversive'' and ``keen edged.'' That's right: a toe-tapping, ginger ale-soaked cream puff like ``Millie'' has wit and bite to top off its charisma. And nobody is more surprised at this discovery than yours truly.

After seeing ``Millie'' in the fall of 2000 during its pre-Broadway tryout at the La Jolla Playhouse, I heartily wished it would be exiled to the fluff hall of fame and never return. Despite the presence of the wonderful Marc Kurdish (as Millie's buttoned up boss) and plucked-from-the-chorus star Sutton Foster in the title role, ``Millie'' was misguided, overeager and quite vapid.

That was then. Formerly silly ``Millie'' has cleaned up splendidly. The touring version boasts a winning turn by Darcie Roberts, a strong ensemble and the same expert Rob Ashford choreography, without which ``Millie'' would lose much of its appeal. Michael Mayer, also re-creating his Broadway staging, deserves much credit as well for ``Millie's'' smarts. Musicals with this much fizz don't often shoot for the cerebellum.

How subversive and clever is ``Millie''? We're not talking Tom Stoppard here, but consider the super title screen that floats on stage whenever the Chinese brothers Ching Ho (played by Andrew Pang) and Bun Foo (Darren Lee) have a scene. They're the none-too-innocent servants in the Hotel Priscilla who abet the nefarious Mrs. Meers (Hollis Resnik) in her scheme to sell orphan actresses/flappers into white slavery. Now, the brothers speak only Chinese, but that super title screen is used to considerable comic effect, particularly with the Sam Lewis song ``Mammy'' (``Muqin''). Ching Ho and Bun Foo do some rather clever singing and even Resnik's Mrs. Meers, with her burlesqued ``l'' and ``r'' reversals (``a retter for Mirri''), escapes the potentially racist cliches.

Back in Fizz-neyland, Millie Dillmount (Roberts) arrives in the Big Apple from Kansas, bobs her hair, smartens up her wardrobe (expertly rendered by Martin Pakledinaz) and sets off in search of a wealthy boss to marry. She settles on Trevor Graydon (Sean Allan Krill), president of the Sincere Trust Insurance Co., even though good-time guy Jimmy Smith (Joey Sorge) is more fun, penniless though he probably is. Millie's new best friend and fellow tenant at the Hotel Priscilla is a refined Kewpie doll from California, Miss Dorothy Brown (Diana Kaarina). Pity the pretty kitty's an orphan. Well, pity for everybody except Mrs. Meers, that is.

Against a rather austere cut out of a New York skyline, the action slips in and out of the hotel, speak-easies, Sincere Trust and the estate of socialite/singer Muzzy Van Hossmere (Pamela Isaacs). There's quite a bit of flappers tapping, particularly in the title number and during ``Forget About the Boy.'' If you're part of Ashford's stable of dancers, incidentally, you don't need to be on your feet to tap.

The task of carrying the show falls naturally to Roberts, who takes the task on her lanky shoulders and gets effortlessly down to business. The actress has a huge ``hello world!'' grin, an unforced awkwardness (particularly during a botched seduction in an office chair) and wonderful dance skills. The menfolk back her up well. Sorge's Jimmy, but for a rather ugly rust-colored suit, delivers wit and low-key sex appeal and, in ``What Do I Need With Love,'' he gets the show's only male solo. As Graydon - still the funniest role in the show - Krill dithers and fumbles with appeal. His rendering, with Roberts, of the rapid-fire ``The Speed Test'' kicks tail.

While ``Millie'' may prove to be Jeanine Tesori's most commercial score, it probably won't be her best work. Most of ``Millie's'' most memorable numbers came directly from the 1967 film, and there's an awful lot of music (most notably Muzzy's numbers) that stops the action in its tracks.

Still, the musical more than does its job, delivering light, easy entertainment with a few keen-edged buzzes and jolts just to make sure we're paying attention. Modern ``Millie'' really isn't, but for refangled, old-fashioned charm, you could do a lot worse.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE - Three stars

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through July 25.

Tickets: $25 to $80. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Cream puffy though it unquestionably is, this musical adaptation of the 1967 Julie Andrews film has charisma to burn.

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Photo:

Diana Kaarina and Sean Allan Krill do the dip in a number from the musical ``Thoroughly Modern Millie,'' now on stage at the Ahmanson Theatre.