ALTHOUGH the real ‘Millie’ is hard at work rehearsing for the opening night of Hereford Musical Theatre’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie at The Courtyard, her alter ego, a cardboard cutout Millie is popping up all over town.

If you’ve spotted her, you could be in with a chance of winning one of three pairs of tickets for the first night of Millie. For details, see below.

Glittering and glamorous, Thoroughly Modern Millie is the exhilarating story of a small-town girl, Millie Dillmount, who goes to New York City intent on marrying for money – a thoroughly modern ambition in 1922 when women were just entering the workforce.

Millie aims to take the world by storm, but she checks into the Hotel Priscilla where she meets the eccentric and sinister Mrs Meers and her riotous adventures begin.

Taking the title role of Millie is 28-year-old Kimberley Owen, who first appeared with HMTC when it was the Amateur Operatic Society. “I did my first show when I was six,” Kimberley recalls. “I played Gretel in The Sound of Music.”

Membership of HMTC is something of a family affair, and Kimberley’s sister, Trudy Taylor, is also appearing in Thoroughly Modern Millie as one of the ‘moderns’.

“It’s great to be doing this together, because we’ve both recently had babies and it gets us out and involved in something other than babies.”

Kimberley trained at London’s Stella Mann Dance College for three years, where she gained both her teaching and performing diplomas and, after coming back to Hereford, she taught at Hereford Academy of Dance for seven years, and now teaches at Hereford Sixth Form College and Hampton Dene Primary School part time.

Since she stopped working at Hereford Academy of Dance and so stopped working evenings, Kimberley is delighted to have the time to become more involved with HMTC again.

“I just wanted to get back into performing,” she says. “It’s my first love. Millie is a brilliant show for everybody. If I hadn’t got the part it would have been fine, because there’s so much to do in the chorus.”

Although she wasn’t familiar with the musical before rehearsals began, she is now a big fan. “I fell in love with the music, and having seen the film (starring Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore) I think the stage version is better and funnier. But it’s a hard part, with a lot going on – singing, dancing and acting.”

Kimberley is thoroughly enjoying being thoroughly modern Millie, but although performing is her first love, she was unwilling to sacrifice her life to the stage.

“I wanted to perform, but I didn’t want to live out of a suitcase. I decided to teach because I didn’t want that lifestyle.”

l For your chance to win a pair of tickets for the opening night of Thoroughly Modern Millie on Friday, October 24, email HMCT on m39g51thinghill @yahoo.co.uk saying where you’ve spotted Millie.

The closing date for entries is Monday, October 20.