The Enterprise — Michael Koff
The evil Mrs. Meers, played by Mallory Trainor, hands out mail in the boarding house she runs for girls coming to New York City in the 1920s. Lucille, played by Ava Doyle, gingerly takes a letter in the Farnsworth Middle School production of Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr.GUILDERLAND — Seventy Farnsworth Middle School students make up the cast and crew for Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr., the Tony Award-winning 2002 musical, being performed this weekend in the school’s cafetorium.
Set in New York City in 1922, Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. tells the story of young Millie Dillmount, who has just moved in search of a new life for herself. It’s a New York full of intrigue and jazz, a time when women were entering the workforce and the rules of love and social behavior were changing.
The cast is led by eighth-graders Marissa Scotti as Millie and Derek Petti as Jimmy Smith, an apparently unsuccessful paperclip salesman, with whom she falls in love.
The show features high-energy tap numbers, jazz sequences, and love ballads.
The plot revolves around Millie, who is determined to marry her wealthy boss, whomever he may be. Shedding her country-girl image for the modern look of a flapper, she takes a room at the Priscilla Hotel for Women and gets a job as a stenographer at the Sincere Trust Insurance Company.
The hotel proprietress, Mrs. Meers, is a villainess everyone loves to hate, and she forces her assistants, Ching Ho and Bun Foo, to carry out her diabolical schemes.
The production is directed by Steve Suriano; musical direction is by TerriMewhorter; and choreography is by Kelly Flansburg.
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The show runs March 8 and 9 at 7 p.m. and March 10 at 2 p.m. at Farnsworth Middle School, 6072 State Farm Road in Guilderland. Tickets cost $8 each or $28 for a family four-pack. All seats are general admission; there is no reserved seating. For ticket reservations or information, call Shannon O’Mahony at 465-6010 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .