Hong Kong Singers HK City Hall Theatre Oct 6-10, 7.30pm, Oct 10, 2.30pm
Allan Nazareno's directorial debut with the Hong Kong Singers couldn't have come at a better time. Thoroughly Modern Millie - a musical by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan based on the 1967 movie of the same name - is a feel-good production that Hong Kong audiences need right now.
'I fell in love with this show the moment I saw it,' Nazareno says of the original stage production that opened on Broadway in 2002 and went on to win six Tony awards, including best musical.
'I wanted to bring it to Hong Kong and now is a great time - Millie's wonderful escapism is the perfect antidote to recession and depression.'
Set in 1920s New York, in an era of jazz, flappers and prohibition, it tells the story of Millie Dillmount, a wide-eyed country girl from Kansas who comes to the big city in search of life - and love.
Nazareno says it was important to keep to the original intent of the piece, so he retained the time setting. 'However, I also felt the need to give the production a contemporary feel for audiences today,' he says. 'The visuals of the play - the costumes, choreography and sets especially - evoke a sense of the Roaring Twenties but with a modern edge.'