Northwest School of the Arts Students Perform THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE

Students from Northwest School of the Arts will perform Thoroughly Modern Millie March 12-14 at the Booth Playhouse in the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. There are shows scheduled nightly Friday and Saturday (March 12-13) at 7:30 p.m. and afternoon matinees on Saturday and Sunday (Mar. 13-14) at 2 p.m.

Tickets for the NWSA production of Thoroughly Modern Millie are $15 and be purchased online at BlumenthalCenter.org, by phone at 704-372-1000, or from the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Box Office located in the Tryon Street lobby of the Belk Theater.

Thoroughly Modern Millie is a high-spirited musical romp that has all of New York dancing the Charleston. It's the zany new 1920's musical that took Broadway by storm! Taking place in New York City in 1922, Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of young Millie Dillmount, who has just moved to the city 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 forever. Based on the popular movie, the stage version of Thoroughly Modern Millie includes a full score of new songs and bright dance numbers.

Thoroughly Modern Millie will appeal to theatre lovers and dance enthusiasts alike. Eddie Mabry's original choreography features rousing tap numbers that will transport audience members back to a time when bobbed hair and rouged knees were "unspeakably (femme) fatal" The production is directed by NWSA theatre teacher Corey Mitchell and musical theatre teacher Matt Hinson, part of the same team that helmed last year's sensation, Disney's Aida.

Northwest School of the Arts is Charlotte-Mecklenburg's only arts magnet secondary school where students follow the same academic requirements as other schools, but each student also receives ongoing, in-depth instruction in visual arts, drama, musical theatre, choral and instrumental music, or dance. A number of NWSA graduates have gone on to professional careers in the arts, including roles in Broadway musicals, including Wicked, The Color Purple, Jersey Boys, La Cage aux Folles, Sweet Charity, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Music Man, Rent, The Producers, and Disney's Aida.

For fifteen years, students, teachers and administrators from NWSA and personnel from the Center and its Education Department have created a complete, high quality, musical theater production in the Center's Booth Playhouse each spring. From auditions to curtain call, the annual Theatre Arts Education Institute Partnership production is a full-fledged professional theater learning experience for public school students. In addition to the visible performing roles on stage, the students participate fully in every aspect of the production, from building sets to choreographing dances, developing publicity materials to designing light and sound plans, selling tickets, ushering patrons to their seats, and raising the curtain on opening night.

This partnership has grown from an extracurricular experience for students to one now fully integrated into the curriculum, and it is the first such public school-professional theater collaboration in the nation. The annual partnership also provides a unique opportunity for underserved and low-income students, who typically could not attend cultural arts programs, to experience a quality live theater production through the benefit of a special low ticket prices for students.

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