Big Smiles, Great Dancing At the Mac-Haydn Theatre

The first thing Millie Dillmount does when she arrives in New York City is tear up her ticket back home to Salina, KS. 

And so begins “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a Tony Award-winning musical that started life as a movie and is a popular show in regional theater.

Next, some ruffian steels her handbag, all her cash and her shoe, which is a good thing because that’s how she meets Jimmy (Conor Fallon), the fella who tells her to take the next train back to Kansas and turns into her adorable suitor.

 Millie (Bridget Elise Yingling), of course, stays, otherwise we would have missed some terrific dance numbers, appealing actors, glittery togs and a story that telegraphs every step it’s about to take.

 Millie gets a job in the typing pool working for one Trevor Graydon (Gabe Belyeu) upon whom Millie sets her sites because she plans to marry for money. Not love. That, the script tells us, is what modern women in 1922 did. And the tap number with all the typists typing and tapping is terrific. All the dancing is terrific. So is the singing.

 The subplot, however, involving Asian white- slave traders and disappearing female orphans fresh from other places like Salina, is cringe-making. We even get two Chinese laundrymen singing “Mammy,” made famous by Al Jolson in blackface in the 1930s.

 Push that aside and you will get what the Mac-Haydn always does best: putting eager young actors in the bright lights to spend the summer singing and dancing and grinning. 

 And most memorable here is Yvette Clark, a pro playing Muzzy, a grand woman with a big voice and a way on stage that just takes over.

 “Thoroughly Modern Millie” runs at the Mac-Haydn Theater in Chatham, NY, through Sept. 6. The cast must be rehearsing their skating this week because next up is “Xanadu,” Sept. 11 - 20.

 For tickets and information, call 518-392-9292 or go to www.machaydntheatre.org.

Latest News

One dead, two hurt in Sharon car crash

Emergency responders block Amenia Union Road in Sharon Saturday, Oct. 11, while responding to the vehicle crash.

Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

SHARON — Emergency crews were called Saturday, Oct. 11, to Amenia Union Road in Sharon for a report of a vehicle into a building with entrapment.

The call went out shortly after 3 p.m. with an update at 3:20 p.m. reporting one dead on arrival, two conscious. Emergency helicopter transport was requested.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rhys V. Bowen

LAKEVILLE — Rhys V. Bowen, 65, of Foxboro, Massachusetts, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sept. 15, 2025. Rhys was born in Sharon, Connecticut, on April 9, 1960 to Anne H. Bowen and the late John G. Bowen. His brother, David, died in 1979.

Rhys grew up at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, where his father taught English. Attending Hotchkiss, Rhys excelled in academics and played soccer, basketball, and baseball. During these years, he also learned the challenges and joys of running, and continued to run at least 50 miles a week, until the day he died.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kelsey K. Horton

LAKEVILLE — Kelsey K. Horton, 43, a lifelong area resident, died peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, following a courageous battle with cancer. Kelsey worked as a certified nursing assistant and administrative assistant at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, from 1999 until 2024, where she was a very respected and loved member of their nursing and administrative staff.

Born Oct. 4, 1981, in Sharon, she was the daughter of W. Craig Kellogg of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and JoAnne (Lukens) Tuncy and her husband Donald of Millerton, New York. Kelsey graduated with the class of 1999 from Webutuck High School in Amenia and from BOCES in 1999 with a certificate from the CNA program as well. She was a longtime member of the Lakeville United Methodist Church in Lakeville. On Oct. 11, 2003, in Poughkeepsie, New York, she married James Horton. Jimmy survives at home in Lakeville. Kelsey loved camping every summer at Waubeeka Family Campground in Copake, and she volunteered as a cheer coach for A.R.C. Cheerleading for many years. Kelsey also enjoyed hiking and gardening in her spare time and spending time with her loving family and many dear friends.

Keep ReadingShow less
Eliot Warren Brown

SHARON — On Sept. 27, Eliot Warren Brown was shot and killed at age 47 at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a random act of violence by a young man in need of mental health services. Eliot was born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, and attended Indian Mountain School and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He and his wife Brooke moved to New Orleans to answer the call for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and fell in love with the city.

In addition to his wife Brooke, Eliot leaves behind his parents Malcolm and Louise Brown, his sisters Lucia (Thaddeus) and Carla (Ruairi), three nephews, and extended family and friends spread far and wide.

Keep ReadingShow less