Steele appeal

THERE seemed little chance of Donna Steele ever headlining a musical like Thoroughly Modern Millie at one time. The West End show's Millie understudy had expected to shadow Amanda Holden for the run until the star of TV's Cutting It was taken ill and Steele was playing the role made famous by Julie Andrews for three months.

Now the 28-year-old reveals how delighted she is to bring a touring version, based on the 2002 Broadway revival of the famous 1967 film, to Newcastle's Theatre Royal next week.

"It's the most amazing part. Obviously, Julie Andrews did the film and a wonderful actress called Sutton Foster played the role on Broadway and my very good friend Amanda Holden took the part in the West End.

"It's wonderful to be in the same part as these people. Originally, I was one of Millie's best friends (Gloria) in the show and, because I'm only recently out of drama school, I tended to be an understudy," explains Steele, who hardly got the chance to take over from Ruthie Henshall in Peggy Sue Got Married at London's Shaftsbury Theatre.

"Both that part and Millie are huge because you're hardly off stage for a couple of minutes. I learnt so much about musicals by watching Ruthie and with Amanda I saw her beautiful use of acting techniques gained from TV work.

"Really, your job is to keep the seat warm for someone famous, so you don't get any delusions. Then Amanda got a kidney infection and she was off for some time and I played the role for around three months. As soon as I got the job I got so excited, particularly when I knew that Maureen Lipman was in the cast," adds Steele, who is particularly pleased to be part of the cast which created the first UK version of Millie.

"It's your baby, so that's why I'm so passionate about the tour," she adds, although, sadly the amusing tap dancing in the lift scene has had to be dropped from the touring version because of technical difficulties.

Steele feels this is an intelligent US adaptation of the 1967 film which starred Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing. The movie was written by Richard Morris with original music by Elmer Bernstein, Joseph Gershenson, Andre Previn, Jay Thompson and Jimmy Van Heusen.

The Broadway version, from director Michael Mayer, has new music from Jeanine Tesori, additional lyrics from Dick Scanlon and award-winning choreography from Rob Ashford.

The lightweight storyline centres on Millie Dillmount arriving in New York from Kansas in search of a new life and ending up in a cheap hotel for budding actresses at the mercy of white slave traders.

"I'm so pleased they did wait so long to produce a stage version because everything is so well thought out. Millie's costumes have 80 metres of handmade tassle on them and all hand spray-painted, so every area of detail has been thought about.

"It was a huge step for a producer to risk the show's reputation on very young shoulders that haven't established themselves as a name, unlike Lesley Joseph who co-stars with me."

Steele, from Peterborough, is finding her feet slightly later than some young performers, having been persuaded by her parents to do her A-levels first before taking an acting course at Liverpool's Institute Of Performing Arts.

She moved into musicals thanks to a part in the world premiere of Don Black's Black Goes With Everything at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, which was directed by Arlene Phillips. Then came a tour of The Three Penny Opera and experience with West End shows We Will Rock You, Peggy Sue Got Married and The Full Monty.

SOME actors are so complacent about what they do, but I know most people would give their right arm to do what I'm doing. All of my friends in the business are a good five to ten years older then me and have all been there and done it. I was very fortunate in Peggy Sue to meet Sara Weymouth who is currently touring in Stepping Out. She taught me that you don't drop out because you've got a slightly sore throat and you don't go out until three in the morning because a family has probably paid the price of a holiday in Spain to come and see you," she adds.

Steele has also found love thanks to being throughly modern and registering on the Friends Reunited website where her name was spotted by her first-ever boyfriend Gareth Edge.

"At 16, he went off to another school to do A-levels and I didn't know what had happened to him. I thought he'd joined the RAF. I was twiddling my thumbs one day and went on Friends Reunited at an internet caf, but I didn't want to leave a message saying 'I am now an actress or anything'. I just left things blank but got a message from Gareth saying 'I just wondered what had happened to the head boy and girl from school?'."

Steele's first love, a Barclay's Capital worker in London, took up the chance to see her in the show and is now likely to be in the audience in Newcastle when Millie plays.

"It was the first time he'd seen me for ten years when I turned around on stage as Millie, all alone on the West End stage and he nearly died. We've been together a year-and-a-half since then and he's been wonderful about my strange lifestyle where I cancel plans all the time and disappear on tour. But if you didn't have the support of someone like that it would be awful to choose between the two," she says.

* Thoroughly Modern Millie runs at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday until Saturday. Box Office: 0870 905 5060.

Published: 28/04/2005