‘Millie’s’ bubbly has burst in L.A.

When it opened in New York two years ago, a combination of timing and casting made “Thoroughly Modern Millie” an unlikely Broadway hit. The city was reeling from the events of the previous September, and instead of spurning a musical based on a 35-year-old Julie Andrews movie, weary theatergoers welcomed it as a bright, optimistic show about making it in Manhattan.

David Gallo’s Joseph Stella-inspired sets seemed like a valentine to Gotham’s past, and the show’s rosy nostalgia no doubt helped “Millie” win the Tony for best new musical of 2002, even though its hoary Jazz Age scenario and pastiche score made it feel more eligible for best musical of 1952.

But the main ingredient of “Millie’s” success was Sutton Foster, a then-unknown actress who originated the title role.

Foster’s genuine moxie and indefatigable charm were perfect for the part of a fresh-off-the-bus girl from Kansas who’s determined to become a big-city sophisticate -- so perfect that one couldn’t help wondering what the show would be like without her.

The answer, judging from the touring production that opened at the Ahmanson Theater on Friday night, is a definite sort-of. The show still works as a ditzy song-and-dance revue, but far from Broadway and without its original cast, “Millie” doesn’t quite cut it as a thoroughly modern musical.

The new Millie Dillmount is Darcie Roberts, a clarion-voiced performer who tries hard to provide a stiff upper lip strong enough to support the creaky proceedings surrounding her. When singing, she’s a more than satisfactory Millie. Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan’s formulaic songs offer little opportunity for real interpretation, but Roberts belts her way through them, and what she lacks in nuance she more than makes up in chutzpah.

Unfortunately, Roberts is not as convincing in the non-singing sections, which is particularly problematic because these are the parts of the show that need the most help.

Her Millie isn’t poorly acted. It’s just that she doesn’t radiate charisma with the same wattage as Foster, whose glow was bright enough to distract you from many of the musical’s shortcomings.

Michael Mayer’s brisk direction and Rob Ashford’s efficient, award-winning choreography still keep things moving.

But at the Ahmanson, the romance between Millie and Jimmy Smith feels inconsequential, the scenes featuring cabaret singer Muzzy Van Hossmere play as entirely superfluous, and when the music stops, the effect is often as if the lights have been turned on at a party and none of the revelers knows why he’s still there.

How much of this is from Scanlan’s book and how much is linked to the performances is not clear, though the character of Mrs. Meers and her white slavery subplot offer some insight.

In New York, Harriet Harris’ Meers was a strong villain who served as comic foil to Foster’s plucky flapper. Harris oozed wicked cynicism, and every time she purred her signature line -- “Sad to be all alone in the world” -- the audience at the Marquis Theater went wild.

As performed here by Hollis Resnik, Meers lacks any real sense of menace and, even more disappointing, any sense of humor.

Harris interpreted Meers as an over-the-top parody of Asian caricatures dating from less politically correct times, but Resnik’s Meers is merely one of those stereotypes. Confused Ls and Rs just aren’t that funny, and the result is that her scenes feel stale and borderline insensitive.

The one actor in this production who does bring a Roaring ‘20s sense of fun to his role is Sean Allan Krill.

He plays the Ralph Bellamy role in “Millie,” and although his Trevor Graydon doesn’t get the girl, he almost steals the show.

Krill’s posture, hair and chin all are right out of a 1930s comic strip: Picture a blond Dick Tracy who has traded his trenchcoat for a pinstriped suit.

Krill brings a winking knowledge of musical conventions to his performance, and like Foster in New York, he inhabits the role with complete conviction.

Part of “Millie’s” charm is its big-hearted desire to take all the things people love about musicals and simply wrap them up in a new package.

But the price of this reliance on such proven but thoroughly old-fashioned material is that unless it’s injected with that intangible and elusive elixir known in the theater as “magic” or “chemistry,” the show inevitably feels like an empty vessel.

Or to use Millie’s “modern” Prohibition parlance: a glass of bubbly that’s lost its fizz.

*

‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m., except May 30, July 4 and 25, 2 p.m. only and May 27, July 1 and 22, 2 and 8 p.m. Ends July 25.

Price: $25 to $80

Contact: (213) 628-2772

Running Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes

Darcie Roberts...Millie Dillmount

Joey Sorge...Jimmy Smith

Hollis Resnik...Mrs. Meers

Diana Kaarina...Miss Dorothy Brown

Andrew Pang...Ching Ho

Darren Lee...Bun Foo

Janelle A. Robinson...Miss Flannery

Sean Allan Krill...Mr. Trevor Graydon

Pamela Isaacs...Muzzy

Van Hossmere

Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan. New music by Jeanine Tesori. New lyrics by Dick Scanlan. Directed by Michael Mayer. Sets by David Gallo. Costumes by Martin Pakledinaz.Lighting by Donald Holder. Sound by Jon Weston. Orchestrations by Doug Besterman and Ralph Burns. Choreography by Rob Ashford. Music supervisor Michael Rafter. Music director Eric Stern. Production stage manager L.A. Lavin.