Millie: alternate version?

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 6:46pm

I just saw a community theatre production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, and my friend and I were wondering if some might find the Asian stuff a little offensive. Anyway, a local dinner theatre nearby did it last year, and my friend asked someone there about it, who claims that MTI licenses an "alternate" version that waters down those elements. The dinner-theatre person claims that they did that version. I can't find anything on the web. Anyone know anything? Was the "alternate" version created for after the B'way revival production a few years back? Would it be available to only professional groups? Thanks.
Updated On: 4/25/07 at 06:46 PM

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 6:48pm

i know nothing about the alternate but millie was not a broadway revival

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 7:22pm

I stand corrected.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 7:56pm

there is a School Edition in the works that'll be watered down. That's all I know...

[Producer2]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 10:36pm

Oceanside High School on Long Island is doing it this weekend

[LuvUrBatBoy]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:40pm

A dinner theatre here in MD did an altered version last year in which all of the Asian text and themes were changed to Lithuanian. I don't think they licensed a "different version" but rather enlisted the aid of the broadway book writer who worked with the staff to change it.

FYI: It drained eeeeeevery ounce of humor from the work. Mrs Meers as a gypsy was painful to watch and the servant characters (which were changed to hulking white guys) were not that funny either. Line changes were equally as awful ("I won't stand by while critics praise ya. You're getting shipped to Lith-u-ania!").

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:45pm

Yes, I walked out in the middle of the "Chinglish" version of "Mammy" which I thought was both disturbing and completely uncalled for.

While the original film is racist as well, I certainly didn't expect a broadway production to even get WORSE, but it did.

On the whole I was disappointed with the show, I'm a big fan of the film and I think the most endearing parts of the film were cut (the elevator scene, Do it Again, Baby Face, the wedding) to make way for really mediocre material. Although Forget about the Boy is a good number.

[Heading4NYC]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 11:45pm

I'm doing millie at my school right now and we open tomorrow but it's the same broadway version. haven't seen any alternate versions of it out there but I guess there might be.

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:24am

Chinese people speaking Chinese is not racist. Mrs. Meers is racist, and she is made a fool of. Also--the stage directions in the script go on at length about the politics of it all. It is WAY different than in the film. To call it racist is ignorant.
Also--Muquin (Mammy) is satirical and ironic. It references Al Jolson, who performed it in Blackface--and equates Mrs. Meers to him. And Ching Li and Bun Foo are working to bring their mother to the US from China--so the lyrics of the song are sincere from their point of view.
Unless an idiot is directing the production, these characters subvert stereotypes.
And if you can't cast Asians, and you want to change it to Lithuanians--DON'T DO THE SHOW.
Updated On: 4/27/07 at 12:24 AM

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:42am

"Also--the stage directions in the script go on at length about the politics of it all.
Oh well then, if the stage directions (which no one gets to see) jusstify it, then I'm sure it's ok then.


Also--Muquin (Mammy) is satirical and ironic. It references Al Jolson, who performed it in Blackface--and equates Mrs. Meers to him.

I get it, but most of the people today who saw it don't. So they just laugh at the funny asians.

And Ching Li and Bun Foo are working to bring their mother to the US from China--so the lyrics of the song are sincere from there point of view. "

Just because the authors made them want to act like fools doesn't make it ok.
That was the excuse that minstrels used, and if you read the excellent book 'Blacking Up" you'll see that after emancipation Minstrels often turned to mocking other minorities, including Native Americans, Women and Asians. Not only was it racist, it was unoriginal.

[ElphabaRose]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:49am

Its Ching Ho, not Ching Li.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:58am

^^^^ A visual aid..

Anyway, I forgot to mention that at least in the film the poor sterotypes of Asians as slave traders and prostitutes was mitigated by the surprising mini-hero in the character of Tea. Although I don't know if Tea showed up in the stage version because I didn't hang around to find out.

[musicalsaregreat]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 3:01am

I'm a little confused as to what you find offensive in the stage version of Millie. The Chinese men are real sincere characters, not caricatures of themselves. Mrs. Meers is over the top, but that character is written to be wrong and offensive. I think the writers did an excellent job of updating these characters and making them real. I'm open for debate, but can someone specifically say what these characters do or say that is offensive.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 9:04am

A dinner theatre here in MD ....

Yes, that is the theatre I am talking about. Funny that someone on the theatre staff told my friend that MTI licensed another version...maybe wires got crossed...

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 9:08am

>> t drained eeeeeevery ounce of humor from the work

There's more than one?

Please. It's a painful show period. The original film may have been racist, but for its time, it's incredibly innocent. The stage version was just offensively bad and remarkably unfunny altogether.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 9:58am

"The stage version was just offensively bad and remarkably unfunny altogether."

I have to agree with you on that.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:55pm

Mrs. Meers is over the top, but that character is written to be wrong and offensive.

Which is odd, because when I saw it in La Jolla, they had yet to turn her into a fake Dragon Lady. She was just this crazy hotel manager in bright clothing. Of all the problems I spotted in the show there (not many; I had a great time), that was certainly not something I expected to see changed.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:09pm

"The Chinese men are real sincere characters, not caricatures of themselves."

Mr. Musicalsaregreat

I lived in China for over a year, and have many many Asian friends among people I work with doing Korean operas as well as dabbling in Peking Opera myself.

NO ONE I have ever met from Asia acts like that, unless they are trying to portray a stereotype. I'm sorry, if you don't find that offensive, then there is something wrong with you.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 1:11pm

NOW PRESENTING THE EXCITING RETURN ENGAGEMENT OF...

FENCHURCH'S THEATRE OF THE ABSURD!!!

[wickedfan]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 3:27pm

Am I the only one to realize that Fenchurch always seems to have an excuse to be judgemental? I mean, Fenchurch has done and lived through EVERYTHING possible for him/her to "rightfully" say what is intolerable, wrong, etc.

Updated On: 4/26/07 at 03:27 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 3:37pm

Hell no.

[musicalsaregreat]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 4:39pm

I understand that you've lived in China, but you didn't answer my question, what is it that they specifically do that you find offensive? If you saw someone playing a Paris Hilton or Anna Nicole Smith character on stage, would you say that it is an offensive portrayal of white people? So again, specifically, what about those characters is offensive?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 4:43pm

I AM Asian and I didn't find Ching Ho or Bun Foo offensive.

FWIW...

Updated On: 4/26/07 at 04:43 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 4:46pm

You know what my idea of an alternate version of Millie is? One that I'd actually wanna see.

[ILoveWicked330]

Posted: 4/26/07 at 5:10pm

"Oceanside High School on Long Island is doing it this weekend"

Just to correc that- I was in it. It was LAST weekend and had AMAZING success. Everybody said it was the best show to hit the OHS stage in YEARS. A reviewer from TheatreMania.com (and a Tony voter. Forgot his name...) came and he said he was blown away (I mean, he coulda lied to make us feel good but...). He said he dislikes the show itself and when he voted in the Tonys, he didn't vote for anything to do with Millie. But our production was great.
Anyhow, our version was the same as the Broadway one.